This week in PDF has seen the announcement of new features in a PDF library, an update to a server-based PDF creation product for Mac systems and the publication of a new European standard for PDF signatures.
First up, Datalogics, a provider of Adobe's PDF developer solutions, has announced several upgrades in the latest version of the Adobe PDF Library SDK. In addition to supporting Linux 64-bit systems, the newest edition of the product adds transparency flattening and XPS-to-PDF conversion functionality. These features are based upon the same core functionality as the equivalent features in Acrobat, and users can use the SDK to build them into their own applications. Both features are accessible via the .NET, Java and C/C++ interfaces to the PDF Library. For more information, check out the official Datalogics website.
In other news, HELIOS Software GmbH has announced the latest version of its server-based creation product. The latest version of HELIOS Create PDF Server on Mac supports Adobe Acrobat Distiller versions 8 & 9 on Mac OS X. Part of HELIOS PDF HandShake UB+, the updated product now supports the same Acrobat Distiller versions for both Mac and Windows platforms. See the official vendor website for more.
Finally, ETSI has published a new standard that will facilitate secure paperless transactions throughout Europe, in conformance with European legislation. The standard defines a series of profiles for PAdES -- Advanced Electronic Signatures for Portable Document Format (PDF) documents -- that meet the requirements of the European Directive on a Community framework for electronic signatures (Directive 1999/93/EC). The standard recognizes that digitally-signed documents may be used for many years, and it must continue to be possible to confirm that the signature was valid at the time it was signed -- a concept known as Long-Term Validation (LTV).
The new standard was developed by ETSI's Electronic Signatures and Infrastructure (ESI) Technical Committee in collaboration with PDF experts. PDF is defined in a standard (ISO 32000-1) published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), so the ETSI activity included reviewing and documenting how ISO 32000-1 can satisfy the European Directive. The resulting PAdES standard, ETSI Technical Specification (TS) 102 778, also introduces a number of adaptations and extensions to PDF to satisfy the Directive's requirements. ETSI will feed these European-specific elements back into ISO for inclusion in the next release of the PDF standard, ISO 32000-2.
The PAdES standard can be downloaded, free-of-charge, from the ETSI website.
OK, so you want to stamp your document. Maybe you need to give reviewers some advice about the document's status or sensitivity. This tip from author Ted Padova demonstrates how to add stamps with the Stamp Tool along with related comments.
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