Berlin - At the events to come, callas software will be presenting a new version of pdfaPilot, which will be released end of October. The 5.0 release focuses on additional features that allow users to archive e-mails comfortably in PDF/A-3 format. The electronic messages and attachments in PDF/A format and the original e-mail are linked in a PDF/A-3 document. In addition, when embedding files pdfaPilot will offer more flexible design options when creating PDF/A-3-overview pages.

The archiving of electronic messages and attachments in various formats is complex due to ensuring a long-term reproducibility. “Provider of ECM systems often follow the path and convert emails in their product,” Dietrich von Seggern, Business Development Manager at callas software says. “The E-mail server is ahead but it is not guaranteed that these e-mails, for example in the msg format, are also long-term legible. The same is true for the attachments in a variety of formats. “callas therefore recommends consistent e-mail archiving in PDF/A and has expanded the capabilities of its pdfaPilot accordingly. The new functions will be available in both the server version and the desktop version and the software development kit. The archiving of e-mails in PDF/A-2 or PDF/A-3 format can be done either automatically or manually. When choosing for the automated way, email archiving rules can be saved. They can, for example, define which e-mails should be archived in what part of the standard or how attachments should be processed by pdfaPilot. Users can define whether they should be converted to PDF/A or embedded in the original format or both. During the conversion, no other software, such as MS Outlook or other e-mail clients must be installed. “When it comes to e-mail archiving, pdfaPilot works completely by itself,” explains Dietrich von Seggern. “The software is implemented quickly and ready for use with just a few setting preparations. And for many customers the extremely high performance, which was one of the primary design goals, will be important.”

Also new are the additional design options of overview pages in a PDF/A-3 file. These can be created automatically when generating a PDF/A-3 collection and provide information about what documents are embedded in the PDF/A-3 file. Users thus have more flexibility and can customize these pages to their individual requirements.

In addition, callas software has optimized transparency flattening for PDF/A-1 and export to PDF/UA (accessible PDF) or ePub, the standard format for eBooks. Another detail enhancement is that the rules for replacing non-existing fonts is more flexible now.

Prices and availability

pdfaPilot 5 will be available as of October 29 in two versions: pdfaPilot Server costs 4499 Euro and includes a full hot folder interface, command line support, and a complete SDK. It supports multi-processor environments for the validation of PDF/A files. pdfaPilot Server can also be purchased at a monthly rate of 224,95 Euro including SMA (minimum rental period is 3 months).

pdfaPilot Desktop costs 379 Euro. It handles individual documents or entire folders when using the batch function. As a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat or as a fast stand-alone application, pdfaPilot includes numerous tools that make documents PDF/A compliant.

As of today, all customers who will buy version 4, get a free upgrade to version 5.

For software vendors who want to integrate pdfaPilot in their solution, there is an SDK. Prices on request:[email protected].

Technical Conference – PDF Association

August 14-15 2013, Seattle, USA Delivering two full days of hard core technical education for developers and implementers of PDF applications and libraries, the PDF Association’s first Technical Conference in North America will be held August 14 and 15 at Adobe’s offices in Seattle, Washington. The conference program and more information is available here: http://www.pdfa.org/event/technical-conference-north-america-2013/.