Adding Watermark to PDF/A-2 File

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   When I add a Watermark image to a PDF/A-2b formatted file and then check for validation (using the Online PDF/A Validator from Solid Documents) I receive several Fatal errors:

 <problem severity="fatalError" objectID="70" clause="6.4" standard="pdfa" page="1">The key 'SMask' is prohibited for PDF object 'Image'. Try to use another part of PDF/A standard (e.g. PDF/A-2)</problem> 

Am I allowed to add a watermark to a PDF/A-2 document after it has been created and then re-save it using the QP.SaveToFile function?

Chris

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
chrisreed Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 29 Apr 13 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote chrisreed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Adding Watermark to PDF/A-2 File Posted: 15 Oct 13 at 4:47AM
	When I add a Watermark image to a PDF/A-2b formatted file and then check for validation (using the Online PDF/A Validator from Solid Documents) I receive several Fatal errors: <problem severity="fatalError" objectID="70" clause="6.4" standard="pdfa" page="1">The key 'SMask' is prohibited for PDF object 'Image'. Try to use another part of PDF/A standard (e.g. PDF/A-2)</problem> Am I allowed to add a watermark to a PDF/A-2 document after it has been created and then re-save it using the QP.SaveToFile function? Chris

chrisreed Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 29 Apr 13 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote chrisreed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Oct 13 at 3:32AM
	It seems this might be a problem with the latest version of PDFCreator (v1.7.1). Even though it states the format is PDF/A-2b it seems to be encoded as PDF/A-1b. However transparency (for watermarks) is only supported in the newer PDF/A-2b format - I have asked them is this a typo in their menu selections or have they got the encoding wrong. Chris.

chrisreed Members Profile Find Members Posts Team Player Joined: 29 Apr 13 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote chrisreed Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 Feb 14 at 8:31AM
	QuickPDF can add a watermark to a PDF, although it's not as simple as having a function called "Add WaterMark" with options for transparency etc.. (perhaps this will be added into future versions of QuickPDF ) The problem was PDFCreator does NOT seem to be creating PDF/A-2b compliant files and so I'm sure even the application you mentioned would still have problems. I'm just hoping the developers of PDFCreator will bring out a new version with this problem fixed. Chris