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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.

It’s time to update PDF’s Imaging Model

June 2023 by PDF Association staff
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PDF’s imaging model is due for its first refresh in 20 years. You can participate by joining the new PDF Association Technical Working Group dedicated to this objective.

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June 2023 by Matthias Wagner
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What if you could simply ask a question to a PDF file? What if you could receive answers that are … Read more

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June 2023 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association is pleased to announce no-cost availability of ISO/TS 32003, adding support for AES-GCM to PDF 2.0.

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June 2023 by PDF Association staff
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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of PDF technology the PDF Association has released a trailer for its forthcoming documentary.

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June 2023 by Patrick Gallot
Patrick Gallot
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Patrick Gallot explains his personal financial support for a forthcoming documentary on the development of the PDF format.

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June 2023 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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The last 30 years have revealed some persistent truths about how people use and think about information and communication.

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May 2023 by PDF Association staff
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The documentary is scheduled for release in early 2024. There’s still time to become a supporter!

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May 2023 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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This new corpus – nearly 8 million PDFs totaling about 8 TB – was gathered from across the web in … Read more

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May 2023 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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A new PDF Association service will provide targeted test-cases to highlight interoperability issues resolved in the latest PDF specification.

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April 2023 by PDF Association staff
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PDF’s technical community will gather for its first-ever PDF Week during the first week of May in Paris. The conference … Read more

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April 2023 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association has volunteered to host a new Liaison Working Group (LWG) to bring together experts from both PDF/X … Read more

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