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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.

Interview with Duff Johnson on the relationship between PDF/UA and WCAG 2

October 2015 by PDF Association staff
Article


With a month remaining before the doors open for the PDF Accessibility Days in Copenhagen on November 12-13, 2015 , I got in touch with Duff Johnson, who will speak … Read more

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October 2015 by PDF Association staff
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A few weeks ahead of the PDF Accessibility Days 2015 in Copenhagen, Olaf Drümmer interviewed Ted Page, who will be … Read more

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October 2015 by PDF Association staff
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Taken together, PDF’s features describe a format of such flexibility and power that it will define the essential “electronic document” … Read more

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September 2015 by PDF Association staff
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Most browsers now support some basic PDF features natively. What’s next for PDF on the web?

Article

September 2015 by Duff Johnson
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Announcing a new 3D PDF solution using PRC.

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September 2015 by Duff Johnson
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Paper is still with us: “Digital books accounted last year for around 20 percent of the market, roughly the same … Read more

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September 2015 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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2 PDF-packed days; 3 tracks, 37 sessions, and two great keynote speakers: Adobe’s Phil Ydens and Silent Circle’s Jon Callas!

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September 2015 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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The 0.4 release includes the first complete (in principle) PDF/A-1b validation profile, and while unverified, tests well against the internal … Read more

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September 2015 by PDF Association staff
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Platform technologies provide the infrastructure for the applications end users actually use, whether some kind of cloud or simply leveraging … Read more

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September 2015 by Duff Johnson
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Official PDF Association PDF/A and PDF/UA flyers updated

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August 2015 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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PDF creation is now native in Windows.

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