PDF Association Newsletter for May 2020

PDF Association Industry news, events and resources.

Updates from the meeting place of the PDF industry.

Articles and industry news

The PDF Association’s Working Groups

Communities shaping the future of PDF.

Making ISO standards for PDF available at no cost

We’re proud to celebrate the PDF Association members who help make ISO standards for PDF available at no cost!

Designing PDFs for Pattern-Based Reading

This article is written from my perspective as a lifelong software engineer and current CTO who codes differently – first because I read differently, and now because I program by voice. My experiences show how barriers in documents and tools aren’t just personal challenges, but reflections of design flaws that affect everyone.

Why Organizations Shouldn’t Miss PDF Days Europe 2025

For organizations that depend on trust, efficiency, and long-term information integrity, PDF Days Europe is a strategic investment.

Two languages in one Alt? Try THAT with HTML!

Encoding multilingual content | The US Library of Congress recognizes individual PDF/A-4 conformance levels | “There was no book” | LibreOffice 25.8 brings PDF 2.0 creation to all platforms | Brotli compression benefits PDF – EPUB not so much | Business reasons to ensure PDFs are accessible: loyal customers | PDF is the format you are looking for | That Doesn’t Need to Be (Your Head on the Desk) | Color conferences | FOGRA summary of recent ISO TC 130 Meetings | The PDFacademicBot for August 2025

PDF Days Tuesday Keynote: Alexander Pfingstl

In the context of the European Accessibility Act (EAA), accessible PDFs are shifting from a “nice to have” to a legal requirement in many areas. Alexander Pfingstl’s keynote will address the implications for document creators, vendors, and institutions, and address the state of accessible PDF today.

The PDF Association’s New Research Portal

The PDF Research Portal supports and encourages research into the PDF format and its broader role in modern economies.

Google’s PDF preview fails, including with PDFs made by Google Docs!

We were asked to investigate non-functional internal document (intra-document) hyperlinks in PDFs stored on Google Drive and viewed with Google’s Preview. Here’s what we found.

Browsers battle over PDF capabilities

FAQ on HDR in PDF

This initial FAQ focuses on HDR in the PDF/A and PDF/X contexts, to help stakeholders understand how high dynamic range content works with current-generation PDF specifications and technologies.

Resources

FAQ on HDR in PDF: Focus on PDF/A and PDF/X

This Application Note provides acceptable uses of HDR images and color data when using PDF/A and PDF/X standards.

Conforming to both PDF/A and PDF/UA

This document provides guidance and recommendations for application developers who want to create PDF files that conform to more than one ISO-standardized subset of PDF, specifically PDF/A (ISO 19005) and PDF/UA (ISO 14289).

XMP Extension Schema Templates

Free XMP Extension Schema templates that support compliance with ISO standards and specifications utilizing XMP.

EA-PDF v1.0 Specification

Based on PDF/A, the EA-PDF specification defines a specification for a vendor- and platform- neutral format for the long-term preservation of email.

Tools for Accessible PDF

Commercial and free PDF creation, viewing or validation software that exposes the relationship between a PDF’s page content and its tags tree.

Techniques for Accessible PDF

These Techniques provide atomic example files and test procedures in a vendor-neutral manner, allowing PDF files to be precisely tested while ensuring software developers retain maximum flexibility and potential for innovation.

PDF Cheat Sheets, 2nd edition

PDF cheat sheets are quick-reference tools to help developers work more efficiently while ensuring that their knowledge of PDF is technically correct.

Understanding Private Data in PDF/A

Private data is everywhere is in almost every broadly-adopted file format. This Application Note answers questions about private data in PDF files.

ISO 16684-4

This document broadens the concept of XMP specified in ISO 16684-1 so that XMP can be used to describe a semantic unit (SU).

ISO 16684-3

This document defines how the XMP data model can be serialized to JSON-LD.

Member news

Crawford Technologies’ AccessibilityNow Platform Included in KMWorld’s Exclusive Listing of Trend-setting Products

Crawford Technologies announces that KMWorld magazine has included Crawford Technologies’ AccessibilityNow® platform in this year’s list of Trend Setting Products in the knowledge management industry.

UPDF Launches Mobile 2.0: Redefining PDF Editing on the Go

Experience Seamless Productivity: Explore Smarter, Faster, and More Intuitive PDF Tools on Mobile

Wondershare to Showcase PDFelement V12 at GITEX Global 2025

Wondershare showcases its newly released PDFelement V12 at GITEX Global 2025, highlighting AI-powered productivity, a redesigned interface, professional-grade tools, and versatile enhancements to make PDF work faster and more efficient.

Wondershare Announces the Release of PDFelement V12

Wondershare released PDFelement V12, introducing enhanced AI tools, batch processing, and a redesigned interface for more efficient PDF editing and collaboration.

callas software intensifies activities in OEM business

callas software GmbH is expanding its involvement in the OEM business and has launched a special website that comprehensively presents available solutions, use cases, integration options and pricing models, among other things.

New pdfAssistant Add-On Unlocks Advanced Image Settings in Adobe Express

pdfAssistant introduces the Save as Custom Image Add-On for Adobe Express. This new tool enables users to export Adobe Express projects as high-quality graphic images in multiple image formats with full control over resolution, color profile, and page output.

Wondershare Announces Upcoming Release of PDFelement V12

Launching in early September 2025, PDFelement V12 elevates PDF workflows with AI-powered tools, pro-grade features, and a smoother, more efficient user experience.

Crawford Technologies and Doceo Software Partner to Deliver Document Accessibility and Workflow Solutions

Crawford Technologies announces a partnership with Doceo Software, a provider of digital object management and document lifecycle automation.

