Signature fields after converting to pdf/A

Hello,

I’m evaluating the conversion of PDF to PDF/A-3u. After converting a PDF that includes signature fields, those fields can’t be signed anymore. Existing signatures are embeded as images and can’t be validated anymore. Is it possible to keep the functionality of the signature fields, after converting to PDF/A?

Greetings,
Bernhard

@BernhardHeinrich

As per the PDF/A compliance rules, any change to the PDFA document is prohibited which seems the reason of this behavior that you are experiencing. Any change to the PDF/A compliant document revokes its validity. So, it is always recommended to sign a PDF document before converting it to PDF/A format.

Furthermore, we will try to investigate further if signature fields can remain intact after conversion to PDF/A. Would you please share a sample PDF document for our reference? We will log an investigation ticket and share the ticket ID with you.

Since signing a PDF doesn’t change the document itself, it should still be PDF/A compliant.

I’ve attached a sample PDF with two unsigned signature fields.
Testdokument.pdf (46.7 KB)

@BernhardHeinrich

We have tested the scenario in our environment and noticed that the signature fields were disabled in the output. It seems that it is because the PDF/A document is opened in Read Only mode by Adobe Reader.

We have logged an investigation ticket as PDFNET-49367 in our issue tracking system to further analyze this case. We will look into its details and keep you posted with the status of its rectification. Please be patient and spare us some time.

The issues you have found earlier (filed as PDFNET-49367) have been fixed in Aspose.PDF for .NET 21.10.