PDF/A-2b and PDF/A-3b, checked by veraPDF

One setting, and only a file that passed

Choose the level in the template’s page setup, or ask for it per request with pdf.pdfa. The answer is the PDF your template renders, converted and checked as the last step, after a merge, a watermark and the mark on test renders. The file you receive is the file that was checked.

• Two levels. "2b" for PDF/A-2b, "3b" for PDF/A-3b, and true for "3b".
• No best-effort mode. A file that does not pass is not delivered, and no ordinary PDF takes its place: the render fails and names the rules. Whoever asked for an archive file should not find out years later that they got another.
• Every plan, no extra unit. PDF/A is part of every plan, Free included, and a render costs what it costs without it.

{
  "template": "annual-report",
  "data": { "report": { "year": 2026, … } },
  "settings": { "pdf": { "pdfa": "2b" } }
}

Which level

Both are the basic level b: the file looks the same wherever it is opened. They differ in what may be attached to the file.

Checked before delivery, and the report stays

The converted file is held against the rules of its level by veraPDF, the open-source validator of the PDF Association and the Open Preservation Foundation. The verdict is the render’s pdfa field, comes with the webhook and downloads from the render log. Every PDF example on this site passes at both levels.

• A report to keep. It names the level, the validator and its version, and the SHA-256 of the file it judged, so the verdict belongs to exactly the file you archive.
• Never an unchecked file. When the validator does not answer, the render answers 503 and can be retried. A render that asked for PDF/A is never delivered without the check.

{
  "id": "rnd_7da09ab6cd9946b798c187c2a9350852",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "pdfa": {
    "standard": "PDF/A-2b",
    "conformant": true,
    "validator": "veraPDF 1.30.2",
    "versions": { "verapdf": "1.30.2", "pdfbox": "3.0.8" },
    "pdf_sha256": "9f2c0e5d…",
    "messages": []
  }
}

With an e-invoice and with PDF/UA-1

An e-invoice is a PDF/A-3b already, and accessible PDFs go with PDF/A in the same file.

• E-invoices. "3b" beside an e-invoice converts nothing twice and adds the pdfa report, made of the e-invoice’s own validation. "2b" is refused: the invoice’s XML is an attachment, which PDF/A-2 does not allow.
• PDF/UA-1. With pdf.ua beside it, the conversion keeps the tags, and the file you receive is held to its PDF/A level and to PDF/UA-1 in one step. The render carries both reports.

What fails, and why

What Formfeed renders from HTML passes as it is. What fails comes from elsewhere, and the render names the rule and the object of the PDF:

• Fonts that are not embedded. A PDF you append with post.merge_after that names a font without carrying it. Create that PDF again with its fonts embedded.
• Chinese, Japanese and Korean text in Word templates. The office converter writes these fonts with widths that disagree with the PDF, which no repair reaches. Use an HTML template for such text.
• Attachments at PDF/A-2b. PDF/A-2 takes only attachments that are PDF/A themselves. Choose PDF/A-3b; Formfeed never drops an attachment to make a file pass.

What the format does not settle

PDF/A is a file format. Keeping documents as a law asks, the German GoBD for business records among them, is a matter of how the archive is run: where the files are stored, that they cannot be changed or deleted unnoticed, that they are found again for the whole period, and how the procedure is documented. None of that is in a file, and none of it is Formfeed’s:

• Formfeed is not an archive. Outputs are kept for your plan’s retention period, then deleted. Store every file you have to keep in your own archive; bring your own storage copies each render into your bucket as it is made.
• Archive the delivered file. A file another program saved again is no longer the one that was checked. Keep the report beside it.
• No legal advice. Which documents you keep, in which format and for how long, is for you and your tax adviser to decide.

What Formfeed does not do

Formfeed writes the format and checks it. Some things it does not do yet:

• PDF/A-1 and the levels u and a. PDF/A-1 forbids the transparency browsers write. The levels u and a are not offered; for a file a screen reader can read, set PDF/UA-1 beside it.
• Files you send. Formfeed converts the PDFs it renders. The PDF tools do not convert a file you upload, and they refuse to watermark or protect a PDF/A, which would change a checked file.
• A password. PDF/A forbids encryption, so a password beside it is refused.

FAQ

Which plans have it, and what does it cost?

Every plan, Free included, and no extra unit. A render that fails costs nothing, and test renders and the editor’s true render are converted and checked like any other.

PDF/A-2b or PDF/A-3b?

Whichever your archive or your recipient takes. Without such a rule, PDF/A-3b is the default and what an e-invoice is; PDF/A-2b keeps any attachment out.

Does a PDF/A file settle the GoBD for us?

No file can. The GoBD ask how documents are kept, found and protected from change. PDF/A is the format that makes a file readable in years, checked by a validator, with the report that says so.

Does it work with Word and PowerPoint templates?

Yes. Their PDF output is converted and checked the same way. Chinese, Japanese and Korean text in such a template does not pass yet.

Where are the details?

The guide to PDF/A lists the levels, what fails and why, the report and the errors.

More features

• Editor
• Visual editor
• API
• Templates
• Word and PowerPoint
• E-invoices
• Accessible PDFs
• Brand kit
• Releases