PDF/A-1b not compliant

[Mats21937602xpod]

Hi,

Seems PDF/A-1b files from FM are not compliant PDF/A-1b when testing in Acrobat. Tested with a simple lorem ipsum FM doc with an image. Report "xmp property not predefined and no extension schema".

Anyone else being able to replicate this?

Best regards.

Mats

[Mats21937602xpod]

And using FM 16.0.3.979.

[Stefan Gentz]

Thanks for reporting this. I did a first quick test, and I could reproduce this. I filled in the File Info for the FM document, and Acrobat Conformance Report reports the same error you get. However, XMP metadata is coming in the published PDF. We will investigate the exact issue and if it is a problem in FrameMaker or Acrobat Conformance Check.

[Mats21937602xpod]

Thanks.

I was also curious why FM do not offer PDF/A-1a files as output, but ony -1b? Within many governmental organzations in Europe, only -1a is accepted for long-term archiving. Seems odd that much less advanced software like MS Word can generate compliant PDF/A-1a but not FM.

Best regards,

Mats

[Stefan Gentz · Accepted solution]

PDF/A-1 requires PDF version 1.3 or 1.4. Also, it does not support things like transparencies. I guess, this might be the reason, why not even the latest Creative Cloud apps (I just checked InDesign, PhotoShop, and Illustrator) or FrameMaker support this any longer out-of-the-box. The only support that is there in the Creative Cloud apps currently is PDF/X-1a/b, PDF/X-2, PDF/X-3, and PDF/X-4.

However, you can use Acrobat Pro DC to convert a PDF to a PDF/A:

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/using/pdf-x-pdf-a-pdf.html

Note, that for PDFA/1-a you need activate the Tagged PDF option in FrameMaker's Publish Settings, as PDF/A requires tagged PDFs.

[Mats21937602xpod]

Yes, that route works when testing the following cases:

• FM > *.sts with PDF/A-1b 2005 (CMYK or RGB) + Create Tagged PDF > Conversion in Acrobat DC = Compliant PDF/A-1a
• FM > *.sts with Press Quality + Create Tagged PDF > Conversion in Acrobat DC = Compliant PDF/A-1a 
• FM > *.sts wit PDF/X-4 2008 + Create Tagged PDF > Conversion in Acrobat DC = Compliant PDF/A-1

Best regards,

Mats 

[Mats21937602xpod]

Any update on this, Stefan? I didn't see it in the Update 4 release notes.

Best regards,

Mats

[Mats21937602xpod]

PDF/A-1b as per my original post, that is.

[Carolin1234]

Hi @Stefan Gentz,

is there any update on this? I still cannot publish PDF-A/2b with Framemaker even though there is a predefined Joboption for this - which is throwing errors. Will this be fixed at some point?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

@Carolin1234 what version of FM are you using? Is it FM2022 (patch 2) as of June 2023?

[Carolin1234]

Hi Jeff,

I am using 15.0.8.982 (FM 2019). When I try to use the predefined PDF/A-2b joboption with Distiller, I get an error message (this is also the case for my colleague using the current FM).

If I do not use the Distiller but publish within FM, there is no error and I get a PDF file, but it is not PDF/A. I have two other colleagues - same FM 2019 version - who have the same problem.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

According to Stefan above, you have to convert it after generating. You might also check out FM2022 to see if anything has changed.

[Carolin1234]

Yes, I know I can use Acrobat for that. However, I can convert any PDF with Acrobat, I don't need the FM Joboption for that, so why does FM offer a joboption at all?

My colleague using FM 2022 can create PDF/A-2b with FM, yes. But due to infrastructure building on FM 2019, we cannot upgrade.

Mh. I guess we use Acrobat instead. Thanks for your input.