Participating Frequently

Question

Unable to make PDF-A complaint PDF using Preflight

Forum|Forum|8 days ago
September 10, 2026
40 replies
192 views

I keep trying to use the preflight to make my PDF compliant with the PDF A standards.

It keeps giving me the error message saying thedocument contains an embedded file entry.

I tried sanitizing the document which did not work.

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creative explorer

Community Expert

@responsible_realityaaa0 as per @Amal Jaiswal . Also, when your post says: 'ocument contains an embedded file entry' usually means the PDF has one or more files embedded in the PDF is that is giving you errors. In Acrobat, open View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Attachments and see if any files are attached. If so, remove them and save the PDF.

m

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responsible_realityaaa0Author

Participating Frequently

We are not using that version.

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responsible_realityaaa0Author

Participating Frequently

Its actually in the side panels. I found it. But I'm not using the same version as you.

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responsible_realityaaa0Author

Participating Frequently

We've had this issue in the past. Our company upgraded our account and the issue when away. PDF/A-1 and PDF/A-2 are a hard requirement by our customer.

Amal Jaiswal

Community Manager

Hi @responsible_realityaaa0 ,

Thanks, that's a useful data point. There's a likely explanation worth confirming: Preflight, the tool needed to even diagnose or fix this embedded-file issue, is only available in Acrobat Pro, it isn't included in Acrobat Standard at all. If your account was previously on Standard and the upgrade moved you to Pro, that alone would explain why the issue "went away," you'd have gained access to Preflight and the Attachments panel tools needed to actually remove the file, rather than the underlying PDF/A-1/A-2 restriction on attachments changing in any way.

Could you confirm: was the previous account on Acrobat Standard, and the upgrade moved you to Acrobat Pro? Or was it already on Pro before, and something else changed (a different tier, a different number of licenses, etc.)? That distinction matters, because if it's the Standard-to-Pro explanation, the actual fix is still the same one from before (removing the attachment via the Attachments panel, or switching to PDF/A-3 if you need to keep it), just now something your current Pro license can actually do. If it's something else, that would point to a different cause worth digging into separately.

Since PDF/A-1 and PDF/A-2 are a hard requirement from your customer, switching to PDF/A-3 isn't an option here, so the path forward is removing the embedded file (confirm first whether it's the audit trail, per my last message) via View > Show/Hide > Side Panels > Attachments, then re-running the PDF/A-1b or PDF/A-2b Preflight profile.

Let us know whether this was a Standard-to-Pro upgrade, and whether the embedded file is the audit trail.

Regards
Amal

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responsible_realityaaa0Author

Participating Frequently

Our account has always been professional. Our account moved from a previous IT person to the owner of our company. So it seems they opened a new account and it was professional.

Amal Jaiswal

Community Manager

Hi @responsible_realityaaa0 ,

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble.

The "document contains an embedded file entry" error means your PDF has a file attachment in it (something added via the Attachments panel, not just an image or linked file), and that's incompatible with the PDF/A profile you're targeting. Sanitizing doesn't fix this because Sanitize removes hidden data like metadata and scripts, not legitimate file attachments; those need to be dealt with directly.

A couple of things would help point you to the right fix: which specific PDF/A profile are you converting to (PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3b, etc.)? This matters because the profiles differ on this exact point:

PDF/A-1: doesn't allow any file attachments at all
PDF/A-2: only allows attachments that are themselves PDF/A-compliant
PDF/A-3: allows any file type as an attachment

If you don't specifically need PDF/A-1 or PDF/A-2, switching your Preflight profile to a PDF/A-3 variant would resolve this without needing to touch the attachment at all.

If you do need to stay on PDF/A-1 or PDF/A-2, you'll need to remove the attachment first: go to View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Attachments, find the attached file listed there, and delete it, then run the PDF/A conversion again.

For the general steps on running Preflight and selecting a PDF/A profile, please check the steps here: PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files, Acrobat

Let us know how it goes.

Regards
Amal

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responsible_realityaaa0Author

Participating Frequently

We do need PDF/A-1 or PDF/A-2. I followed your directions and still have issues

This is what I get

Amal Jaiswal

Community Manager

Hi @responsible_realityaaa0 ,

Thanks for the screenshots, that confirms the Preflight profile is running correctly and correctly flagging the same underlying issue: "PDF contains EF (embedded file) entry" fails PDF/A-1b compliance, specifically because PDF/A-1 (and PDF/A-2, unless the attachment is itself PDF/A-compliant) do not permit any file attachments at all, regardless of what fixups are applied. This isn't something the "Convert to PDF/A-1b" profile can automatically resolve on its own, since removing an attachment isn't part of that fixup set, it has to be done manually first.

One important question before I suggest removing anything: is the embedded file here actually the Audit Trail (given that button sitting right in this same panel)? If your workflow is embedding an audit trail into this PDF as a compliance/legal record, that changes the situation, since you'd be choosing between keeping that audit trail embedded (which structurally requires PDF/A-3, the only PDF/A variant that allows non-compliant attachments) or archiving to PDF/A-1/A-2 (which requires the audit trail live somewhere other than embedded inside the PDF itself, for example as a separate companion file stored alongside the archived PDF).

Also worth asking: is PDF/A-1 or PDF/A-2 a hard external requirement here (a regulatory or client mandate specifying that exact profile), or is it more of an internal preference? If there's no hard requirement tying you to PDF/A-1/2 specifically, PDF/A-3 exists precisely for this situation, archival compliance while still legitimately embedding a supporting file like an audit trail, so it may actually be the more correct fit for what you're trying to do rather than a workaround.

If the attachment isn't the audit trail and can genuinely be removed, the manual removal path is: View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Attachments, delete the listed file there, then re-run the PDF/A-1b Preflight profile.

Regards
Amal

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