With Adobe® Acrobat® 9 software, you can save any digital document as a PDF file that conforms to a variety of industry- or format-specific standards or that adheres to your organization's own unique specifications. Standardize on Acrobat to:
- Easily create and distribute electronic documents that comply with a variety of standards, including PDF/A, PDF/E, and PDF/X
- Optimize electronic documents for accessibility by people with disabilities
- Easily combine important compliance documents — from a variety of applications — into a single, searchable PDF document
- Develop and update compliance documentation using sophisticated document review tools
- Integrate industry data standards and ease business transactions by combining the power of XML with intelligent PDF technologies
Meet current standards
PDF: Invented by Adobe Systems and perfected over 15 years, PDF is now a formal, open standard. Maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO 32000 will continue to be developed with the objective of protecting the integrity and longevity of PDF, providing a formal, open standard for the more than one billion PDF files in existence today.
Visit the AIIM website: PDF Expert Corner
PDF/A: Approved by the ISO in May 2005, PDF/A supports the long-term preservation of digital documents. Using Acrobat 9, records managers, archivists, and industry compliance professionals can easily preserve and protect important electronic documents as fully searchable, protected PDF/A-compliant files.
Read about PDF for archiving (PDF, 272K)
PDF/E: Ratified by ISO as an open standard in June 2007, PDF/E provides guidelines for the reliable exchange of documentation and drawings. Architects, engineers, construction professionals, and manufacturing product teams can use Acrobat 9 to streamline the exchange of project information and to review and mark up documents, including complex 3D content.
PDF/X: Developed to facilitate the exchange of final, print-ready pages, PDF/X restricts all content — such as embedded multimedia — that does not directly serve high-quality print production output. Print professionals, graphic designers, and other creative professionals can use Acrobat 9 to create and deliver predictable, press-ready PDF/X-compliant files.
Read the FAQ: Adobe and PDF/X (PDF, 59K)
U3D: The Universal 3D (U3D) file format is an open and extensible format for sharing and viewing interactive 3D designs. Architects, engineers, and manufacturing design professionals can use Acrobat 9 to embed U3D files directly into PDF files, making it easy to distribute, review, or repurpose valuable 3D content.
Visit Ecma International: Universal 3D file format
PDF Healthcare: PDF allows healthcare providers and consumers to develop a more secure electronic container for storing and transferring healthcare information, including documents, XML data, DICOM images and data, clinical notes, lab reports, electronic forms, scanned images, photographs, digital X-rays, and ECGs. Resources on the AIIM website can help you take full advantage of the capabilities of PDF in healthcare workflows.
Purchase the Best Practices Guide
Adobe and industry standards: Adobe is an active member of key standards bodies, working groups, and industry associations that develop standards, including XML-based industry standards. We contribute ongoing resources and publish, review, and share technology.
Read about Adobe and industry standards
Prepare for future standards
PRC: PRC is a compact, flexible 3D file format for representing 3D models and assemblies. It is optimized to store, load, and display various kinds of 3D data, especially for data that represents manufactured products. Adobe has released PRC to ISO for standardization.
Read the FAQ: PRC format (PDF, 89K)
PDF/UA: PDF/UA provides guidance for making PDF information universally accessible. Businesses and government agencies can use Acrobat 9 to create PDF/UA-compliant documents that can be accessed anytime, on any hardware or software platform, by anyone — even people with disabilities, such as vision impairment or limited mobility.
Visit PDF Universal Accessibility Committee
Next steps
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