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PDF/A and conformance

In the Conversion Service, there are four separate workflows to convert files to PDF depending on the required standard:

The settings available for all four workflows are similar, but there are certain differences reflecting the specific capabilities and use cases of each of those standards.

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For more about the steps in each workflow, see Archive PDF/A workflows.

Conformance levels​

The Conversion Service does not allow you to select the specific conformance level explicitly (e.g. PDF/A-2u). The optimal level is determined automatically by the service. The output PDF always has the best level that can be achieved with the provided input document and configuration.

PDF/A-2​

Selecting the Archive PDF/A-2 workflow is equivalent to setting the following options in the 3-Heights® Document Converter:

FORMAT=PDF
PDFA=TRUE
PDF.CONFORMANCE=2AUB

PDF/A-2 is the recommended standard for archiving documents. The workflow is specifically tailored to the use case of document archiving, focusing on:

  • Maintaining the original appearance and structure of the document.
  • Minimizing information loss.
  • Ensuring traceability and reproducibility of the changes made to the document.

Handling nested files​

The PDF/A-2 standard allows a document to contain attachments (embedded files) under the condition that those are also valid PDF/A-1 or PDF/A-2 files.
For this reason, the default profile of this workflow is configured in a way that the output PDF mirrors the structure of the original document as closely as possible:

  • Files in a ZIP archive are converted to PDF/A-2 (if possible) and combined into a PDF portfolio (Collection).
  • Email attachments are converted to PDF/A-2 (if possible), and added as attachments to the PDF containing the email body.
  • Files already embedded in a PDF are converted to PDF/A-2 if possible, preserving the original structure of the PDF.
  • Attachments of Office files are converted to PDF/A-2 (if possible) and added as attachments the main PDF.
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These settings can be changed for each file type in the profile settings to create an output closer to that of 3-Heights® Document Converter.

See Nested Files & Attachments.

Quality control and traceability​

  • Each major step of the conversion process is visible in the event list available at the REST interface.
  • Critical changes to the document are visible in the event list with severity "warning".
  • Specific types of critical changes can be prohibited in the profile configuration section, Conversion Settings -> Warnings.

Warnings

PDF/A-3​

Selecting the Archive PDF/A-3 workflow is equivalent to setting the following options in the 3-Heights® Document Converter:

FORMAT=PDF
PDFA=TRUE
PDF.CONFORMANCE=3AUB

The PDF/A-3 standard is very similar to the PDF/A-2 standard. However, in addition, it allows attachments that are not conforming to PDF/A. This allows for more flexibility but also requires more care to ensure that result is still safe for archiving.

For this reason, PDF/A-3 should only be used in certain use cases where PDF/A-2 is not sufficient:

  • The workflow allows to embed the unconverted original file as "Source" into the converted PDF. This allows to preserve the original file while still ensuring that the document is archive-ready. This can be configured for each file type in the profile configuration section Conversion Settings -> Attach source file.

Attach source file rules for PDF/A-3

This setting corresponds to the option EMBEDSOURCE in the 3-Heights® Document Converter.

  • The workflows allows to exclude certain nested file types from conversion and include the original instead: In the profile section Conversion Settings -> Convert Mode for Child Documents, the additional mode "As Is" is available.
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Such unconverted attachments are generally not safe for archiving because they don't comply to any of the PDF/A standards. See Nested Files & Attachments.

PDF/A-1​

Selecting the Archive PDF/A-1 workflow is equivalent to setting the following options in the 3-Heights® Document Converter:

FORMAT=PDF
PDFA=TRUE
PDF.CONFORMANCE=1AB

This workflow is disabled by default. You can enable it explicitly in the Workflows & Profiles view. If possible, use the newer and improved PDF/A-2 standard instead.

The following restrictions apply to PDF/A-1:

  • The PDF/A-1 standard does not support attachments (embedded files). The structure of nested input files cannot be preserved. All pages of all documents are combined into a single large PDF. For that reason, the only supported value in the Collect Mode configuration is Merge (or "Flatten* in case of PDFs).
  • The PDF/A-1 standard does not support transparency. During conversion, transparency has to removed, which results in a warning.
  • The PDF/A-1 standard does not support layers (optional content). Layers are removed during conversion, which results in a warning.

Plain PDF 1.X​

Selecting the workflow Conversion is equivalent to setting the following options in the 3-Heights® Document Converter:

FORMAT=PDF
PDFA=FALSE

This workflow produces a PDF that is not compliant to any of the above PDF/A standards.

In contrast to the PDF/A workflows, this workflow focuses less on quality/reproducibility and instead more on conversion speed and file size.

The priority can be selected in the profile configuration section Conversion Settings -> Optimize For by selecting Speed or Size.

Optimize PDF for speed or size

Other than that, the settings are similar to those of the Archive PDF/A-3 workflow.