PDF knowledge
Find articles that provide you with practical insight into the world of PDFs. Learn all the ins and outs of PDFs, from the fundamentals to the best practices.
Tech corner
Why is the extraction of text from a PDF document such a hassle
When I use a text editing tool such as Microsoft Word then it is quite natural that I can select a portion of text and copy it to the clipboard and paste it in to a window of any other tool. Not so with PDF. At least not ...
Tech corner
Embedding fonts in PDF
I collect bad PDFs since the Reference Manual 1.0 was published in 1993 and today I have recourse to a data base of more than 100'000 real world PDF files with all kinds of faults in them. The vast majority of problems, ...
Tech corner
TIFF Mixed Raster Content (MRC) conforming to RFC 2301
Mixed Raster Content (MRC) is a process to reduce the size of raster images. It is well known since PDF/A is used to archive scanned documents. However, it has been used and standardized in RFC 2301 for TIFF files earlie ...
Tech corner
Stroking geometric paths - not as easy as it seems
In PDF geometric paths are simply described as lines and cubic bézier curves. The filling of a path is straight forward once one understands the even-odd and non-zero-winding rule. The stroking of a path however is not a ...
Tech corner
PDF transparency reviewed
This new blog thread is dedicated to the development of the PDF standard and its associated sub-standards. As a delegate of the Swiss Standardization Association (SNV) in the ISO Comittee I'm supposed to review all relat ...
Tech corner
Controlling enveloping machines using OMR markers
In this new blog thread I'd like to inform you about new features and applications of our tools. Enveloping machines can be magically controlled with these tiny dashes called OMR markers on the border of a printed sheet. ...
PDF standards
Everything you should know about PDF/A-4
PDF/A-4 was published in the fall of 2020 and is therefore the latest part of the PDF/A series of standards. It is based on ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) and is both an evolution of PDF/A-3, which is based on ISO 32000-2 (PDF1.7 ...
PDF standards
PDF Rendering 2.0 – next generation graphic engine for PDF
A good PDF rendering engine is an essential part of conversion, viewing, and printing tools. No matter which version the PDF documents have, accurate rendering and good image quality is crucial for many PDF processing wo ...