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PDF/A and external references

November 2025 by Peter Wyatt

PDF/A ensures reliable long-term rendering by embedding fonts, images, and color profiles, but URLs can still appear in text, hyperlinks, bookmarks, annotations, metadata, and embedded files.

Link annotations and URI Actions define clickable destinations, but PDF/A restricts certain action types to prevent external dependencies.

Guided by clear policies, comprehensive audits of both visible and hidden references help maintain authenticity, accessibility, and long-term integrity of PDF/A documents and digital collections.

PDF/A ensures reliable long-term rendering by embedding fonts, images, and color profiles, but URLs can still appear in text, hyperlinks, bookmarks, annotations, metadata, and embedded files.

Link annotations and URI Actions define clickable destinations, but PDF/A restricts certain action types to prevent external dependencies.

Guided by clear policies, comprehensive audits of both visible and hidden references help maintain authenticity, accessibility, and long-term integrity of PDF/A documents and digital collections.

PDF 2.0 Application Note: Associated Files

October 2018 by PDF Association staff
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This Application Note provides technical background to the definition of Associated Files in PDF 2.0. It is intended for developers who want to learn about the Associated Files feature in … Read more

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October 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association has started to overhaul its website, with the first such change being a new search engine, installed … Read more

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October 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Techniques Accessibility Summit’s objective is to establish a broad-based understanding of how PDF files should be tagged for … Read more

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September 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The typical adoption curve for PDF technologies until approximately 2007 tended to track with that of the original PDF developer. … Read more

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September 2018 by PDF Association staff
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New in PDF 2.0, black point compensation (BPC) is a colour management technique allowing for the alignment of the darkest … Read more

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September 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The industry-supported PDF/A validator created by an EU project, veraPDF is one of four finalists for the Digital Preservation Award … Read more

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August 2018 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Processing Steps allows packaging and product developers and designers to specify post-print workflow components with a PDF file in … Read more

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August 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The Future of Email Archives report calls for the development of email archiving specifications leveraging PDF.

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August 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Techniques Accessibility Summit will identify best-practices in tagging various cases in PDF documents. Questions to be addressed will … Read more

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August 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The US Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is launching a SafeDocs project to develop methods and tools … Read more

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July 2018 by Duff Johnson
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My hospital emailed me a medical records release form as a PDF. They told me to print it, fill it, … Read more

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