How can we ensure that our documents keep well and are safe for long periods of time? Why are source formats (e.g. MS Word files) unsuitable and why should we also convert PDF files although they carry 'portable document format' in their name? Simply because we need powerful programs to display these files. All of them contain characters, more or less exotic fonts, images, and sometimes even bits of executable code, that need to be put together on the fly and with the help of considerable processing power before we can view our file on screen.
Keeping documents can be massively simplified if we create an image file out of our source format. The image file resembles a photograph in that it freezes the look of a file at a particular moment in time. Display on screen is much simpler too. At Archivista Gmbh we speak of 'virtual printing' because converting source format files into image files entails nothing more than printing them to a file and rasterising them. Finally, they end up as image files in the Archivista database.
In the following I would like to explain the abovementioned process step by step and with the help of Archivista. It saves us the task of having to print out our documents, file and re-scan them again. Of course, you can also publish documents that exist only as hard copies to begin with: these you scan first. However, the following tutorial is dedicated exclusively to documents already existing in digital form on your computer.
The points made in this section are valid for all archives whether they were created with the Archivista PublishingEdition or not. We should be aware of them when we later encounter problems during the import of documents. You may safely assume that if certain files give you problems when you convert them today, they would generate immensely more hassle if you tackled them in, say, ten years.
Have fun with the following tutorial!