Conversion to PDF/A 3-b removes signature fields

Hello,
If I have a PDF with signature fields, when I convert to PDF/A 3-b, the signature fields are removed (I use Acrobat Reader for verification), but when I convert to PDF/A 3-u, the signature fields remain and everything is OK. Why doesn’t this work with PDF/A 3-b?

I am using this code:

// new PDF
Aspose.Pdf.Document pdf = new Aspose.Pdf.Document();
pdf.Pages.Add();

// signaturefield
var frm = new Aspose.Pdf.Facades.FormEditor(pdf);
frm.AddField(Aspose.Pdf.Facades.FieldType.Signature, "Autor", 1, 10, 10, 110, 110);
frm.AddField(Aspose.Pdf.Facades.FieldType.Signature, "Nadrizeny", 1, 120, 150, 220, 250);

// pdf to pdf/a 3u - working!
pdf.Convert(new MemoryStream(), Aspose.Pdf.PdfFormat.PDF_A_3U, Aspose.Pdf.ConvertErrorAction.Delete);

// but PDF_A_3b - removes the signature field!!! Why?
//pdf.Convert(new MemoryStream(), Aspose.Pdf.PdfFormat.PDF_A_3B, Aspose.Pdf.ConvertErrorAction.Delete);

// save pdf
pdf.Save(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + "/" + "pdf_for_signature.pdf");

Best Regards

@Michal_Koci

We will further investigate this scenario. Would you kindly share the sample PDF document with which you performed the testing? We will log a ticket in our issue tracking system and share the ID with you.

Hello,
here’s the output in 3b format that doesn’t work:

pdf_for_signature_3b_bad.pdf

and here is the output in 3u format, which is OK:

pdf_for_signature_3u_ok.pdf

I did both via the code mentioned above.

Regards.

@Michal_Koci

Thanks for sharing the outputs. However, please also share the respective source PDF document for our reference. It would help us in investigation.

Hello,
I thought it was clear from the code what input PDF I’m using.

The code below:

        // new PDF
        Aspose.Pdf.Document pdf = new Aspose.Pdf.Document();
        pdf.Pages.Add();
        pdf.Save(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + "/" + "pdf_input.pdf");

I created the file pdf_input.pdf, which is the input file.

Regards

@Michal_Koci

We apologize for the confusion. The first line of the code was overlooked by us. Nevertheless, we have tested the case in our environment using Aspose.PDF for .NET 22.5 and were able to notice this issue. Therefore, an investigation ticket as PDFNET-51876 has been logged in our issue management system. We will further analyze this case and let you know once the ticket is resolved. Please be patient and spare us some time.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Hello, how long should I be patient?
I thought 14 days after the report was enough. Looks like not…

Hello, I found out that also the PDF_A_3A version deletes signature fields.

@Michal_Koci

Please note that the issue has recently been logged in our issue tracking system and it will be investigated and resolved on a first come first serve basis as per free support policies. We will surely look into its details and let you know once we complete the issue investigation and have some news about its resolution or ETA. Please spare us some time.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Hi Support Team

We are converting our PDF’s into PDF/3A and having the same issue on .NET (4.6) with Aspose 21.3.0.

Please see attached Project for sample Code:
SignatureFieldTest.zip (41.7 KB)

Thank you for your feedback
Kind Regards

@Baca

Another ticket as PDFNET-52215 has been logged in our issue tracking system after testing your scenario using Aspose.PDF for .NET 22.7. We will further look into its details and keep you posted with the status of its correction. Please be patient and spare us some time.

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Can you please inform us with the state of Ticket PDFNET-52215? When can we expect a fix?

Thank you and regards

@Baca

We are afraid that the ticket has not been yet fully investigated. We will surely investigate and resolve it on a first come first serve basis and let you know as soon as it is resolved. Please be patient and spare us some time.

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Any news on this ticket? Unfortunately we have to use another library to workaround this issue. We would like to use Aspose and get rid of our workaround library as soon as this issue fixed.

@Baca

We are afraid that the earlier logged ticket could not get resolved due to other issues in the queue. However, your concerns have been recorded and we will surely inform you as soon as we make some progress towards ticket resolution. We apologize for your inconvenience.

Hi Aspose Team

Still no progress on this Issue after 1,5 year?

Please see my entry to reproduce the issue.

Kind regards

@Baca

The ticket is currently under the phase of the investigation. We were already able to reproduce the issue and have been working on fixing it. The ticket could not get resolved due to other issues in the queue logged prior to it. Nevertheless, your concerns have been recorded and we will surely inform you once we have some news about ticket resolution or fix ETA.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

The issues you have found earlier (filed as PDFNET-52215,PDFNET-51876) have been fixed in Aspose.PDF for .NET 23.11.

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