David van Driessche, CTO at Four Pees: “Getting the Conformance certificate is of course nice, but the real value for printers is to understand the underlying principles of the PDF format and the relevant ISO and GWG standards. It is this knowledge that will help printers to become more efficient in how they deal with incoming PDF files. As Four Pees we didn’t just want to provide support to get the Ghent PDF Output Suite Conformance Certificate, but we wanted to combine that with essential training to increase knowledge at printers. The certification then is the cherry on the proverbial cake.”

The Ghent PDF Output Suite consists of several dozen patches, each testing a specific aspect of the PDF/X-4 standard. These are composed into six larger sheets (with 8 patches each), are fully PDF/X-4 compliant and contain only valid PDF/X-4 features which could also be part of any ordinary PDF/X-4 file. To be certified, a test file containing the six sheets is personalized for the candidate printer. The printer must output it and provide proof of a good result. As the Ghent PDF Output Suite is easy to judge, pictures of the 4 or 6 printed sheets (depending on level) provide sufficient proof.