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PDF/A

webPDF uses the integrated toolbox “pdfa-converter” version 6.23 from PDF Tools AG to convert PDF documents to the PDF/A format and to validate PDF/A documents. The toolbox is used both by the portal and by the "Pdfa" web service (API {REST}: /pdfa).

The external toolbox is located in the "pdftools/" subdirectory, found in webPDF's installation directory.

The toolbox makes it possible to convert existing PDF documents to documents compliant with the standards

  • ISO 19005-1:2005 (PDF/A-1),
  • ISO 19005-2:2011 (PDF/A-2) and
  • ISO 19005-3:2012 (PDF/A-3).

Conformance levels "a," "b," and "u" (for PDF/A-2 and PDF/A-3) are supported.

In addition, it is also possible to validate existing PDF/A documents as specified in the corresponding ISO standards. The "Pdfa" web service returns an XML file with the validation results in this case.

The "Pdfa" web service is an ideal choice for processing PDF documents meant for e-mail archives. It is also ideal for use as a validation service for long-term preservation system gateways when the corresponding system requires that only valid PDF/A documents be processed.