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PDF/A validation with veraPDF

An e-depot accepts a PDF only when it really meets PDF/A. A file that only says it is PDF/A gets through Filinq's own checks and is refused later, at the archive. Filinq therefore checks documents against the standard with veraPDF, a validator installed on your own server. Documents never leave the instance, and a report holds rule references and font names only, never text from the document.

Install veraPDF​

veraPDF is a Java program the administrator installs on the Nextcloud server (see verapdf.org). Filinq looks for verapdf on the path. Point it elsewhere, switch it off or give it more time with app config:

occ config:app:set filinq filinq.verapdf.binary_path --value=/opt/verapdf/verapdf
occ config:app:set filinq filinq.verapdf.enabled --value=false
occ config:app:set filinq filinq.verapdf.max_seconds --value=120

Under Administration settings > Filinq > PDF/A validation you see whether the validator is installed and which version, or that it is switched off. Without it Filinq still checks that a PDF claims to be PDF/A, and says that this is all it checked.

Check one document​

Open a PDF in My documents and choose PDF/A report. The report shows:

  • the verdict for the level the document claims, or 3b when it claims none
  • the rules it breaks: standard, clause, test number and how many places
  • the fonts it uses without embedding them
  • what to do about it
  • which veraPDF version checked it, and when

Check against PDF/A runs the check again. A file has one report: a new check updates it.

The advice depends on where the PDF came from:

  • Made by Filinq: generate it again in Filinq, which embeds the fonts.
  • Imported or uploaded: Filinq cannot embed fonts in pages it imported whole. Convert again from the original file (for example the Word document), or expect the e-depot to refuse the PDF.
  • Other rule failures: look the rules up in the standard, fix the source and create the PDF again.

When veraPDF is missing, too slow or cannot read the file, the check says so and records no verdict. A validator that failed never reads as a pass.

Archival checks in document validation​

Document validation has an Archival checks (PDF/A) group beside the document checks:

  • pdfa-conformance-failed: the PDF breaks rules of its PDF/A level
  • pdfa-font-not-embedded: the PDF uses fonts it does not carry
  • archival-validator-unavailable: veraPDF could not run, so the PDF was not checked

They are off until a validation profile gives them a severity, in the validation.profiles app config, keyed by document type (here archive):

{ "archive": { "severities": { "pdfa-conformance-failed": "blocking", "pdfa-font-not-embedded": "warning" } } }

At severity blocking the finding stops intake the same way the other checks do. archival-validator-unavailable is always a warning, and appears only when one of the other two is on.

PDF/A-3 conversion​

When veraPDF is installed, every PDF/A-3 conversion is checked before it is returned. The response carries X-Docudesk-Pdfa3-Verified: true, false, or skipped when no validator ran. The report is stored on the source file as its PDF/A-3 conversion report.

By default a failing conversion is still returned, with false in the header. To refuse it instead:

occ config:app:set filinq filinq.pdfa3.strict_verify --value=true

The conversion then fails with reason output_validation_failed.