Document management — Portable document format — Part 1: PDF 1.7

Note

Adobe-published copy of ISO 32000-1:2008 (PDF 1.7), which specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents independent of the authoring or display environment.

Summary

Purpose

Standard ISO 32000-1:2008 specifies the PDF format (Portable Document Format) in its version 1.7: a digital form for representing electronic documents, which allows them to be exchanged and viewed independently of the environment in which they were created, viewed or printed ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), Document management — Portable document format — Part 1: PDF 1.7 ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), § 1 Scope.

The text in the corpus is the copy published by Adobe (first edition, 1 July 2008) ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy). Its foreword states:

Adobe states that this copy is distributed free of charge in agreement with ISO, and that technical committee ISO/TC 171 adopted the text under the fast-track procedure in 2008, on the basis of Adobe’s PDF 1.7 specification ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), Foreword.

Who it applies to

The standard is aimed at developers of software that creates PDF files (“conforming writers”), of software that reads and displays them (“conforming readers”) and of other products that read or write PDF files ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), § 1 Scope. It does not specify, in particular, processes for converting to PDF or methods for validating the conformance of files or readers ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), § 1 Scope.

Under eIDAS, Implementing Decision 2015/1505 sets the specifications for the Member States’ trusted lists Art. 1. Its Annex I provides that, when a human readable form of the trusted list is established and published, it shall be provided in the form of a PDF document according to ISO 32000, formatted according to the PDF/A profile; one footnote specifies “ISO 32000-1:2008” and another “ISO 19005-2:2011” for the PDF/A-2 profile Annex I. The same chapter adds that this form must reflect the logical model of specification ETSI TS 119 612 and be easily printable Annex I.

What the act takes from the standard

• Clauses: no particular clause; the annex refers to the standard for the format of the document Annex I.
• Adaptations: none Annex I.
• Associated standard: the PDF/A profile of standard ISO 19005-2:2011, whose text is not in the corpus as at 31-10-2026 (a sheet written by us describes it) Annex I ISO 19005-2.
• Edition: the 2008 edition of Part 1, named in a footnote Annex I.
• Condition: the requirement applies only if a human readable form is established and published; in that case, the Member State ensures that it contains the same data as the form intended for automated processing Annex I Art. 3(2).

No other act in the corpus names ISO 32000 (finding as at 31-10-2026) Annex I.

Key points

• Backward compatibility. Version 1.7 includes all the non-deprecated features of versions 1.0 to 1.6; the standard is therefore also suitable for interpreting files conforming to those versions ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), § 6 Version Designations.
• Digital signatures (introduced with PDF 1.3) are used to authenticate the identity of a user and the content of the document. The signature is computed over a digest of the document’s data; a mismatch between digests reveals a change after signing ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), § 12.8.1 General.
• Specialised formats. The standard describes full PDF; other standards govern particular uses of it, such as PDF/A (ISO 19005) for archiving ISO 32000-1:2008 (Adobe copy), Introduction.
• PAdES signatures specified by ETSI build on the PDF signatures of ISO 32000-1 ETSI EN 319 142-1 V1.2.1, § 1 Scope.

Links

• ISO 32000-1 and 32000-2 sheet ISO 32000-1/-2; ISO 19005-2 (PDF/A-2) sheet ISO 19005-2.
• PAdES signatures, ETSI EN 319 142-1 ETSI EN 319 142-1 V1.2.1; trusted lists, ETSI TS 119 612 v2.4.1 ETSI TS 119 612 V2.4.1.
• Learning path: step 5, certification and standards.

Written by Asphalia.