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callas pdfaPilot 2.1 now also converts Microsoft Office documents to PDF/A

Tuesday 09. February 2010 - Additional features of the new version: support of PDF/A-1a, enhanced handling of XMP metadata as well as transparency flattening when publishing

callas software has further developed the functionality of its flagship product pdfaPilot and integrated it into the new version 2.1. pdfaPilot now also converts documents, spreadsheets and presentations created within Microsoft Office, rule compliant to PDF/A. Additionally it offers new features that enable improved conversion to PDF/A-1a. Unlike PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-1a also requires specific information on the document structure and the the reading flow. This information allows an accessible, logical and correct presentation with an eBook reader or on mobile devices. The dissolution of transparencies in PDF/A such as shadows or translucent objects that are prohibited in the PDF/A standard, further enhances conversion options. pdfaPilot 2.1 is the first ever product, that can automatically convert PDF files with transparent objects to PDF/A.

callas software’s pdfaPilot was one of the first PDF/A tools on the market, after the publication of the ISO standard PDF/A in 2006. Since then, the performance of the solution continuously expanded. While in the beginning the key focus was on validation of PDF/A documents, it now offers more and more in depth conversion options and comprehensive features that enable companies and governments to implement their archiving strategy according to the ISO standard. The software is very strong in functional areas – in addition to the testing and conversion of PDF/A documents – when handling XMP metadata. pdfaPilot 2.1 not only converts PDF documents, but also Microsoft Office files such as documents, spreadsheets or presentations to PDF/A. All kind of formats such as doc, rtf, xls, csv, ppt, docx, xlsx, pptx, etc. that are used in MS-Office programs, are supported.


Support of higher PDF/A-1a format
callas has placed great emphasis on the support of PDF/A-1a, which is, compared to PDF/A-1b that “only” ensures long-term visual reproduction, the superior. It also requires assigning the contents of a PDF document, so that its logical structure (“tagged PDF”) remains detectable as well as sufficient character set information, so that the full text can be interpreted as Unicode. This is the precondition so that text can be copied from the PDF and that a ScreenReader can read the text. “With the conversion to PDF/A-1a, users can make sure that their documents are readable and accessible on mobile devices or eBook readers and that they can be displayed logically within their structure,” explains Olaf Drümmer, Managing Director of callas software GmbH.

Converting presentations to PDF/A according to standards
Another new feature of pdfaPilot version 2.1 is resolving the so-called transparencies. For example these are caused by shades created in the layout, or by overlapping objects in a powerpoint presentation. The PDF/A-1-Standard prohibits such transparent objects so that the object structure must be recalculated for conversion to PDF/A. pdfaPilot users can resolve this by “flattening” the transparent objects. All new features are available in pdfaPilot Desktop 2.1 as well as in the server products pdfaPilot Server, pdfaPilot CLI and pdfaPilot SDK. The conversion of Office documents requires Microsoft Office 2007 and is therefore only available on the Windows platform.