Convert a PDF to PDF/A for archiving

To make a PDF/A copy for archiving, open the PDF in Convert from PDF and choose Archival PDF/A-2b. CECO PDF draws each page as a picture, so the text cannot be selected, and hands the copy over only once veraPDF has validated it. It refuses pages with comments or form fields.

Make a PDF/A copy now — it opens Convert from PDF, with nothing to install; choose “Archival PDF/A-2b” under “Format”.

• What it does: makes archive.pdf, a PDF/A-2b copy whose pages are pictures at the resolution you choose, with an sRGB colour profile embedded, so nothing it needs to be shown, not even a font, has to come from elsewhere.
• The check: the veraPDF validator, run on the server, checks the copy as PDF/A-2b before you can have it. A copy that does not pass is never delivered: “The copy did not pass PDF/A-2b validation; no archival claim was made.”
• The price: Downloading costs nothing when nothing in the file you read was corrected here, even if it was merged, split or turned here first. A file made from a corrected document is priced as one, and so is one we can no longer trace back to the files it was made from. On the free plan, a conversion counts as half a correction of the day’s 10, once something is made.

The PDF you open is kept with your documents, and deleted after 90 days or whenever you delete it; deleting the export removes the archival copy too. The privacy notice says what is kept, and why.

What is PDF/A-2b?

PDF/A is the kind of PDF made for keeping: a file that carries everything needed to show it, and nothing that depends on the program or the computer that opens it. Its second part is the one made here, at level b, the level about how the pages look: every page must show as it was, with its colours defined, but its text need not be readable by a program. That is why a copy made of page pictures can meet it, and why this one keeps the look of your pages rather than their text.

How do I convert a PDF to PDF/A?

1. Drop the PDF on Convert from PDF: “Drop a PDF here or choose one”. Up to 50 pages at a time.
2. Choose “Archival PDF/A-2b” under “Format”. The note under the list says what it is: “A raster copy, delivered only after local veraPDF validation. Searchable text and interactive content are not carried.”
3. Choose the resolution under “Resolution (DPI)”, 150 dots per inch unless you change it. Small type stays sharper at a higher one, and the file grows with it.
4. Press “Convert from PDF”. The copy is made, then validated; when it says “Your PDF export is ready”, it lists what the copy changed.
5. Press “Download ZIP with record”. The ZIP holds archive.pdf and record.json, whose record names the profile, PDF/A-2b, the validator and its verdict.

What does the archival copy keep?

The look of every page: each is drawn at the resolution you choose, the fonts become part of the picture, and the sRGB profile tells any reader what its colours are. The page sizes are the original’s. What it does not keep: the text cannot be selected, searched or copied, links do not work, and attachments and the document’s own information are not carried over. A page with comments or form fields is refused rather than copied without them. Because every page is a picture, the copy can be much larger than the PDF it came from; a lower resolution makes it smaller, and the pictures may come to 64 MB at most.

Will a PDF/A-2b copy be accepted where PDF/A is asked for?

That is the receiver’s rule, so ask what they accept before you send it. Where any PDF/A-2b file is accepted, this copy is one, as veraPDF found. Where PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-3 or a copy with searchable text, such as PDF/A-2u or PDF/A-2a, is asked for, this copy does not meet it: only PDF/A-2b is made here.

What you can and cannot do here

Questions people ask

Can I convert a PDF to PDF/A for free?

Downloading costs nothing when nothing in the file you read was corrected here, even if it was merged, split or turned here first. A file made from a corrected document is priced as one, and so is one we can no longer trace back to the files it was made from. On the free plan, a conversion counts as half a correction of the day’s 10, once a copy is made. The plans are on the pricing page.

What is the difference between PDF/A-1b and PDF/A-2b?

Both are the level of PDF/A about how pages look. The first part is the older, built on an older version of PDF; the second is newer and allows more of what later PDFs use. Only PDF/A-2b is made here, so where PDF/A-1b is required, this copy does not meet it.

Can I make a PDF/A from a Word document?

Yes, in two steps: make a PDF of it with Word to PDF, download that, and make the archival copy of it here. Its pages become pictures, as every page here does.

Can a PDF/A copy made here have searchable text?

No. OCR PDF makes a searchable copy of a scan, but that copy is not PDF/A, and an archival copy of it is pictures again. A searchable copy and an archival copy are two different files here.

Who checks the copy, and how?

veraPDF, the validator that runs on the server, checks it against PDF/A-2b, and nothing is sent anywhere else to be checked. If the validator cannot finish, or the copy fails, no copy is delivered and the refusal says so.

Why won’t my PDF convert to PDF/A?

A page with comments, highlights or form fields is refused, because the copy would leave them out: press “Flatten” in Edit PDF to bake them into the page, download that copy, and convert it. So is a PDF of more than 50 pages, and a copy of more than 64 MB, which a lower resolution brings down.

Will the PDF/A copy look like my PDF?

Each page is drawn as it is shown, at the resolution you choose. Zoomed in far, type drawn at a low resolution looks soft where the original’s was sharp, so for small type choose a higher one.

Related pages

• Convert from PDF, for every other format, with what each keeps
• Word to PDF, to make the PDF from a Word document first
• OCR PDF, for a searchable copy of a scan instead
• PDF to PNG, for the same pictures of each page, as PNG files
• Edit PDF, to flatten comments and form fields into the page first