Check PDF Standards

User Guide — Mapsoft Check PDF Standards Plugin for Adobe Acrobat

Overview

Check PDF Standards is an Adobe Acrobat plugin that detects which PDF standards a document conforms to, by reading the document's XMP metadata. It can process a single file, a folder of files, or the currently open PDF in Acrobat, and can report results in an alert dialog or export them to a CSV file for record-keeping.

Standards detected include PDF/A (with conformance level), PDF/UA, PDF/X, PDF/VT, PDF/E, and PDF/VCR.

This guide describes version 1.2.1 (September 2026). Version 1.2 added named configurations, readable dates and a Modified Date column in the CSV, and folder scans that carry on past files that cannot be opened; 1.2.1 makes folder scans and typed paths work fully with Acrobat's Protected Mode switched on.

Getting Started

After installation, the plugin adds a Check PDF Standards… menu item under Extensions › Mapsoft in Adobe Acrobat. Click this to open the dialog.

1. Select your input source — a single file, folder, or the current PDF.
2. Choose your output method — alert dialog or CSV export.
3. Optionally type a name in the Name Configuration box and click Save to keep these settings for later (see Saving Configurations).
4. Click Run.

The dialog reopens with the settings you last ran, so a repeated check needs no setting up.

Input Modes

Three radio buttons control which PDF(s) are checked:

Current PDF

Checks the document that is currently open and active in Acrobat. This option is automatically selected and enabled when Acrobat has an open document. If no document is open, this option is disabled.

File

Check a single PDF file on disk. Click Browse… to select the file, or type the path directly into the field. Use this when you want to inspect one specific document.

Folder

Check all PDF files in a folder. Click Browse… to select the folder. Enable Include subfolders to process PDF files in nested directories recursively.

When processing a folder, a progress dialog shows the current file count and filename. Processing continues until all files are checked, and results are written to the CSV output file you specify. A file that cannot be opened — for example a password-protected or damaged PDF — gets an Error: row giving Acrobat's reason, and the scan carries on with the next file.

Output Modes

Show in Alert

Displays the result in a message box immediately after processing: PDF Standards: PDF/A-2b; PDF/UA when standards are declared, No PDF standards detected. when none are, or Error: followed by Acrobat's reason when the file could not be opened. This option is available for a single file or the current PDF.

Export to CSV

Saves the results to a CSV (comma-separated values) file. When you click Run, a Save dialog lets you choose the output file location. Check Open CSV in Excel to have the file opened automatically after export in the application associated with .csv files, normally Microsoft Excel.

CSV output is the recommended mode for folder processing, as it produces a permanent record of all files checked.

Saving Configurations

The Name Configuration group at the bottom of the dialog stores complete sets of settings under a name, in the same way as the other Mapsoft plug-ins. A configuration holds the input mode, the file or folder path, the Include subfolders choice and both output options.

• Save: set the dialog up, type a name in the box and click Save. Saving under an existing name asks before overwriting it.
• Load: pick a name from the drop-down list and the dialog takes on the saved settings. A configuration saved with Current PDF selected falls back to File when no document is open.
• Remove: select a name and click Remove to delete it.

Names may use letters, digits, spaces and punctuation, but not \ or /. Configurations are stored per Windows user and survive updates of the plug-in. They are separate from the last-used settings, which the dialog remembers on its own.

Standards Detected

The plugin searches the document's XMP metadata for the following namespace prefixes:

A document may conform to more than one standard. In that case all detected standards are listed, separated by semicolons — for example: PDF/A-2b; PDF/UA.

If no recognized standard namespace is found in the metadata, the message box reports No PDF standards detected. and the CSV writes None — the document either has no standard declaration or uses a format not covered above.

CSV Output Format

Each row in the exported CSV represents one PDF file. The columns are:

The first row is a header carrying these column names, so the file opens in Excel with the columns labelled. Dates are written as the document records them, without a time-zone offset, in a form Excel recognises as a date. For a file that could not be opened, the columns after PDF Standards are left empty.

System Requirements

• Adobe Acrobat: Acrobat Pro or Standard DC (2017 or later). Not compatible with Acrobat Reader.
• Operating System: Windows 10 or Windows 11 with 64-bit Adobe Acrobat.
• Protected Mode: supported. Check PDF Standards runs with Acrobat’s Protected Mode switched on and does not require it to be disabled.
• Optional: Microsoft Excel, or another application associated with .csv files, for the “Open CSV in Excel” feature.

Support

If you encounter a problem or have a question not covered here, please get in touch:

• Contact Mapsoft
• Support page

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