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dmkerr
dmkerr
Participant
November 13, 2018
Question

Digitally Signing a PDF/A-3u File Breaks the Standard

  • November 13, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 1493 views

We are using Acrobat Pro's preflight feature to convert PDFs to comply with the PDF/A-3u standard. Our next step is to use Acrobat Pro to digitally certify the same PDF. Once that is done, Acrobat Pro reports that the file no-longer complies with the PDF/A-3u standard.

Here is a screen cap of the preflight indicating the issue.

Is there a way to certify PDF/A-3u files that doesn't break conformance with the standard?

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    O
    olafdruemmer
    Inspiring
    November 19, 2018

    PDF/A-3 requires the following:

    6.1.12 Permissions

    No keys other than UR3 and DocMDP shall be present in a permissions dictionary (ISO 32000-1:2008,

    12.8.4, Table 258). If DocMDP is present, then the Signature References dictionary (ISO 32000-1:2008,

    12.8.1, Table 253) shall not contain the keys DigestLocation, DigestMethod, and DigestValue.

    NOTE These restrictions are present to ensure that functionality such as obsolete versions of the “User

    Rights” dictionary do not appear in a document conforming to this part of ISO 19005.

    Obviously your PDF is violating this provision after using the certify feature.

    Only Adobe will be able to tell whether there are any plans to update the certify feature such that it does not use PDF features that are prohibited by PDF/A.

    Olaf

      dmkerr
      dmkerrAuthor
      Participant
      November 19, 2018

      Thank you, Olaf. That's quite helpful. So it seems that the issue is definitely with Acrobat Pro and the way in which it is applying the signature.

      — Dan.

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