Amyuni Technologies Blog: News and Resources from the PDF Experts

Unlike the workflows that previously surrounded printed content, today’s workflows contain more changing variables, especially when it comes to documentation. Documents are created, repurposed, archived, retrieved, and even merged into others. In short – they encompass change. As a result, keeping an eye on change is an essential part of document management.

What is Metadata and Why Use it?

Metadata is descriptive information about data. It can be embedded into a PDF file (as XML) to help identify its contents or characteristics during its travels. Examples of metadata include: author names, document title, subject description, source type, etc.

Metadata can help manage change. When businesses integrate metadata into their work flows, they can better track their document life cycles and stay ahead of document changes more effectively. However, as businesses grow and integrate metadata, they often introduce:

• Large amounts of unstructured metadata. For example, documents that are appended or merged with others acquire additional metadata along the way.
• Different frameworks to address the problem of unstructured metadata. However, such frameworks hamper the efficiency of dissimilar systems to interchange or process information.

In and of itself, metadata is often used to address (short-term) document life cycles, especially within localized environments. However, if the volume and exchange of documents increases, so does the complexity of the corresponding metadata. Is there an alternative way to handle such document assets more effectively? This is where XMP attempts to position itself as a viable option.

What is XMP Metadata and Why Use it?

Introduced by Adobe in 2001, the Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) is a labeling specification, based on the W3C Resource Description Framework (RDF). XMP provides a (cross-platform) format for creating, processing, and interchanging metadata.

Therefore XMP (metadata) is a type of metadata that adheres to specific standards that dictate how data is organized and accessed. XMP metadata can be embedded into PDF documents, HTML, SVG, XML files, and image formats such as JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, etc.

Designed as a type of encapsulating framework, XMP can act as a bridge between different systems that need to exchange and use metadata. When it comes to documentation, embedding XMP metadata into PDFs improves their searchability and integration into existing work flows. In addition, long-term archiving standards such as PDF/A-1a and PDF/A-1b require the use of XMP to identify that their contents are PDF/A compliant.

Embedding Intelligence into PDFs

Documents become smart assets when they are accompanied with XMP metadata. Once data is embedded in a PDF file as an XML packet (Figure 1) it stays with the file so it can be recycled and repurposed across different platforms or content-management systems.

Figure 1: XMP Packet Within a PDF Object

Customizing XMP

Because embedding XMP metadata differs slightly for portable document formats, developers should already be familiar with the XMP framework specifications and also how to work with the right XMP-enabled tools. An example of a such a tool is the Amyuni PDF Creator. Unlike other XMP-enabled tools which can only include standard XMP metadata, the Amyuni PDF Creator enables developers to include their own customized XMP schemas. This ability gives developers and document managers more authoring, tracking, and archiving options.

In part 2 of this article, we shall look at how a product like the Amyuni PDF Analyzer can be automated on a server to embed custom XMP schema extensions into PDF/A documents.

Amyuni Technologies Blog

From Check List to PDF Options

More than a decade ago Chuck Weger coined the term “preflight” to define the verification process of digital files prior to printing. Since then, this process or “check list” has materialized into integrated PDF options, plug-ins, and standalone products.

One such standalone product is the Amyuni PDF Analyzer. Its purpose: to verify the internal validity and conformance of PDF documents.

Automated Batch Processing

Unlike integrated options and plug-ins, PDF Analyzer can be installed on a server to perform the preflight of large numbers of documents as an automated batch process (Figure 1) without user interaction.

Figure 1: Automated Preflight

PDF Analyzer validates the structure of PDF documents with customizable VB.NET rule sets (Figure 2) to ensure that the structure of documents comply with industry or custom specifications.

Figure 2: VB .NET Rule Sets

Customized VB .NET rules can be created, saved, and reloaded to verify that:

• PDF document object instructions, syntax, and hierarchies do not contain errors.
• Fonts and corresponding font information such as TrueType tables are properly embedded.
• Embedded graphics and images are properly compressed for specific application processing.
• PDF/A documents contain embedded fonts, XMP metadata, and device-independent colors, etc.
• PDF/A documents do not contain encryption, JavaScript, embedded files, etc.

In addition to document analysis, you can also use PDF Analyzer to compare documents, verify sensitive metadata, and extract confidential information. Its design and functions stem from years of “on the field” application deployment experiences.

Learn more about PDF Analyzer at www.pdfanalyzer.com.