Indeed, it seemed that ordinary PDF (not PDF/A) documents could have portability problems even in the present. In response to that problem, according to Wikipedia, PDF/A was the answer: “The PDF/A standard … ensures documents can be reproduced exactly the same way using various software in years to come.” Elsewhere, however, Wikipedia explained that a PDF file that was portable at a certain time (because most computers relied on similar technologies) might not be portable at a later time (that it, it might look very different, because essential technologies could be abandoned in the meantime). Wikipedia said that Adobe developed the PDF format to make documents “portable,” as the name implies - meaning that they would look the same when viewed on different computers and even on different operating systems. A separate Association webpage listed a variety of PDF programs. According to those FAQs, PDF/A was merely a file format, conferring no particular protection against data corruption PDF viewing software that wished to be recognized as compatible with official standards was required to be backward-compatible (i.e., capable of correctly viewing older PDF/A files) and PDF/A files could not be encrypted (i.e., within a PDF application a zip program could encrypt them). To anticipate a few questions, a list of FAQs published by the PDF Association provided some background information on PDF/A files. This post presents factors I took into account in making a decision on this project. It would certainly be feasible to undertake such a mass conversion. It seemed I should consider converting my PDFs to PDF/A, and should perhaps also consider converting non-PDF files (e.g., word processing documents, text files, spreadsheets) to PDF/A. For instance, the PDF Association ( 2013) enthusiastically said, “A large number of authorities and institutions worldwide recommend PDF/A or specifically require the use of the standard.” I knew that PDF/A was the archival format. I had a collection of Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
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