Version 9 is available

Solid Documents has just released version 9 of all our Windows software products:

Desktop Software:

Solid Converter v9
Solid PDF Tools v9
Solid PDF/A Express v9
Solid PDF to Word v9
Solid Scan to Word v9

Process Automation:
Solid Automator v9
Solid Commander v9

Free, fully functional trials are available on our website.

Changes

New features include File | Print, Search and a new scanner interface (supporting TWAIN and WIA drivers). 

We continue to focus on improvements to our industry leading PDF conversion engine, OCR and overall document reconstruction process. 

Where's my Solid Converter PDF printer driver?

If you had a pre-version 8 of Solid Converter PDF or Solid PDF Tools, you know that you would choose Solid Converter PDF (or Solid PDF Tools) when you wanted to create a PDF from the File | Print menu:

Pre-v8 printer driver

With v8 versions of our software we are shipping Solid PDF Creator as the printer driver for PDF creation. File | Print and choose Solid PDF Creator from the printer list:

v8 printer driver

Please note that Solid PDF Creator is pre-unlocked. When you purchase Solid Converter v8 or Solid PDF Tools v8, Solid PDF Creator is ready to use. File | Print | and select Solid PDF Creator and get creating PDFs.

PDF/A-1 vs. PDF/A-2

PDF/A is an archiving standard that was published in 2005 by ISO. PDF/A-1 was based on the original Adobe PDF 1.4 version. This version set the standard for ensuring that PDF content could always be visually reproduced regardless of future changes to viewing and printing technology.

PDF/A-2 was released by ISO in July 2011. PDF/A-1 files are compliant archive documents and do not need to be converted to the new standard. PDF/A-2 does not replace the PDF/A-1 standard.

So, what is the difference between these two standards you might ask.

PDF/A-1 is based on PDF version 1.4 (based on Adobe PDF specifications).

PDF/A-2 is based on the ISO standard 32000-1 and takes advantage of features that came after the Adobe PDF 1.4 specification.

What is new in PDF/A-2:

1. JPEG2000 compression (benefits for scanned color documents)
2. Embedded PDF/A files via collections/portfolios
3. Transparency
4. Optional content (layers): useful for mapping or engineering drawings or documents with multiple languages (implement different content on different layers)
5. Unicode support (PDF/A-2U)
6. Object level XMP metadata (new requirements for custom metadata)
7. Comments and annotations (defined list of acceptable and prohibited annotation and comment types for PDF/A-2)
8. Digital signature rules defined.

If you need the features and benefits of the new standard you can start creating or converting your PDF files to PDF/A-2b using Solid PDF Tools version 7.3.

Read more about PDF Standards here.