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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
OFFICE OF THE CLERK
1 COURTHOUSE WAY
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02210
Sarah Allison Thornton
CLERK OF COURT
CREATING PDF/A DOCUMENTS
January 26, 2011
PDF/A is a standard format that allows for the long-term archiving of electronic documents with the
assurance that the documents will be accessible in the future. At the present time, this Court is not
requiring documents to be filed in PDF/A format, and CM/ECF will accept both PDF and PDF/A
documents. However, with a future version of CM/ECF, the Court will require that CM/ECF filings
be submitted as PDF/A documents only.
More than ninety commercial products, including current versions of most word processors can
create PDF/A documents. In most cases, users simply need to update the settings in those products
to make PDF/A the default format.
This office does not recommend or require the use of any particular product.
The following pages provide basic information on converting documents from a word processor to
PDF/A. Users are referred to the software manufacturer’s help resources for definitive information.
PDF/A FOR MAC USERS
Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac cannot create PDF/A documents, but can create PDF documents
which can be converted to PDF/A. Alternately, a Mac user may install and use OpenOffice, which
is available for free; see OpenOffice settings for PDF/A.
CREATING PDF/A FROM A SCANNED DOCUMENT
Newer scanners (manufactured since 2005 or so) allow users to directly create a PDF/A. Users with
older scanners can use a conversion tool such as Acrobat 9 to convert scanned documents to PDF/A.
NOTE: it is preferred that documents filed in this district be converted to PDF/A from a word
processor, rather than scanned.
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COREL WORDPERFECT X4 SETTINGS FOR PDF/A
[You must have the WordPerfect Office X4 Hot Fix 2 installed. If you are using an older version of
WordPerfect, you must produce a PDF and then convert it to PDF/A]
From the File menu, select Publish to PDF, and click the Settings button:
Select PDF/A-1a from the “Compatibility” drop-down and click OK:
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Click OK to return to the “Publish to PDF” screen to complete document production. The
compatibility setting will remain set to PDF/A until you change it.
WORD 2007 (OR OLDER) WITH THE PDFMAKER PLUGIN
In Word 2007, click the Acrobat tab and “Preferences”:
In older versions of Word, select “Change Conversion Settings” from the Adobe PDF menu:
The “Acrobat PDFMaker” window is displayed.
• in the “Conversion Settings” drop-down, select PDF/A-1b:2005 (RGB) [“PDF/A-1b:2005
(CMYK)” is also acceptable]
• check the box for Create PDF/A-1a:2005 compliant file
• click the OK button.
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OPEN OFFICE SETTINGS FOR PDF/A
From the File menu, select “Export as PDF”.
Check the box labeled “PDF/A-1” and click the Export button.
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CREATING PDF/A DOCUMENTS WITH ACROBAT
Converting a PDF document to PDF/A with Acrobat 9 Professional
Open the PDF document, and select “Preflight” from the Advanced menu:
Under “PDF/A compliance”, select the “Convert to PDF/A-1a” option to create the PDF/A
document.
CREATING A PDF/A DOCUMENT WITH THE “PRINT” METHOD
Many web sites, such as uscourts.gov, make PDF forms (in standard PDF format) available for
filling out in a browser. If you have Acrobat 9 Professional, you can save such a form, then convert
it to PDF/A. However, if you have Acrobat 9 Standard instead of Professional, you must “print” it
from the browser, with “Adobe PDF” selected as the “printer.”
The print option is also available in word processors, in Acrobat 9 Standard and Professional, and
in other contexts. Note that it will create a file in PDF/A-1b format that is acceptable for CM/ECF
submission, but hyperlinks (if any) will not work - so use it only if you have no other option for
creating PDF/A.
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Open the PDF in the browser or other application. Select the application’s Print option (often on the
File menu). In the list of printers, select “Adobe PDF”:
Click the Properties button. On the “Adobe PDF Settings” tab, select one of the PDF/A1b:2005
options from the Default Settings drop-down [either option is OK]:
