Your Documents, 20 Years Later

So you have a great document saving and management process right now which gives people access to the right set of documents when they need them. But what about in 20 years from now? The software versions you use today to save and read those documents certainly wont be the same then. And, if you need to look up a document you saved decades ago, would you be able to open it? Would you be able to print it?

Given the rate at which software features evolve, this would be close to impossible.

Thats where the Portable Document Format for Archiving, or PDF/A helps. Just like any other PDF file, a PDF/A document carries the same file extension (.PDF), has the same icon and can be opened by any PDF application. So whats different?

A PDF/A takes a subset of the PDF format features to ensure fidelity with the new document. It ensures that, at any point in future, you only need a reader application to open any such file. The PDF/A format ensures that installation of any other software component or application does not prevent the document from being viewed or printed.

The PDF/A standard is now turning out to be a necessity. Government bodies and industries across the globe are adopting and accepting it.
US Federal Courts have indicated they are moving towards its adoption to electronically file case documents. Many other government and non-government bodies now ask that electronic documents for archiving be PDF/A-compliant.

The PDF format today is feature-rich and quite complex; many non-PDF contents can be embedded into a PDF. PDF documents also now come with embedded multimedia: links to external documents and to JavaScript codes that perform special automated actions and attachments like Word, Outlook and Lotus Notes files. But specific media players or external software are needed to view and print such documents reliably.

Many government and other offices do not have the appropriate software applications or versions installed. So the document cant be viewed as intended. However, by saving it as a PDF/A documentwhich is version 1.4 of the PDF specificationit can be read using Acrobat Reader 5 and higher versions.

The PDF/A is not meant only for government use. Businesses can also choose to move their document management systems to the PDF/A format for archiving. Documents can be viewed regardless of the operating system, installed software applications or fonts. The PDF/A standard creates smaller files, ensures document fidelity and can be reliably viewed by recipients. Even businesses that dont require such an archival standard can choose to save them in the PDF/A-ready format. This allows them to straddle the worlds of PDF as well as PDF/A, and move to PDF/A only when required.

Jordan