How To Convert PDF to PDFA in C++

Understanding PDF/A

PDF/A, an ISO-standardized PDF variant, is designed to preserve documents over time, maintaining content accessibility and integrity. In contrast to a regular PDF file, a PDF/A file comes with specific restrictions that assure its robustness and self-sufficiency.

This article guides you through the process of converting PDF documents into PDF/A format using the QPDF library in C++. QPDF, a powerful C++ library, empowers developers to programmatically manage and convert PDF documents, including PDF-to-PDF/A conversion, in just a few lines of code.

QPDF C++ Library

QPDF is a C++ library and command-line tool designed to support working with, transforming, and parsing PDF files. It allows developers to programmatically access and manipulate the content of PDF files, with broad support. QPDF is an open-source project that offers a range of features, including encryption, decryption, linearization, optimization, and PDF/A conformance.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following set up:

1. Code::Blocks IDE: Download and install Code::Blocks from the official website (Code::Blocks Official Site).
2. QPDF Library: Download the latest version of the QPDF library for your operating system from the QPDF website (QPDF Official Site).

Creating a PDF to PDF/A Project

1. Open Code::Blocks: Launch the Code::Blocks IDE on your computer.
2. Create a New Project: Click File in the top menu, then select New, followed by Project.
3. Choose Project Type: In the New from template window, choose Console application and click Go. Select C/C++ language and click Next.
4. Enter Project Details: Provide a project name in the Project title field (e.g., "PDFtoPDFA"). Choose where to save project files and click Next.
5. Select Compiler: Choose a compiler, and if needed, manually select one from the list. Click Finish.

Adding QPDF to the Project

To include the QPDF header files in Code::Blocks, follow these steps:

1. Click Project in the menu.
2. Select Build options from the context menu.
3. In the Build options dialog, go to the Search directories tab.
4. In the Compiler tab, click the Add button and browse to the directory containing the QPDF header files (usually located in the include folder).
5. Then, in the Link tab, click the Add button and include lib and bin directories.
6. Click OK to close the Build options dialog.

Additionally, you need to establish a connection with the QPDF library during the linking phase. Follow these steps:

1. In the Build options dialog, go to the Linker settings tab.
2. Under Link Libraries, click Add, then browse to the directory with QPDF library files (usually with a .a or .lib file extension on Windows).
3. Click Add again, and enter the QPDF library's name (e.g., libqpdf.a or qpdf.lib).
4. Click OK to close the Build options dialog.

Steps to Convert PDF to PDF/A File

#include <iostream>
#include <qpdf/QPDF.hh>
#include <qpdf/QPDFWriter.hh>

// The above code includes necessary header files for standard input/output operations and QPDF functionalities.

#include <iostream>
#include <qpdf/QPDF.hh>
#include <qpdf/QPDFWriter.hh>

// The above code includes necessary header files for standard input/output operations and QPDF functionalities.

std::string input_pdf_path = "input.pdf";
std::string output_pdf_a_path = "output.pdfa";

// These lines declare and initialize strings to store the paths of the input PDF and the output PDF/A file.

std::string input_pdf_path = "input.pdf";
std::string output_pdf_a_path = "output.pdfa";

// These lines declare and initialize strings to store the paths of the input PDF and the output PDF/A file.

QPDF input_pdf;
input_pdf.processFile(input_pdf_path.c_str());

// Create a QPDF object for the input PDF and process the file to prepare it for conversion.

QPDF input_pdf;
input_pdf.processFile(input_pdf_path.c_str());

// Create a QPDF object for the input PDF and process the file to prepare it for conversion.

QPDFWriter writer(input_pdf, output_pdf_a_path.c_str());

// This creates a QPDFWriter object to handle writing the converted PDF/A file.

QPDFWriter writer(input_pdf, output_pdf_a_path.c_str());

// This creates a QPDFWriter object to handle writing the converted PDF/A file.

writer.setQDFMode(true);
writer.write();

// Set the QPDFWriter to operate in PDF/A compliant mode and write the output file.

writer.setQDFMode(true);
writer.write();

// Set the QPDFWriter to operate in PDF/A compliant mode and write the output file.

Convert PDF to PDF/A in C#

IronPDF Library is a .NET PDF library that provides comprehensive functionalities for working with PDF documents. It allows developers to create, modify, and convert PDF documents using C# or VB.NET. Users can use IronPDF for generating PDF files from HTML, ASPX, Word documents (.doc), or images dynamically and incorporate rich elements like charts, tables, and image data (like JPG, PNG formats). It also enables merging, splitting, and editing pages of existing PDF files, along with text extraction and content manipulation of PDF data.

IronPDF facilitates conversion of PDF to the PDF/A-3b Format standard with just a few lines of code. The following code helps to achieve this task:

using IronPdf;

// Create a PdfDocument object or open any PDF file
PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("wikipedia.pdf");

// Use the SaveAsPdfA method to save to file
pdf.SaveAsPdfA("pdf-a3-wikipedia.pdf", PdfAVersions.PdfA3);

// The above C# code demonstrates the use of IronPDF to convert a PDF document to a PDF/A-3b compliant file.

using IronPdf;

// Create a PdfDocument object or open any PDF file
PdfDocument pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("wikipedia.pdf");

// Use the SaveAsPdfA method to save to file
pdf.SaveAsPdfA("pdf-a3-wikipedia.pdf", PdfAVersions.PdfA3);

// The above C# code demonstrates the use of IronPDF to convert a PDF document to a PDF/A-3b compliant file.

Conclusion

This article guides you through the C++ conversion of a standard PDF document into PDF/A format using the QPDF libraries. PDF/A compliance ensures content preservation and accessibility, making it ideal for archiving.

IronPDF also supports various format conversions such as HTML, images, and Word documents to PDF files. For further information, please visit this IronPDF Documentation Page.

IronPDF provides a free trial of IronPDF to test the functionality for commercial production. Download IronPDF directly.