You have recently been given the task of creating a report of the last business month to be kept in the archives of your company. This wouldn’t be a problem at all, if only you weren’t asked to save everything in PDF / A format. You have never heard of this type of file before, so you don’t have the faintest idea of how to create PDF / A and you need immediate and concrete help, since the dreaded deadline day is always approaching. moreover!
Well, I am happy to inform you that you have ended up on the right guide, at the right time: in the following lines, in fact, you will find detailed explanations of how to carry out the operation in question using a series of programs and online services. Before continuing, however, let me give you some more information on the subject: the PDF / A format is a “variant” of the classic PDF format, designed primarily for archiving files in the long term. In other words, saving a document in PDF / A means preserving its format over time, thus making sure that the file is always displayed the same way regardless of the device and program used to do so.
Now that you have a clear idea of the precise purpose of the PDF / A, it’s time to take the real action: make yourself comfortable, take some free time to dedicate to myself and read carefully what I have to explain. I’m sure you will eventually be perfectly able to create documents in the format in question, so as to please your boss just in time for what is the corporate reporting period. Having said that, I just have to wish you good luck in everything.
Index
- How to create PDF / A on PC and Mac
- LibreOffice (Windows/macOS/Linux)
- Adobe Acrobat Pro (Windows/macOS)
- Microsoft Word (Windows/macOS)
- Come creare PDF/A online
- How to create PDF / A from PDF
How to create PDF / A on PC and Mac
As far as computer programs are concerned, the creation of PDF / A documents is by no means a difficult task: most office software, in fact, provides for the export of files in full compliance with this format. Below, therefore, I intend to explain how to create PDF / A on PC and Mac using some of the most popular tools useful for this purpose.
LibreOffice (Windows/macOS/Linux)
The first tool I want to invite you to consider to create PDF / A is LibreOffice . In case you have never heard of it, I inform you that it is a completely free and open source office suite, working on both Windows and macOS (as well as Linux).
All the programs included in it (Writer, Calc, Impress and so on) include among their features the export of documents in PDF / A format in a couple of clicks.
In order to use LibreOffice, first connect to its website and proceed with the download and installation as I explained to you in my guide on how to download LibreOffice .
Then, start the suite by selecting the relative link that you find in the Windows Start menu or in the MacOS Launchpad , then select from the welcome screen of the program that shows you the type of document that best suits your needs (eg. New Document Writer ) and fill it in with the desired information.
Instead, if you want to create a PDF / A file starting from an already existing document, all you have to do is click on the File menu at the top left, then on the Open item of the chosen application and select, using the file manager shown on the screen , the file you intend to act on.
In any case, once you have finished making the necessary changes, to create the file in PDF / A format, access the document export function by clicking on the File menu , choosing the Export as item and then pressing the Export to PDF format option .
Immediately after, a dialog box is displayed on the screen that allows you to choose between numerous options for saving the resulting PDF: to be able to save in PDF / A format, put the check mark next to the item PDF archive / A-1a ( ISO 19005-1) located immediately below the General box , click on the Export button located at the bottom and indicate the path in which to save the PDF / A document just created. It wasn’t difficult at all, was it?
Adobe Acrobat Pro (Windows/macOS)
Adobe Acrobat Pro is another piece of software that is great for creating PDF / A. As can be deduced from the name itself, it is a resource from Adobe (the company that developed the PDF format) through which it is possible to view and edit PDF files in various ways and which also allows you to perform the operation object of this tutorial.
It is available for both Windows and macOS and is paid (has a base cost of € 18.29 / month), but can be tried for free and without limitations for 7 days.
In order to use Adobe Acrobat Pro, first connect to its website , then proceed with the download and installation as I explained in my guide on how to download Adobe .
Next, start the program by selecting the relevant link that you find in the Windows Start menu or in the macOS Launchpad and when you see the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC window on the screen, choose the File menu at the top left, the Create option in it and then that blank page , then fill the document with the desired information.
If, on the other hand, you want to start from an already existing document, click on the File menu and then on the Open item in the latter, then select the file.
Once you have accessed the program editor, select the Tools tab at the top, click on the Show others button , locate the Standard PDF tool , press the arrow key located below it and choose the Open item from the proposed menu. At this point, set the Save as PDF / A option that you find in the right sidebar and, in the new window shown, indicate the name and location you want to give to the output file.
To finalize the procedure for creating PDF / A with Adobe Acrobat , click on the Save button . If you deem it necessary, you can also adjust the PDF / A export settings (e.g. you can select a PDF / A conversion profile other than the default one and you can choose to convert all the pages that make up the PDF into images) , by previously clicking on the Settings button and acting on the various parameters in the new window that appears.
Microsoft Word (Windows/macOS)
Another resource you can consider relying on is Microsoft Office , the famous office suite of the Redmond company, and more precisely Word , the word processing program included in it, which works on both Windows and macOS .
However, keep in mind that Office – and the software that compose it, therefore Word too – is paid (with costs starting from 7 euros / month or from 69 euros / year), but you can try it for free for 30 days, as I explained to you. in my guide on how to download Office for free .
So, in order to create PDF / A from Word , first download and install the program on your computer following the instructions I gave you in my specific tutorial on what to do .
Then, start Word by selecting the relevant link in the Windows Start menu or in the macOS Launchpad , and once the program screen is displayed, select the Blank document option from the displayed screen or click on the File menu at the top left, choose the New item in it and then the Empty document and fill the document with the information you need.
If you need to create PDF / A from an existing document, click on the File menu , then on the Open button , select the source on which the document is located and use the next panel to go to its path and import it into the program.
In any case, once the changes are completed, click again on the File menu , select the Export button and then click on the Create PDF / XPS button to start the export procedure.
Inside the window now shown, type a name to assign to the file and make sure that in the drop-down menu Save As the PDF format is specified , then click on the Options button located a little further down, put the check mark next to Compliant to ISO 19005-1 (PDF / A) and click on the OK and Publish buttons to finalize the saving of the document.
Come creare PDF/A online
If you do not want or cannot use computer software or you need to act as a smartphone or tablet, you can consider creating PDF / A online , using the special Web services running from any browser and operating system.
If this interests you, I would like to point out DocuPub , an online service that, in fact, allows you to generate PDF / A starting from other existing documents in a large number of different formats. It’s free, requires no registration, and allows you to upload files up to 20MB in size.
To use DocuPub, first connect to the home page of the service , click on the Choose file button and select the document on your device in relation to which you want to intervene.
Then, set the PDF / A item in the Output format drop-down menu , leave the Output Intent field unchanged and choose the Wait for conversion in browser item from the Delivery Method drop-down menu if you want to download the file via the browser or the Email me to link to the document if you want to receive the link to download the converted file via e-mail (in this case, you will need to release your e-mail address).
Once this step is complete, click the Upload & Convert button to upload the file and start the file conversion process. Once the conversion is finished, the file will be downloaded automatically or a download link will be sent to your email address, depending on the choice you made earlier.
How to create PDF / A from PDF
Do you already have a document in PDF format and would you like to understand how to transform it into PDF / A? In this case, you can rely on the use of special converters to, in fact, create PDF / A from PDF , working on computers, online and from smartphones and tablets, as in the case of those I reported to you in my tutorial dedicated specifically to topic .