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New Application Note Illuminates PDF’s Flexible Options for Custom Metadata

October 2025 by PDF Association staff

The PDF Association has released a new Application Note titled “Including Custom Metadata Structures in PDF.”

This document addresses the need for organizations to use custom metadata beyond standard XMP schemas in their PDF workflows. It provides guidance on designing custom metadata schemas, embedding them interoperably, best practices for versioning and extensibility, and strategies for exposing metadata to applications and tools.

The document’s objective is to enhance interoperability and efficiency by allowing custom metadata to travel seamlessly within PDF documents, eliminating the need for separate “sidecar files.”

The Note is now available on the PDF Association website.

The PDF Association has released a new Application Note titled “Including Custom Metadata Structures in PDF.”

This document addresses the need for organizations to use custom metadata beyond standard XMP schemas in their PDF workflows. It provides guidance on designing custom metadata schemas, embedding them interoperably, best practices for versioning and extensibility, and strategies for exposing metadata to applications and tools.

The document’s objective is to enhance interoperability and efficiency by allowing custom metadata to travel seamlessly within PDF documents, eliminating the need for separate “sidecar files.”

The Note is now available on the PDF Association website.

PDF-UX: Page Labels

August 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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Does your PDF viewer fully support page labels? Does your PDF authoring software? Support for page labels can be a key factor in choosing a PDF viewer, especially for users … Read more

Peter Wyatt
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August 2024 by PDF Association staff
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The third PDF Week of 2024 will be hosted by Charles University in the beautiful city of Prague, in the … Read more

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July 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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To avoid confusing and frustrating users, applications can and should be robustly prepared for significant changes to PDF – with … Read more

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July 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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These synthetic files are intended for user experience and human-computer interaction (HCI) specialists to assess the behavior of their current … Read more

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June 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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Peter Wyatt’s latest article focuses on improving the user experience for website visitors needing to access specific content in longer … Read more

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May 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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LOGIN REQUIRED: These synthetic files are intended for user experience and human-computer interaction (HCI) specialists to assess the behavior of … Read more

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May 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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Accurately understanding the kinds of data that can be in a PDF and how it is stored can be very … Read more

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April 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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All ISO publications are written according to a set of rules known as the ISO Directives. In this article, the … Read more

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April 2024 by axes4 GmbH
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Accessibility is vital for ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can fully participate in society. This article delves into … Read more

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March 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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How meaningful is PDF’s version number? SafeDocs’ research reveals that 20% of extant files contain features that exceed the stated … Read more

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March 2024 by Peter Wyatt
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Peter Wyatt shares his custom metadata panels – very useful for discovering ISO standards and PDF Declarations metadata! (until vendors … Read more

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