Creating a PDF/A -compliant file of your thesis
Why use PDF/A?
All theses submitted and archived at Aalto University via the MyStudies or eAge system must be in PDF/A format.
What is PDF/A?
PDF/A is an ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for use in the archiving and long-term preservation of electronic documents. You can submit your thesis in one of the following PDF/A standards: PDFA/-1a, PDFA/-1b, PDFA/-2a or PDFA/-2b. '1' refers to the older, first standard published in 2005 and '2' to the next, newer one published in 2011. The letter 'a' stands for accessible and 'b' is for basic. Thus, the former has stricter requirements than the latter.
PDF/A-2a should be preferred over the other standards whenever possible (this is possible with Word on Mac and Windows). For now, with the LaTeX template only PDF/A-2b is possible.
Official thesis templates
Use the official thesis templates from here (Wiki; you may have to log in):
Detailed instructions for creating a PDF/A file
- Use the official LaTeX template to write your thesis. The template default setup creates a PDF/A-2b-compatible file directly; no post-processing is required.
Do not use other, perhaps older, templates from the internet or those given to you by your peers or colleagues. If you use a template available in Overleaf, ensure it is the same version as that on the official site. - The template, which supports text in Finnish, Swedish and English, is self-explanatory. Do not make any adjustments to create a PDF/A file; just ensure that option a-2b is used in \documentclass to create a PDF/A-2b compliant file.
- When embedding pdf images into your tex file, ensure that the fonts used in the image file are embedded in the file. If possible, create a PDF/A-2b-compatible image pdf file to be embedded.
To create suitable Matlab pdf graphic files, see General guidelines to create a PDF/A file as well as instructions for creating a PDF file with Matlab. - Every time you embed a new PDF image or data file into your LaTeX document, verify that the resulting document file conforms to the PDF/A-2b (or PDF/A-1b) standard. In this way, should there be issues with conformity, you will know the source of the problem. This is not necessary with jpg or png files.
- Avoid merging/combining separate pdf files with the LaTeX-produced PDF with some tool like PDF-XChange or Acrobat Pro to produce the complete pdf. Instead, write the content into the tex file: use the official LaTeX template.
Especially for BIZ students: Do not create PDFs of the cover and abstract pages from, say, a Word document, and then merge them with the LaTeX pdf. This approach is fraught with trouble. Use the official LaTeX template since the cover and abstract pages are created automatically. If instructed otherwise by your department, the advice is outdated. - If the generated PDF/A turns out not to be PDF/A compliant, see the PDF/A guide below for help. If the advice in the guide does not help you, as an absolutely last resort, you can try to fix the bad PDF file and convert it into a valid PDF/A format by using PDF-XChange, as described in the instructions for docx-file conversion in section PDF to PDF/A (Method 1) in Detailed instructions with screenshots for creating a PDF/A file from a Word document both in Windows and Mac.
- Use the official Windows template.
- Save the docx file as a pdf:
Save as -> PDF (*.pdf) -> More options -> Options
Choose ‘Document structure tags for accessibility’ and ‘PDF/A compliant’ and click OK.
The resulting pdf file is PDF/A-3a-compliant. The details with screenshots are in section ‘Creating a PDF/A file from Word: PDF/A-2 compliance’ in Detailed instructions with screenshots for creating a PDF/A file from a Word document both in Windows and Mac. - Open the pdf file in PDF-XChange, click the Enable Editing button, and add metadata to the file.
For details, see section ‘Add metadata’ in Detailed instructions with screenshots for creating a PDF/A file from a Word document both in Windows and Mac. - While still in PDF-XChange, convert the open pdf file to conform to the PDF/A-2a standard.
See the details in section ‘PDF to PDF/A (Method 1)’ in Detailed instructions with screenshots for creating a PDF/A file from a Word document both in Windows and Mac. - Create, test, and verify the thesis PDF/A file every now and then during the writing process (see how below).
- Use the official Windows template.
- To create your pdf file, do File -> Save as -> PDF -> ‘Best for print’.
Do not choose ‘Best for electronic distribution and accessibility’. Yes, this is strange. - Use the virtual desktop environment to open PDF-XChange virtually in Windows (instructions at https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/vdiaaltofi-how-to-use-aalto-virtual-desktop-infrastructure).
You can use HTML Access—Method 2—in the instruction page so that you don’t have to install the client on your computer. - Open the pdf file in PDF-XChange, click the Enable Editing button, and add metadata to the file.
For details, see section ‘Add metadata’ in Detailed instructions with screenshots for creating a PDF/A file from a Word document both in Windows and Mac. - While still in PDF-XChange, convert the open pdf file to conform to the PDF/A-2a standard.
See the details in section ‘PDF to PDF/A (Method 1)’ in Detailed instructions with screenshots for creating a PDF/A file from a Word document both in Windows and Mac. - Create, test, and validate the thesis PDF/A file every now and then during the writing process (see how below).
Test your PDF/A file
When converting your file from one format to another, even from PDF to PDF/A, the result can be a file that contains images of the pages in the original PDF file put together. This file may be a valid PDF/A file, but it is not an acceptable PDF file: in a proper, acceptable PDF or PDF/A file text is text and not an image of the text. Turnitin, the system that is used to get the similarity report as part of the graduating process, accepts only proper PDF files, hence the importance of this aspect.
A simple test of a proper pdf file is that you should be able to select text, even one character, with your mouse in all parts of your thesis document: the cover page, the abstract page(s), the body text, figure and table captions, footnotes and so on.
Validate your PDF/A file
Validation means checking to see whether the PDF/A file meets the requirements of the specified PDF/A standard. This is done using a dedicated application that is also available on the internet.
Validate your PDF/A file here:pdf-online.com
If your PDF/A file conforms to the chosen standard, the validation result will look something like this:
File filename.pdf
Compliance pdfa-2a
Result: Document validated successfully.
Validate your thesis file for PDF/A compliance well in time
Already well before your thesis is ready, verify that the pdf file of your incomplete thesis is PDF/A-compatible. This applies to all users, LaTeX (Overleaf or your own setup) as well as Word (Mac or Windows). In this way, you will avoid unpleasant surprises before the submission deadline.
Use the official templates from here (Wiki; you may have to log in):
For Word users, we recommend using PDF-XChange to create your PDF/A from the PDF file produced by Word (see the instructions above) because it is installed on all Aalto computers. Choose the format PDF/A-2a or PDF/A-2b.
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