pdf/a – what it is and what it is not · © 2013 adobe systems incorporated. all rights reserved....

© 2013 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.

Leonard Rosenthol | ISO Project Leader for PDF/A PDF/A – What it is and what it is not


NOT: a !oor wax and dessert topping

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IS: an open international standard from the ISO

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NOT: Just a single standard

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IS: A family of standards

§  ISO PDF/A 19005-1 (based on PDF 1.4) - Published October 2005

§  ISO PDF/A 19005-2 (based on ISO 32000-1) - Published June 2011

§  ISO PDF/A 19005-3 (based on ISO 32000-1) – Published 2012

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NOT: a solution for hardware or OS migration

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IS: De"nition of a "le format

§ A !le format for the “Long Term Electronic Preservation” of multi-page documents that may contain a mixture of text, raster images and vector graphics.

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NOT: A complete archiving solution

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IS: A "le format that includes everything necessary

§  Can convey critical information

§  Can be rendered accurately

§  “consistent and predictable”

§  Can incorporate associated “marginalia”

§  Notes scrawled in the margins on documents

§  Today perhaps as version history, general metadata, etc.

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NOT: the complete PDF speci"cation

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IS: Restrictive Subset of PDF

§  Based on PDF 1.4 or ISO 32000-1 & PDF/X §  All PDF/X documents can potentially be minimally conforming PDF/A documents

§  All data must be self-contained §  No Security/Encryption §  More restrictive “coding” of PDF details

§  Ensures less ambiguity when implementing

§  Improved searching/indexing (Unicode and/or Accessibility requirements)

§  Removal of any complex or potentially confusing graphic concepts §  Limited colorspaces

§  No transparency (PDF/A-1 only)

§  Removal of interactivity or anything that might change the appearance §  JavaScript

§  Video and 3D

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NOT: Only one way to conform

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IS: Multiple levels of conformance

§  B – Basic Conformance

§  Meet the standard/basic requirements

§  U – Unicode Conformance (PDF/A-2 & 3)

§  Improved searchability via Unicode mappings

§  A – All or Accessible Conformance

§  Tagged PDF

§  Improved searchability via Unicode mappings


NOT: Just a "le format

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IS: Also a set of viewer requirements

§  Color management

§  Font Handling

§  Transparency

§  Annotations

§  Forms Fields

§  Digital Signatures

§  And more…

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NOT: Something that will come and go…

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IS: Designed for the long term

§  Court documents protect citizens rights §  Access is assured in trial courts for 20 to

40 years for the Judiciary

§  Permanent records held “until the end of the republic” by NARA

§  Atomic Energy Commission requires that all documents are maintained for the half-life of the isotopes to which they refer

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NOT: #e end?

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IS: More to talk about when archiving PDF

§  Archiving PDFs with embedded 3D!

§  Archiving of digitally signed PDFs

§  Archiving of “documents of record”

§  Rich forms, such as those based on XFA or with embedded JavaScript

§  Desire to archive the business logic with the values

§  May or may not be digitally signed

§  Archiving of video and audio embedded into PDF

§  New features of ISO 32000-2

§  RichMedia, Geospatial (GIS), Spectral Color, etc.


Questions

pdf/a – what it is and what it is not · © 2013 adobe systems incorporated. all rights reserved....

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