For decades, paper has been the primary (and sometimes only) means for record-keeping for organizations from all industries, in all shapes and sizes. Businesses have been built around hard copies and paper trails, and it can be difficult for some to imagine letting go of these tangible “security blankets” they’ve grown accustomed to. However, as more and more companies become savvy to available records management tools, and more sensitive to financial and environmental implications of paper-based processes, digital archiving is emerging as a reliable, effective means for storing and sharing documents over the long haul.
In fact, a January AIIM survey found that 90% of organizations are now using the PDF file format for long-term storage of scanned documents, while 89% are converting Microsoft Office files to PDF for sharing and archiving. Of course, paper is still in play in all organizations but, over the next 5 years, its use as a long-term storage format is expected to drop to 77%, with PDF rising to 93%. When commenting on the use of PDF as an archival format, Betsy Fanning, Director of Standards for AIIM, commented that “PDF/A is a good option for archiving electronic documents and is far better than archiving native files from any specific application.” (source: http://www.aiim.org/Research/PDF-Format-of-Choice-for-Document-Archiving.aspx)
So What is PDF/A?
If you’re not already familiar with PDF/A, a brief introduction may be in order. To put it simply, PDF/A is an ISO-approved standard that has been developed as a means to support long-term archiving of electronic documents. By creating PDFs that comply with the standard, companies are guaranteed their documents can be viewed and reproduced in exactly the same way for years to come, regardless of future changes to the PDF format.
In order to achieve this, all PDF/A documents must be 100% self-contained. This means that all of the information necessary for displaying the document must be embedded in the file, including all content (text, images and graphics), as well as fonts and color information. PDF/A also prohibits certain PDF features that prevent long-term archiving of the PDF file, including the following:
- Audio and video content are forbidden
- JavaScript, hyperlinks, and executable file launches are prohibited
- All fonts must be embedded and also must be legally embeddable for unlimited, universal rendering
- Colorspaces must be specified in a device-independent manner
- Encryption (or PDF security) is not allowed
- Use of standards-based metadata is required
PDF/A-1a and PDF/A-1b
As a standard, PDF/A has several parts. Currently, only PDF/A-1 has been approved, which includes two levels of compliance for PDF files: PDF/A-1a and PDF/A-1b. PDF/A-1b conformance ensures the document’s visual appearance will be reliably reproduced over the long term. PDF/A-1a additionally requires that the document structure be included, to guarantee content re-purposing (for example, in displaying PDFs on portable devices such as PDAs), as well as to make certain the document will be accessible to impaired users.
Creating PDF/A with Nitro PDF Professional
With built-in support for PDF/A-1b, Nitro PDF Professional offers several methods to create PDF/A compliant files.
To create PDF/A using the Nitro PDF Creator print driver:
- Open the file in the authoring program, and click the Print option.
- From the Printer list, choose Nitro PDF Creator, and then click OK.
- Under Save As Type, choose PDF/A, then enter a name and location for the PDF file.
- Click Create to create your PDF.
To create PDF/A using the Create from File tool:
- On the Create and Convert tab, in the Create group, click From File.
- On the Create PDF Files dialog, click the Add Files button, and then select the files to convert.
- In the Make PDF files list, select the PDF/A1-b compatibility checkbox.
- Click Create.
To create PDF/A from Microsoft Office 2007 programs:
- In the Nitro PDF tab, from the Creation group, select the PDF/A-1b compliance checkbox.
- Click Convert to PDF or Convert to PDF and Email.
To create PDF/A from Microsoft Office 2000-2003 programs:
- Click Convert to PDF or Convert to PDF and Email.
- The Save As window appears. From the Save As Type list choose PDF/A files (*.pdf), then click OK.
As you can see, creating PDF/A files with Nitro PDF Professional is extremely simple. Once created, PDF/A documents can be stored, searched and retrieved digitally for years to come, saving you from having to hunt through files, while cutting back on paper use and saving on storage space. Now you’ll just need to figure out what to do with all those filing cabinets…
