PDF to PDF/A Node

The PDF to PDF/A node converts PDF documents to the specified ISO PDF archival formats. These document formats were designed so that they will always render exactly the same as when they were saved.

Below are the available PDF archival standards that PDF Studio is able to convert.

PDF/A-1b
PDF/A-2b
PDF/A-3b

General Settings

Profile: Select the PDF/A format you wish to convert the documents to.

PDF/A-1b: Use of PDF 1.4 to create a “minimal compliance” level for PDF/A. PDF/A-1b requirements are meant to ensure that the rendered visual appearance of the file is reproducible over the long-term. It requires exact visual reproduction only.

PDF/A-2b: A new development of PDF/A to address some of the new feature added with versions 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 of the PDF Reference. PDF/A-2 is backwards compatible, i.e. all valid PDF/A-1 documents should also be compliant with PDF/A-2. However PDF/A-2 compliant files will not necessarily be PDF/A-1 compliant. Based on PDF 1.7 (as defined in ISO 32000-1) which supports a range of improvements in document technology such as JPEG2000 compression, transparency effects and layers, the embedding of OpenType fonts, and provisions for digital signatures in accordance with the PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures standard. PDF/A-2 also allows archiving of sets of PDF/A compliant documents as individual documents in one file.

Note: The PDF/A-2 support for JPEG 2000 is restricted in ways that increase compatibility with PDF/X, e.g., constraining the number of color channels (to 1, 3, or 4)

PDF/A-3b: adds one feature to PDF/A-2. Permitting the embedding within a PDF/A file (or files) in any other format, not just other PDF/A files (as permitted in PDF/A-2). This has important implications for archival

Note: In a PDF/A-3 file, any embedded files should be considered 'non-archival'. In other words, the embedded file is considered as only of short-term or temporary use. Only the primary PDF content with its visible page display should be considered as 'archived' for the long term.

PDF/A conversion options

Unsupported Annotations - Choose whether to "Delete" any unsupported annotations or to "Fail" (i.e. do not convert the original PDF to PDF/A).

Transparency - Choose whether to "Remove" any transparency in the document or to "Fail" (i.e. do not convert the original PDF to PDF/A).

Embedded Files - Choose whether to "Delete" any embedded file in the document or to "Fail" (i.e. do not convert the original PDF to PDF/A).

If conversion fails

Use this section to set the settings to apply when the conversion of the document to PDF/A fails:

Add comments to document - Check this box to add annotations when there were specific issues with the document that prevented it from being converted to PDF/A.

Include report - Choose this box to add a report at the end of the document with issues that prevented it from being converted to PDF/A.