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In my earlier articles on PDF/A, I skipped over one of the easier ways to conform an existing PDF document to PDF/A.
Using Save As is perhaps the easiest way to apply the transformations necessary to existing PDFs such as embedding fonts, setting color spaces and the other twenty or so checks that Acrobat can undertake to conform to the PDF/A specification.
In this article, you’ll learn how to:
- Use Save As in Acrobat X Pro to conform a non-PDF/A file to PDF/A-1b
- Use Save As in Acrobat 9 Pro to conform a non-PDF/A file to PDF/A-1b
As you might guess, the processes are very similar, but it’s a little easier in Acrobat X. My experience has been that Acrobat X is a bit faster and more reliable for conforming operations.
| What’s the difference between creating a PDF/A file and conforming to PDF/A? | |
| Creating a PDF/A File = Converting directly from an electronic source like Word or Excel to PDF/A | Conforming to PDF/A = Converting an existing PDF document so it meets all the requirements of PDF/A |
|
What "Flavor" of PDF/A should I use for Court Filings? That said, if you are creating PDF from Word or Excel, it is simple matter to create PDF/A-1A files. These "tagged" files are accessible to the visually impaired, so it is a good practice to create PDF/A-1A files if possible. It’s a cinch to do using the PDF Makers installed by Acrobat into Office applications. |
Using Save As to Conform a PDF to PDF/A-1b in Acrobat X
Follow these steps in Acrobat X . . .
- Open a PDF file that you wish to conform to PDF/A
- Choose File> Save As> More Options> PDF/A
Note: You can also choose File>Save As>PDF, then choose PDF/A from the Save As Type menu - The Save As Window appears.
- Click the Settings button
- The Preflight window appears.
(A) Choose PDF/A-1b for Federal Court Filings
(B) Check to create according to a PDF/A-1b profile
(C) Check "Apply Corrections"
(D) Click the OK button
- Click OK again to save and conform the file
Using Save As to Conform a PDF to PDF/A-1b in Acrobat 9 Pro
Follow these steps in Acrobat X . . .
- Open a PDF file that you wish to conform to PDF/A
- Choose File> Save As> More Options> PDF/A
- The Save As Window appears.
- Click the Settings button - The Preflight window appears.
(A) Choose PDF/A-1b for Federal Court Filings
(B) Check to create according to a PDF/A-1b profile
(C) Check "Apply Corrections"
(D) Click the OK button - Click OK again to save and conform the file
Using Save As to Conform a PDF to PDF/A in Acrobat 9 Pro
Follow these steps in Acrobat X . . .
- Open a PDF file that you wish to conform to PDF/A
- Choose File> Save As
- The Save As Window appears.
- Choose PDF/A from the Save As type list at the bottom of the window.
- Click the Settings button in the Save As window
- The Preflight window appears.
(A) Choose PDF/A-1b for Federal Court Filings
(B) Check to create according to a PDF/A-1b profile
(C) Check "Apply Corrections"
Click the OK button
- Click OK again to save and conform the file
What if the file cannot be conformed to PDF/A?
Save As may not be able to conform a file to PDF/A in which case you will see a message similar to this:
There are several issues which could prevent conforming a file to PDF/A-1B:
- The document requires fonts that you do not have on your system
- The document uses fonts which have a "Do Not Embed" flag
- The document has transparent objects
- The document is damaged
- The document is a XFA Form created with Adobe LiveCycle Designer
I wil be covering fix-ups and workarounds for difficult to conform files in future blog posts..
This blog is a treasure, thank you, Rick!
My company has recently switched to using PDF/A for our electronic records only to discover that the Combine Documents tool heavily used by our records coordinators makes PDF/A files non-compliant with the standard. Conforming the merged PDF is not an option since they only have Adobe Standard. I wonder if there is a way around it (some changes in preferences maybe?) apart from using the old Insert Pages option (a real pain when you have 50 attachments to insert). I’ll appreciate your advice!
If you want to conform to PDF/A you’ll have to have Pro, unless you are willing to print the PDF back to the PDF Printer Driver and lose all your bookmarks.
Hi Rick – Have you covered the fix-ups and workarounds for difficult files? PDF/A has become a major problem for us. Our users went through a domain migration, it seems like sometihing must have been lost in their profiles as no one who was able to covert PDFs to PDF/a before can do it now. We are get the error shown above. We can however covert word docs to PDF/A! We have upgraded to adobe 9pro and some to xpro with no luck. We have the suggested preflight settings. Perflight shows us tons of errors but wont or cannot fix them! I appericate any ideas you might have!
I don’t have enough details here to help you. You might have your IT folks reinstall Acrobat for you. My guess is that your font set changed and that is why you cannot embed fonts.
Very nice guidance! Is there a way to apply this approach to several (numerous) PDF files at once (batch operation)? Also Rick, do you know if there is a generally accepted percentage/ratio that one can use to predicate disk space required when deciding whether to save as PDF/A or PDF? That is, do you know if any comparisons have been done that suggest a PDF/A file is “on average” 25, 50, 200% larger than a “standard” PDF file? Thanks.
There is not standardized guidance on how much larger a file will become when converted to PDF/A. Fonts add size to the file. You can conform in bulk using Actions in Acrobat Pro.