5

Is there any way to generate a PDF/A-4 document using pdflatex? I tried the following:

\DocumentMetadata{pdfversion=2.0, pdfstandard=A-4}
\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{hyperref}


\hypersetup{%
   pdftitle={Title},
   pdfauthor={Author},
   pdfdisplaydoctitle
}


\begin{document}
...
\end{document}

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Reader shows that PDF version is 2.0 but it does not show a blue header announcing the PDF/A mode. Verification of compliance with the PDF/A-4 standard also fails.

Is there anything I can do to generate a PDF/A-4 document? I'm using MiKTeX on Windows.

abhinc
  • 51

1 Answers1

4

Generating a proper PDF/A-4 document requires TexLive 2023 (see here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/655531/293336), which has been released yesterday. With MiKTeX, you will have to wait.

Using your preamble, I could generate a file, that passes the PDF/A-4 validation on veraPDF.

The blue header in Adobe Acrobat Reader (telling about read-only mode because of PDF/A) is independent of PDF/A compliance, but depends on the file having a PDF/A signature, i.e. only saying itself that it is a PDF/A file, which might not be the case. Hence, Adobe Acrobat Reader also says "Status: not yet verified" under Standards/Conformance, see here for example: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/pdf-a-1b-conformance/m-p/10384240#M135962.

arbiterelegantiae
  • 41
  • That makes an important point, well worth repeating. It has been true for all PDF/A (and PDF/X) ever since those formats began: For a PDF to conform to the /A or /X formats, it must contain metadata that "claims" conformance. An ordinary PDF reader will simply look at that claim, and possibly do something (such as blue bar). But it is only a claim, it does NOT mean that the PDF actually conforms. Ordinary PDF readers do not (and cannot) make that determination. On the other hand, if no claim, then no conform. – rallg Mar 20 '23 at 15:49