PDF to PDF/A
The format archives, registries and courts ask for: fonts embedded and a colour profile attached, so the document still reads the same in twenty years.
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LegalValidate reads the document for the risks and obligations inside it before it goes on the record.
How it works
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The format archives, registries and courts ask for: fonts embedded and a colour profile attached, so the document still reads the same in twenty years.
Download and analyze
Take the result, then find out what the document actually commits you to.
Why use LegalValidate for pdf to pdf/a
PDF/A-2b, properly
Fonts are embedded and a colour profile is attached, which is what conformance actually requires.
Refuses rather than pretends
If a font cannot be embedded the conversion fails, instead of handing you a file that only claims to conform.
For archives and filings
The format registries, courts and long-term archives ask for.
Readable in twenty years
Everything needed to render the document is inside the file itself.
When you need this
- A court or registry requires PDF/A for filing.
- A signed contract has to be archived for a statutory retention period.
- Your document management policy mandates an archival format.
- A tender submission specifies PDF/A-2b.
What this tool will not do
- Conversion needs Ghostscript and a colour profile on the server. Where those are missing the tool disables itself rather than producing a non-conforming file.
- Files get larger, because fonts that were referenced are now embedded.
- PDF/A forbids some features — transparency and certain encryption — so a document using them may be altered or refused.
PDF to PDF/A — questions
Which PDF/A version is this? +
PDF/A-2b, the common choice for archival and filing.
How do I know it really conforms? +
The output carries a genuine /OutputIntent with an embedded ICC profile, not just an XMP claim. That is the difference most converters get wrong, and it is what a validator checks.
Why did my file get bigger? +
Because every font is now embedded. That is the point — the file has to render identically without depending on the reader having those fonts.
Need to do more than one thing to this document?
Open it in the document workspace instead: upload once, then reorder, rotate, delete, merge and compress without sending the file again.
Open the document workspace