How to Validate PDF/A Files Online and Offline

Effortlessly validate your PDF documents for PDF/A compliance using Xodo's PDF Validator tools, available both online and offline on desktop.

Ensuring the long-term preservation and accessibility of digital documents is more crucial than ever. As file formats evolve, it's essential to future-proof your documents with the PDF/A standard.

PDF/A compliance guarantees that all elements needed for proper rendering are embedded within the file, which is vital for legal, financial, and governmental documents where long-term preservation is required.

This standard helps maintain document readability and integrity, essential for audits, disputes, and historical reviews.

New to the PDF/A format?

We’ll explain what PDF/A files are and how to efficiently validate them online and offline with Xodo, ensuring compliance with file regulations.

What is a PDF/A file?

A PDF/A is a type of PDF file used specifically for preserving and archiving digital documents, ensuring that they can’t be altered, but can be accessible and readable in the future regardless of the software or platform being used.

The standard is essentially a profile of requirements that are designed to maintain the document's integrity over time. PDF/A files are essential in any industry that requires document retention compliance.

While applying standards and compliance to your PDFs may seem complicated, it isn’t. You can validate your PDF/A files online with a few clicks.

How to Validate PDF/A files online

To validate PDF/A files for compliance online using Xodo, follow these quick steps:

1. Go to Xodo’s free online PDF/A validator.
2. Upload your PDF file.
3. Xodo will automatically validate it and provide you with confirmation of its PDF/A status.

If your file meets the PDF/A standard, you’ll get details on the conformance level, ISO name, and any issues that need to be addressed.

With Xodo, you can test PDF/A compliance against a wide range of PDF/A standards and their respective conformance levels:

• PDF/A-1 (PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-1b)
• PDF/A-2 (PDF/A-2a, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-2u)
• PDF/A-3 (PDF/A-3a, PDF/A-3b, PDF/A-3u)
• PDF/A-4 (PDF/A-4e, PDF/A-4u)

Each standard outlines a different set of features, compression, and file specifics for preserving content, while conformance levels dictate the 'accessibility' requirements that affect how that content is interpreted.

How to Validate PDF/A offline (on desktop)

To validate PDF/A files offline on your desktop, use Xodo PDF Studio. Here’s how:

1. Download and install Xodo PDF Studio on your Windows, Mac, or Linux.
2. Launch Xodo PDF Studio.
3. Go to Document > Preflight > PDF/A.
4. Select the PDF/A conformance level you wish to validate from the options provided.

Xodo will automatically analyze your document and display a dialog with a list of its results.

If you need to, you can select options to Add comments for preflight errors and Include a report of the results to the document.

Xodo PDF Studio provides you with everything you need to validate PDF/A on your desktop. You can easily check it for compliance with:

• PDF/A
• PDF/UA

and even other PDF standards like PDF/X-1a:2001, PDF/X-1a:2003, PDF/X-3:2003, and PDF/X-4.

Can I convert PDF to PDF/A?

Yes, you can use Xodo to quickly convert PDF to PDF/A online for free with just a few clicks.

Simply navigate to Xodo’s online PDF to PDF/A converter tool and upload your PDF.

Then choose the PDF/A standard and conformance level you need and click on Convert. Finally, download your converted PDF/A file.

Note that Xodo allows you to batch upload and convert multiple PDF files into PDF/A documents at once.

Archive your documents & more with Xodo

With all the advantages and tools we covered on PDF/A above, you can gain peace of mind that your digital documents and content is preserved and can be accessed over time.

You have everything you need to validate PDF/A compliance both online and on your desktop, as well as convert standard PDFs to PDF/A format with ease.

Archiving important records, preparing legal documents, or ensuring compliance with industry standards, is just a preview of what Xodo can help you with.

From PDF editing and annotating to conversion and batch processing, both online and desktop versions are more than capable of tackling your PDF tasks.

Explore other Xodo web tools and see how they fit into your workflow!