New US Federal Government Transfer Guidance Released

PDF Association staff // February 21, 2014

Article


The National Archives and Records Administration, the US federal agency charged with retention of government records, has just issued NARA Bulletin 2014-004, the new Transfer Guidance for federal agencies.

Last updated in 2003, this Bulletin "specifies which file formats are acceptable when transferring permanent electronic records to NARA." The guidance applies to all federal records.

This iteration of NARA's Transfer Guidance incorporates a number of changes specific to distinct categories of documents.

For CAD

  • PDF/E and PRC are "acceptable"

For Scanned Text

  • PDF/A-1 is "preferred"
  • PDF/A-2 is "acceptable"

For Digital Posters

  • PDF/A-1 is "preferred"

For Presentation Formats

  • PDF/A-1 is "preferred"
  • PDF/A-2 is "acceptable"

For Textual Data Formats

  • PDF/A-1 and PDF/A-2 are "preferred"
  • PDF 1.7 and PDF 1.0 - 1.6 are "acceptable" 

See NARA's 2014-004 Transfer Guidance, Appendix A for more details. PDF Association Vice Chairman Duff Johnson has written an unofficial summary of the changes as they pertain to PDF.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

PDF Association logo
PDF Association staff

The PDF Association is the meeting-place of the PDF industry. The staff of the PDF Association are dedicated to delivering the information, services and value the members have come to expect. Staff members of the PDF Association include: Duff Johnson (Chief Executive Officer) Thomas Zellmann (PDF Evangelist) Matthias Wagner (Operations Director) Alexandra Oettler (Editor) Nicole Gauger (Editor)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

PDF Association logo

PDF Association staff

The PDF Association is the meeting-place of the PDF industry. The staff of the PDF Association are dedicated to delivering …

© 2020 Assosiation for Digital Document Standards e.V. | Privacy Policy | Imprint