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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 redaction – AstraZeneca EU contracts – s**t happens

February 2021 by Michael Karbe (Actino Software GmbH)
Article


As the AstraZeneca vaccine contract debacle makes clear, redacting PDF involves more than just the page; other objects have to be checked as well.

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February 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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The recently-announced pdf-issues GitHub repo already has 25 issues, with 12 proposed resolutions for review in the next PDF TWG … Read more

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January 2021 by Duff Johnson
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PDF/A-4 is essential to losslessly archiving PDF files that use current-generation PDF 2.0 technology… even including scanned documents. From modern … Read more

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January 2021 by PDF Association staff
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The members of the PDF Association have adopted a new Intellectual Property Rights Policy to make it easier for experts … Read more

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January 2021 by PDF Association staff
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The LaTeX Project recently became a Liaison Member of the PDF Association to help accelerate the development of tagged and … Read more

PDF Association news

January 2021 by Carsten Luedtge (Compart GmbH)
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How do companies stay agile enough in their document and output management to meet increasing customer expectations for speed and … Read more

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January 2021 by Duff Johnson
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To support industry uptake of PDF 2.0, the specification’s ISO Project Leaders, working through the PDF Association, have established a … Read more

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December 2020 by PDF Association staff
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27 years after Adobe shipped the first PDF viewer the portable document format has replaced paper as the final format … Read more

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December 2020 by PDF Association staff
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A brief survey of ISO 32000-2:2020 and its associated subset standards for archiving, print, transactional and variable print and raster … Read more

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December 2020 by PDF Association staff
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The 2020 edition includes a number of critical updates to normative references as well as other corrections and clarifications. It … Read more

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December 2020 by PDF Association staff
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The US National Archives and Records Administration’s new proposal for standardization of digitization of permanent federal records is available for … Read more

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