Metadata in workflows

The metadata of the resulting PDF can be customized in all workflows.

note

All metadata is applied to the main result document only, and not to embedded files or any other document contained therein.

All runtime options to further customize the metadata must be set at job level, not at document level.

Standard properties

The four standard PDF metadata properties that can be customized are Author, Title, Subject, and Keywords.

A fixed value can be configured in the profile configuration for each of the properties. If no value is configured, the original value is preserved (if available).

The values can also be provided dynamically using the following job options:

Option	Description
META.AUTHOR	The author of the document
META.TITLE	The title of the document
META.SUBJECT	The subject of the document
META.KEYWORDS	Keywords that apply to the document

Extended properties

Extended metadata is defined by the XMP standard and the properties are grouped into schemas.

The Conversion Service provides the possibility to set XMP property values from the Dublin Core schema, XMP Basic schema, XMP Rights Management schema, and custom extension schemas.

Dublin Core schema

The Dublin Core schema provides a set of commonly used properties.

The values can be configured statically for each profile in the configurator or dynamically using the following job options:

Option	Description
META.EXT.DC.CONTRIBUTOR	Contributors to the resource (other than the autors). Note: Although the schema technically supports multiple values, only a single value can be set here.
META.EXT.DC.COVERAGE	The extent or scope of the resource.
META.EXT.DC.IDENTIFIER	Unique identifier of the resource.
META.EXT.DC.RIGHTS	Informal rights statement.
META.EXT.DC.SOURCE	Unique identifier of the work from which this resource was derived.
META.EXT.DC.TYPE	A document type. For example, novel, poem, or working paper. Although the schema technically supports multiple values, only a single value can be set here.

XMP Basic schema

The XMP Basic schema contains properties that provide basic descriptive information.

The values can be configured statically for each profile in the configurator or dynamically using the following job options:

Option	Description
META.EXT.XMP.NICKNAME	A short informal name for the resource.
META.EXT.XMP.LABEL	A word or short phrase that identifies a document as a member of a user-defined collection.
Used to organize documents in a file browser
::note
This property is not available in PDF/A-1
:::
META.EXT.XMP.RATING	A number that indicates a document’s status relative to other documents.
Used to organize documents in a file browser. Values are user-defined within an application-defined range.

note

This property is not available in PDF/A-1

XMP Rights Management schema

This schema includes properties related to rights management.

The values can be configured statically for each profile in the configurator or dynamically using the following job options:

Option	Description
META.EXT.XMP-RIGHTS.CERTIFICATE	URL of an online rights management certificate.
META.EXT.XMP-RIGHTS.MARKED	Indicates that this is a rights-managed resource.
META.EXT.XMP-RIGHTS.OWNER	The legal owner of a resource. Although the schema technically supports multiple values, only a single value can be set here.
META.EXT.XMP-RIGHTS.USAGE-TERMS	Text instructions on how a resource can be legally used.
META.EXT.XMP-RIGHTS.WEB-STATEMENT	The location (URL) of a web page describing the owner and/or rights statement for this resource.

Custom extension schemas

For metadata properties that are not covered by the predefined schemas, a custom schema can be defined.

The schema definition must be provided statically in the profile configuration.

note

XMP extension schemas are expected to be stable over time.

Changes to a schema definition should only add new properties and never change the meaning or type of existing properties.

If incompatible changes are necessary, a new schema should be created instead.

The actual property values can be configured statically or provided dynamically using a placeholder and the following custom job option:

Option

Description

CUSTOM.‹OPTION-NAME›

The value for the placeholder [custom:‹OPTION-NAME›,'Default value']. If the default value is omitted ([custom:‹OPTION-NAME›]), the job option is required and an error is signaled if it is missing. If the default value is left empty ([custom:‹OPTION-NAME›,'']), no value is set if the job option is not provided. The single quotes (') around the default value are part of the syntax and must not be omitted.

Advanced usage

For advanced users, the metadata can be customized further using the following job options:

Option	Description
META.XMP	A complete XMP packet that replaces the metadata of the input document. This option can be used to set all kind of metadata, including standard properties, extended properties, and custom extension schemas. Any properties set using the standard mechanisms above are applied to this packet and any values set using the standard mechanisms take precedence over the values provided by this XMP packet.

note

When creating a PDF/A document, the XMP metadata must contain a full schema definition for all custom extension schemas. Such a definition can be provided:

• directly in the XMP packet.
• using custom extension schema configuration. In this case, the Force Definition setting in the schema should be enabled.