Should PDF Be Used for Archiving Electronic Records?

• Author: PHILLIPS, JOHN T.
• Position: Portable document format

Preserving and archiving electronic records for extended periods of time requires attention to both technology and business issues. With the proliferation of software to produce electronic documents comes a growing need to store those documents in a standard electronic format.

Printing documents to paper for long-term archiving may be a convenient and reasonable solution when documents must be retained for 10 years or more. Printing documents avoids the need to address long-term technology and data storage issues. However, storing documents in paper format requires large amounts of space for storage and lengthy time for retrieving even thoroughly indexed documents. In addition, conversion to paper format negates many benefits of managing records electronically, such as the ability to search document content and to transmit documents over computer networks quickly.

Several issues must be addressed to ensure that records produced and retained electronically will be available and readable in the distant future. Hardware and software that can read the records must be available, or the records must be converted accurately and authentically to readable formats for display by newer computer technology. Data files must be sufficiently standardized to enable those other than the record's creator to view its content. Otherwise, the record's usefulness is compromised. Because most office automation products, such as word processors, spreadsheets, graphics, and database software, produce data files in formats that are proprietary to their vendors, there is an increasing need for these files to be stored in a common standard file format that can be easily created and viewed by the general population.

To be universally usable, a document format must be readable without regard to the specific software available on individuals' desktops. Users, then, must not be required to have a specific vendor's software nor be bound by software versions, operating systems, and other local computer infrastructure issues. If someone external to the organization sends a document, the recipient should be able to accept, read, and print it. In addition, everyone should be able to produce documents themselves in a format universally usable by others.

Portable document format (PDF) files can be created from most any desktop application with Adobe Exchange software, a product increasingly hailed as a de facto standard for universal access to electronic documents over the Internet. So why not use this easy and readily available solution for producing all records in electronic format? As we will see, there are issues that affect PDF's usefulness for creating, distributing, and storing electronic documents designated as records for retention. Hardware and software technology, metadata capture, business processes used in file creation, and the intricacies of PDF make this file format right for certain applications while possibly inappropriate for others.

Data Formats Proliferate

The best solution for preservation of electronic documents will vary with the business application and the expectations of document use over time. Smaller organizations often use native file formats such as Microsoft Word as "standards" for electronic document storage so that they can control software versions used to produce documents and keep costs minimal. However, this simple means of establishing an electronic document standard often unravels after about two version upgrades, which is when many older files become less readable or...