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The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
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Twenty Years of Trust: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of PDF/A-1

November 2025 by PDF Association staff

This month the PDF industry is celebrating the 20th anniversary of PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005), the publication of which revolutionized digital preservation.

Before this standard, archiving suffered from dependency issues. PDF/A-1, based on a constrained subset of PDF 1.4, mandated self-contained, device-independent documents. These rules ensure that a PDF/A document’s appearance can be reliably maintained over centuries, regardless of viewing software.

Rapidly adopted globally, the principles established in PDF/A-1 persist in later standards like PDF/A-4, which is based on PDF 2.0, the latest ISO standard for PDF.

Happy 20th, PDF/A! We (ok, not us personally) fully expect to be celebrating your 200th anniversary in November 2225!

This month the PDF industry is celebrating the 20th anniversary of PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005), the publication of which revolutionized digital preservation.

Before this standard, archiving suffered from dependency issues. PDF/A-1, based on a constrained subset of PDF 1.4, mandated self-contained, device-independent documents. These rules ensure that a PDF/A document’s appearance can be reliably maintained over centuries, regardless of viewing software.

Rapidly adopted globally, the principles established in PDF/A-1 persist in later standards like PDF/A-4, which is based on PDF 2.0, the latest ISO standard for PDF.

Happy 20th, PDF/A! We (ok, not us personally) fully expect to be celebrating your 200th anniversary in November 2225!

How to optimally prepare PDF files for variable data printing

December 2022 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Article


Dietrich von Seggern from callas software explains, how companies can optimally prepare PDF files for variable data printing.

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October 2022 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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As of October 28 2022 worldwide searches for “pdf” had peaked in March, 2022. Even as internet searches continue to … Read more

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October 2022 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Some time ago Adobe announced that it “will disable support for authoring with Type 1 fonts by January 2023”. Dietrich … Read more

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August 2022 by John Brinkman (Adobe)
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John Brinkman provides an update on the work of the PDF Association’s Forms TWG and its development of the next … Read more

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August 2022 by Akash Choudhary (callas software GmbH)
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Dietrich von Seggern and Akash Choudhary from callas software and David van Driessche from Four Pees are presenting at this … Read more

Article

August 2022 by Paul Rayius
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The new PDF/UA Processor LWG’s mission is to establish principles and a framework, and then develop requirements for PDF/UA processors … Read more

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August 2022 by Matthias Valvekens (Matthias Valvekens)
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Matthias Valvekens explains the difference and respective value of digital signatures vs. MAC-based technology for authenticating PDF files.

Article

August 2022 by Matthias Valvekens (Matthias Valvekens)
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Matthias Valvekens, the ISO project leader who led development of ISO 32004, has written a pair of blog posts to … Read more

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July 2022 by PDF Association staff
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5 reasons your boss should want you to attend PDF Days Europe 2022 in September!

Article

May 2022 by Duff Johnson
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Tagged PDF is becoming increasingly common. On #GAAD 2022, PDF/UA’s ISO Project Leader takes stock of the progress and highlights … Read more

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May 2022 by Peter Wyatt
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The PDF Association has updated IANA’s MIME media types registry for FDF, XFDF, PRC and U3D.

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