pdf/a

Report · Apr 05, 2019

Hi guys,

I was wondering if I could somehow batch-controlled search/analyze a bunch of pdf docs (a thousand or so) to spot out the pdf/a docs among them.

For example, I have a file full of pdfs and I want to know which of them are pdf/a, without selecting them seperatelly.

AND if so, can I also batch convert them into pdf again (the whole bunch of them at a time) and vice versa (pdf to pdf/a).

I'll be glad to get some answers (I've been searching the internet for an hour now and couldn't find a suitable program)

thanks

Report · Apr 07, 2019

PDF/A is PDF. There is no conversion needed, because it is already what you seek.

Do you have Acrobat Pro?

Report · Apr 13, 2019

hey thanks for answering,

no I dont have it.

and what do you mean? I know Pdf/a is a special form of pdf for long term archiving and I know that there are programs who convert them...my main problem is that a) the ones i found has volume limits for the documents and b) I dont know how to detect pdf/a formats..so I cant even know if the coversion was succesfull.

That is what i basically know so far....but you are saying that they are the same...have I missed something?

I will be happy for enlightenment

Report · Apr 13, 2019

PDF/A is a special form of PDF. But it is still a PDF file, not a different thing. So every PDF/A file you have is a PDF.

Hence, I cannot understand the idea "convert PDF/A to a PDF".

Of course, convert PDF to PDF/A makes perfect sense, but that was only one part.

Be sure you know exactly which version of PDF/A is needed (PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-3b etc. etc.). Some PDF/A versions need tags and automatic tag making is not really acceptable; days of work may be needed for each file.

Report · Apr 16, 2019

Ok my bad...lets forget about the "pdf/a to pdf" part.

by "not acceptable" do you mean its hard?

the version I need is pdf/A-1..... so do you know a way to automatically convert them?

And if I had the converting program...to make sure that its working, I have to be able to tell pdf/a from norlma pdf apart...that is why i asked that.

or if I needed to tell if a file that contains Pdfs needs converting.

Report · Aug 20, 2025

A pesar que sigue siendo un PDF, esa propiedad bloquea acciones que se necesitan de edición. Conocen como Quitar la propiedad PDF/A de manera MASIVA para que me permita realizar otros procesos externos (Fuera de acrobat). Ya lo he intentado por acciones guiadas, y aún con el acrobat Pro no he logrado ese proceso.

Report · Apr 16, 2019

Do want PDF/A-1a or PDF/A-1b? This small difference can make a lot of work.

I think Adobe will be very happy to sell you Acrobat Pro to help with your tasks. It can check for PDF/A status, and often convert.

Report · Apr 16, 2019

As you might have noticed, I am kind of new to the pdfa stuff.... so I didnt think that 1b or 1b are that different.

so acrobat pro is able to batch convert and check?

If so, I will glaldy buy it.

thanks

Report · Apr 16, 2019

It can convert, where possible. There is only one difference between 1a and 1b, but it is a HUGE difference. One must be tagged. Tagging a single PDF can take weeks. It may involve examining every word of the text, and labelling every graphic and feature on every page.

Report · May 26, 2019

ok sorry I was absent for a while... I did as you said and got my self Adobe acrobat pro yesterday.

And yes it can convert whole folders.... but I couldn't find a function that enables me to see if in a bunch of documents some of them where already converted.

I could only check that for individual documents....cannot spot out already converted pdfs, which would cost alot of time if i wanted to convert more folders, in which already 50% are converted without me knowing that