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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.

PDF Days in October 2021

September 2021 by PDF Association staff
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For developers and heavy users of PDF technology the Technical Days and Solution Days sessions that make up PDF Days Online 2021 are a great place to find inspiration and … Read more

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September 2021 by Peter Wyatt
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This article describes how PDF Association communities work, and how members can establish common understandings, participate on the development of … Read more

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September 2021 by PDF Association staff
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We have enhanced the PDF Association’s Feature Support pages to be driven by members’ product and services showcase listings on … Read more

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September 2021 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Dietrich von Seggern from callas software explains PDF standards with a focus on the newest standards.

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September 2021 by Duff Johnson
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According to CommonCrawl’s detected MIME type PDF is the 3rd most popular file-format on the web (behind HTML and XHTML); … Read more

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September 2021 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association welcomes new members as we absorb the 3D PDF Consortium’s membership and functions. With two new working … Read more

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August 2021 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Days Online 2021 is brimming with up-to-date technical and educational presentations. If you work with digital documents there’s a … Read more

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August 2021 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Dietrich von Seggern describes optimal uses of automation in label printing and discusses the integration of print processing steps in … Read more

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August 2021 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Days this year is online-only. Technical Days sessions range from September 27 – October 18 at 1600 and 1700 … Read more

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July 2021 by PDF Association staff
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We preview some of what’s coming at PDF Days Europe 2021 with sessions in accessibility, production, security and core PDF … Read more

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July 2021 by Leonard Rosenthol (Adobe)
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The Technical Working Group’s chair explains the current missions of the PDF Forms TWG; a declarative model for business logic, … Read more

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