PDF Days 2022 Outlook: Topic Block 2 - Implementation

Since the PDF Association divided workshops and presentations into three thematic blocks, we compiled a short overview for each topic. The three tracks cover practical experience, implementation, and technology.

Here you will find the presentations planned for the implementation track. The topics focus on practical experience with strong emphasis on implementation and technology. Examples include auto-tagging, standards such as PDF/R, PDF/X, and PDF/VT, and implementation questions such as building a PDF library in Ruby.

Block 2: Implementation​

  • Presentation by Dietrich von Seggern and Duff Johnson: ISO TC 171 SC 2 and TC 130: a summary - what were the most important ISO-related developments since 2019?

  • Contribution by Prof. Chris Prom: Email archiving in PDF format: PDF offers an approach that can be used for archiving email messages, folders and even accounts. This session provides an update on the activities of the EA-PDF Liaison Working Group.

  • PDF and CQRS/ES: how can PDF be combined with modern software architecture? When documents are edited, history is often lost. In this session, Francois Fernandes shows how to combine document history and business processes with CQRS and event sourcing. Concrete examples show how actions on documents can be tracked, stored, and replayed to examine each process step.

  • Learning to tag with Richard Cohn: what advances are there in using machine learning to tag PDF documents? Existing auto-tag technology is being enhanced with machine learning algorithms to improve the overall PDF reading experience on mobile and beyond. The session explores what improving the auto-tag process for accessibility can look like.

  • Tagged and accessible PDF files with LaTeX: the current state of the project (Frank Mittelbach).

  • The Ghent Workgroup specifications, which build on ISO PDF/X standards, are used worldwide and integrated into many major graphics applications. The Ghent Workgroup last published a major specification in 2015, which included a change from PDF/X-1a to PDF/X-4. Learn more about the GWG 2022 specification from David van Driessche.

  • PDF in variable data printing - Variable data printing requirements and their relation to PDF features. PDF is becoming increasingly important in variable data printing, an area long dominated by AFP. However, the range of applications for PDF is much broader. The PDF Association's Print Product Metadata LWG has published best practice guides for variable data printing based on PDF/VT. These guides support developers of products for the creation and use of PDF files and their users. This presentation by Dietrich von Seggern will introduce the best practice guides and provide further background information.

  • Restoring deformed tables in scanned PDF files: https://www.pdfa.org/presentation/deformed-table-restoration-in-scanned-pdf/. Problems from everyday practice: Many tables are published in non-editable formats, e.g., as scanned PDFs or photos. Xiong Longfei explores methods for reconstructing tables.

  • Implementing a PDF library in Ruby: What is involved in creating a fully functional, fast and memory-efficient PDF library? HexaPDF is a PDF library written in Ruby. It aims to provide the full range of PDF functionality except for rendering. You can read all about it in the article by Thomas Leitner.

  • Important follow-up talk to the presentation about the File Observatory at PDF Days 2021 by Tim Allison: Progress and results of the analysis of 8 million PDFs collected by Common Crawl.

  • Summary by Rene Rebe: how PDF/R is transforming image capture for mobile devices and the cloud. What developments took place in 2021/22 regarding PDF/R, and what outlook can be given for ongoing work to include highly compressed images in a PDF/R 1.1 revision.

In the next part, you will learn everything about topic block 3 - technology.

Previous part: Topic block 1 - Practical experience.