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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.

FaaS – Small Is Beautiful

March 2022 by François Charette (Compart GmbH)
Article


Function as a Service (FaaS) as a relatively new cloud model is also an attractive option in document and output management. But for which processes is FaaS suitable? The advantages … Read more

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March 2022 by Thomas Zellmann
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This post provides users with a quick overview of PDF/A explaining what it is, why it should be used, what … Read more

Article

February 2022 by PDF Association staff
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Set aside September 12-13 2022 for PDF Days Europe 2022, in-person in Berlin and live-streamed online! PDF developers should consider … Read more

PDF Association news

February 2022 by Duff Johnson
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This Global Information Governance Day it’s time to focus on how better PDF = better IG. #GIGD

Article

February 2022 by Is the role of encryption key for information governance?
Computer storage devices and a shield.

It is essential to understand that with long term storage secure formats does not in themselves prevent user error or … Read more

Article

February 2022 by PDF Association staff
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The Standards Support Endowment supplements PDF Association membership dues to support administration of ISO TC 171 SC 2 and the … Read more

PDF Association news

January 2022 by PDF Association staff
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The latest veraPDF adds support for PDF/A-4, the archival subset specification for PDF 2.0.

PDF Association news

January 2022 by Carsten Luedtge (Compart GmbH)
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In fact, it’s about up-valuing content and documents to intelligent information media. In the final analysis, data is the raw … Read more

Article

January 2022 by Peter Wyatt
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PDF Association’s CTO, Peter Wyatt discusses text strings in PDF.

Article

December 2021 by PDF Association staff
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This summary recalls developments in 2021 and looks forward to PDF Association activities in 2022.

PDF Association news

December 2021 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association now hosts 3D PDF demonstration files provided by PDF Association members.

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