PDFelement Online Introduces Exact-Size Compression for PDFs and Images

PDFelement Online introduces an enhanced Compress feature for both PDFs and images, offering High, Medium, Low, and Custom Size modes. From lightweight 50KB forms to 200KB product photos or 400KB reports, it enables users to meet platform requirements quickly, reliably, and without guesswork.

Datalogics Announces Adobe PDF Library Updates with New Package Versions

Datalogics announces an updated release of Adobe PDF Library, delivering new functionality and important updates for PDF developers.

Redacting documents? Do it right!

Black bars don’t protect your data. RedactPDF truly erases it.

Foxit 2025.2 and v14 Release Highlights – Faster, Smarter, More Secure

The Foxit 2025.2 and v14 release marks a significant milestone in PDF innovation in performance, AI-driven intelligence, enterprise security, and user-centric licensing. Foxit continues to set the pace for smarter, faster, and more secure document workflows.

Crawford Technologies and Gimbel & Associates Host Exclusive Event on October 21 for CCM Professionals

Engage360 is a complimentary networking and learning opportunity for qualified attendees seeking insights on current and future trends in CCM.

Back-to-School Made Easy with PDFelement

Get ready for a smoother, more productive semester with PDFelement. From AI-powered study tools to ready-to-use templates, discover how it can help teachers, students, and academic professionals work smarter with PDFs.

UPDF Launches 2025 Back-to-School Campaign, Empowering Students and Educators

UPDF is revolutionizing education worldwide with its intuitive and AI-powered PDF tools. Trusted by over 10,000 students and 300 schools across nearly 200 countries, UPDF continues to drive productivity and innovation in classrooms and research environments.

New products

Wondershare PDFelement V12

Wondershare PDFelement V12: Integrating Advanced AI to … Read more

Foxit for Salesforce®

Foxit for Salesforce offers award-winning document generation and eSign solutions, empowering organizations within the CRM. Create documents natively inside Salesforce or opt for comprehensive document management capabilities including document generation, eSigning, tracking, compliance, and security. Our versatile solution provides extensive automation options for your team’s workflows.

Wondershare PDFelement 11

Wondershare PDFelement 11: Pioneering Smart PDF Solutio … Read more

Wondershare PDFelement 10

Wondershare PDFelement 10: Unlocking the Full Potential … Read more

axesFlip

Automated creation of accessible high-volume documents: efficient and legally compliant.

PoDoFo

A powerful open source C++ PDF manipulation library.

PDF Usability Checker (PUC)

A free online tool to assess the accessibility tagging quality of PDF documents, based on PDF/UA. Designed for quick diagnostics and early-stage checks by non-specialists.

ADEPT UA

ADEPT UA uses a flow-based, rules-driven engine to automate the the remediation of fully accessible PDF UA files from high-volume system output without templates or manual remediation.

Foxit PDF Editor Cloud

Foxit PDF Editor Cloud provides users a cost-effective, … Read more

UPDF 2.0

– Edit text in PDF – Edit image in PDF – Edit or add links in PDF – Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Images, HTML, XML, PDF/A, Text , or CSV with OCR technology – Annotate PDF with highlights, underline, strike-though, stamps, stickers, text boxes, or draw on PDF – Organize PDF pages, such as delete, rearrange, rotate, extract, and replace pages – Protect PDF by adding open password or permission password – Share PDF via a link or through email – View PDF across all devices with dark mode – Support changing the background color of PDF – 1 license of UPDF on 4 devices (1 Windows + 1 macOS + 1 iOS + 1 Android)

BFO Publisher

BFO Publisher converts HTML and XML+CSS to PDF. With su … Read more

Auto-Link

File-Linker – The Plug-in automatically creates hyperlinks to other files on the basis of samples. These can be either file open or web links. Text-Linker – The function is responsible for the automatic creation of internal hyperlinks. It can be used to interactivate a table of contents, an index, footnotes or cross-references. Auto-Bookmarks – This register is an essential element for navigation within a large document. With the help of the new function, bookmarks can be generated automatically in any number based on typographical characteristics. Footnote-Linker – The Plug-in recognises the small superscript digit and creates hyperlink to the footnote in both direction.

PDF4NET

PDF4NET is a .NET library for generating and importing PDF documents on the fly from any .NET application. The library does not rely on any Adobe products for creating and importing PDF files. It hides the complex structure of PDF files behind a simple object model that allows creation of complex PDF files or import of existing PDF files with a few lines of code. It supports a wide set of features, ranging from simple PDF creation to form filling, content redaction, complex color conversions or digital signatures.

PDF Viewer

PDFViewer — enable seamless PDF viewing everywhere PDFV … Read more

PDF Generator API

PDF Generator API allows you easily generate PDF docume … Read more

DocBridge® Production Suite

Document Processing + Output Management The DocBridge® … Read more

DocBridge® Communication Suite

DocBridge® Communication Suite provides you with a streamlined, lean and powerful solution to manage your high volume of customer communication efficiently and traceably. Thanks to a modern and intuitive user interface for document design and the management of all communication processes, you will always reach your customers with high-quality documents – on every physical and digital channel, according to your customers’ preferences. By using open standards and the cloud-native approach, the solution can be seamlessly integrated into existing and future systems, both in the cloud and on-premise. It adapts cost-efficiently and flexibly to your business requirements and helps you to optimize your workflows and increase productivity.

Actino MakeAccessible

The Windows server application can be used to convert existing PDF automatically in standard compliant PDF/UA. The tool can be used as part of any workflow to process a high volume of documents without any user intervention or as part of a web service for on demand creation.