feature: cross-format `pdf-standard` selection #13857

gordonwoodhull · 2026-01-08T00:11:38Z

Also includes

fix for Alt-text for images is not embedded in PDF output for accessibility #13248 for alt text from captions for PDF images not being passed through to Pandoc.
temporary fix for No upstream support for alt-text in Typst #13868 until feat(typst.hs): Add alt text support for images in Typst writer (accessibility) jgm/pandoc#11394 is merged, byte-for-byte identical

Adds basic support in Typst and LaTeX for PDF standard selection.

PDF versions and standards can be independently specified, so this takes a list. Version specifies the output format; standard specified what validation is applied to the output.

Here are the rules: you can combine standards from different families:

PDF/A (archival) + PDF/UA (accessibility) is the common combo
PDF version can also be included

The constraint is you can only have one from each category:

One PDF version (1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 2.0)
One PDF/A standard (a-1b, a-2b, etc.)
One PDF/UA standard (ua-1, ua-2)
One PDF/X standard (x-4, etc.)

It would be equally valid to take pdf-version and pdf-standard as separate options, as LaTeX does, but I chose to follow Typst here and use one option for both.

Once the options have been validated, these go to the command line --pdf-standard for Typst, new \DocumentMetadata{} command for PDF.

The metadata includes tagging=on for any standard in LaTeX.

Auto-installs required LaTeX packages (latex-lab, colorprofiles) when missing.

This includes a test which will fail UA-1 in Typst and warn in LaTeX; these warnings are surfaced from the LaTeX log.

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src/resources/formats/typst/pandoc/quarto/page.typ

cderv · 2026-01-09T14:53:34Z

Following our meeting discussion, related issues on pdf accessibility

gordonwoodhull · 2026-01-10T06:01:06Z

Clarification: LaTeX does not do compliance validation; that's why it only produces warnings.

We'd have to integrate something like veraPDF to actually validate LaTeX PDFs.

Compliance validation is integrated for Typst.

cderv · 2026-01-14T14:14:51Z

Probably closing:

a11y - add support for tagpdf #13124

cderv

Some quick comments for now as I tried veraPDF install on windows

src/tools/impl/verapdf.ts

cderv · 2026-01-22T13:48:39Z

src/tools/impl/verapdf.ts

+async function installed(): Promise<boolean> {
+  const dir = verapdfInstallDir();
+  const verapdfBin = isWindows
+    ? join(dir, "verapdf.bat")


Just a heads up that we know .bat file are a problem in some environment. We had some report about dart-sass not working inside Quarto (because this is a bat file).

So a limitation to know about with this veraPdf, though quite specific.

Ok let’s talk about the right way. We can probably launch directly. Hopefully we don’t need another Rust launcher. 😉

If you manage to run quarto install verapdf on windows with java then I think we're good.

Yes! I installed a random Java 17 in Windows 11, installed verapdf, and see a nice big validation failure for an example

[verapdf]: Validating ua2-missing-title.pdf against PDF/UA2...FAILED WARN: PDF validation failed for ua-2: The Metadata stream as specified in ISO 32000-2:2020, 14.3 in the document catalog dictionary shall contain a dc:title entry Output created: ua2-missing-title.pdf

Still want to get verapdf testing in windows ci, but I think it can wait.

I've changed this to look in the following order:

If QUARTO_VERAPDF is set, it's assumed to be a verapdf command prefix, like docker run or however people need to run verapdf

Run the JAR from the Quarto installation of veraPDF directly using java (no batch file). This turns out to be safe because the scripts already look for the veraPDF JAR in a forward-compatible way, so we just do the same thing.

Fall back to verapdf on the PATH, if any

Tested on Mac, Windows - let's see how it does in CI!

Still want to get verapdf testing in windows ci, but I think it can wait.

Let's open an issue, and we can discuss it. I am happy to take this over when we decide what we want the CI todo (only test verapdf install command, and that our integration is working, or use it also to have test for accessiblity regression)

cscheid

Looks great aside from one small question on a comment.

src/resources/filters/quarto-post/typst.lua

gordonwoodhull · 2026-01-22T18:33:12Z

Tests need some help now that I understand standards better.

Typst only supports ua-1 and LaTeX only supports ua-2 so shared tests will have to look like this:

format:
  pdf:
    pdf-standard: ua-2
  typst:
    pdf-standard: ua-1

Most people won't target both formats, so this is mainly a concern for testing, but we'll have to note the differing standards in the documentation.

Adds `pdf-standard` option for LaTeX and Typst PDF output supporting: - PDF versions: 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 2.0 - PDF/A: a-1b, a-2a, a-2b, a-2u, a-3a, a-3b, a-3u, a-4, a-4e, a-4f - PDF/UA: ua-1, ua-2 (LaTeX only) - PDF/X: x-4, x-4p, x-5g, x-5n, x-5pg, x-6, x-6n, x-6p (LaTeX only) Features: - Automatic PDF version inference from standard requirements - LaTeX image alt text propagation for PDF/UA compliance - Tagging enabled only for standards that require it - `quarto install verapdf` for PDF/A and PDF/UA validation - Automatic validation when verapdf is available Closes #4426, #13782, #13248 Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

Workaround for Pandoc not passing alt text to Typst image() calls. When an image has alt text (from caption or fig-alt), emits raw Typst with image(..., alt: "...") for accessibility compliance. Temporary fix until pandoc#11394 is merged upstream. Closes #13868 Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

@mcanouil

Preserve terms element structure in definition lists for PDF/UA-1 validation. Uses nested show rule instead of .map().join() which destroyed the list structure. Suggested by @mcanouil (PR #13249 discussion) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

- Add QUARTO_VERAPDF environment variable support for custom verapdf invocation (Docker, custom Java setups, etc.) - Use direct Java invocation with quarto-installed JAR by default, avoiding .bat file issues on Windows - Fall back to system verapdf on PATH if JAR not installed - Log info message when QUARTO_VERAPDF override is used - Warn if specified QUARTO_VERAPDF path doesn't exist - Add smoke test validating env var override and validation warnings Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

When LaTeX doesn't support a PDF standard (e.g., ua-1), it warns and ignores it. Previously, verapdf would still try to validate against the unsupported standard, causing spurious failures. Now the applied standards are stored in metadata during format extras and used for validation, so only standards that were actually applied get validated. Changes: - Add kPdfStandardApplied constant for filtered standards - Store applied standards in extras.metadata during format processing - Read from pandocOptions.format.metadata for validation - Add latex-ua1-filtered.qmd test for filtering behavior - Update latex-multi-standard.qmd to use a-4f + ua-2 (compatible) - Update latex-combined.qmd to use 1.7 + a-2b (simpler test) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

Match pandoc's template by removing the conditional that skipped pdflang when pdfstandard was set. Having pdflang in both \hypersetup and \DocumentMetadata is harmless (just redundant). This simplifies comparison for the passthrough branch. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

The test expected both standards (a-2b, ua-1) to appear in DocumentMetadata, but quarto filters out unsupported standards before passing to pandoc. Updated test to expect only the supported standard (a-2b) in the output. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

gordonwoodhull requested a review from cderv January 8, 2026 00:11

gordonwoodhull requested a review from cscheid January 8, 2026 00:14

mcanouil reviewed Jan 8, 2026

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gordonwoodhull changed the base branch from main to deps/pandoc-2025-08 January 8, 2026 12:54

gordonwoodhull mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

[deps] Pandoc 3.8.3, typst 0.14.2 #13249

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gordonwoodhull force-pushed the feature/pdf-standard branch 3 times, most recently from 21d0394 to 71ab9c4 Compare January 10, 2026 05:08

gordonwoodhull marked this pull request as ready for review January 10, 2026 05:20

gordonwoodhull mentioned this pull request Jan 11, 2026

feat(typst.hs): Add alt text support for images in Typst writer (accessibility) jgm/pandoc#11394

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Base automatically changed from deps/pandoc-2025-08 to main January 14, 2026 10:59

gordonwoodhull mentioned this pull request Jan 14, 2026

a11y - add support for tagpdf #13124

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gordonwoodhull force-pushed the feature/pdf-standard branch 2 times, most recently from b79e590 to c53b00a Compare January 21, 2026 21:37

gordonwoodhull mentioned this pull request Jan 21, 2026

Support PDF/A-compliant output using pdfx package #4426

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cderv reviewed Jan 22, 2026

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cscheid approved these changes Jan 22, 2026

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gordonwoodhull force-pushed the feature/pdf-standard branch from c53b00a to 1e64da5 Compare January 22, 2026 17:19

gordonwoodhull and others added 3 commits January 22, 2026 15:06

gordonwoodhull force-pushed the feature/pdf-standard branch from 1e64da5 to 5bb21a7 Compare January 22, 2026 20:22

gordonwoodhull and others added 3 commits January 22, 2026 17:13

gordonwoodhull merged commit 7439715 into main Jan 23, 2026
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gordonwoodhull deleted the feature/pdf-standard branch January 23, 2026 00:08

stragu mentioned this pull request Jan 23, 2026

Document pdf-standard setting for Quarto 1.9 #13937

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feature: cross-format pdf-standard selection #13857

feature: cross-format pdf-standard selection #13857

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feature: cross-format `pdf-standard` selection #13857

feature: cross-format `pdf-standard` selection #13857

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