295 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
295 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
# Where PdfCraft falls short of Acrobat Pro
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> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-11 · **Change:** patch (gap 2: hayro patch counts after the native-gradient backport) · **Target:** Adobe Acrobat Pro (Acrobat DC, continuous track 26.002.21931, macOS)
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> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-11 · **Change:** minor (gap 1 closed by #836; fixed issues removed from gaps 3, 6 and 16) · **Target:** Adobe Acrobat Pro (Acrobat DC, continuous track 26.002.21931, macOS)
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Every known shortfall, one entry each, ranked by what it costs users. This is the work list: agents
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choose from the top unless the owner says otherwise, and prefer these over new P2/P3 checklist
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features. The numbers behind it are in [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md); the per-feature
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detail is in `parity/acrobat-features.toml` (`cargo xtask parity --partial` lists what each partial
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feature lacks).
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No gap blocks the [alpha gate](roadmap.md#alpha-gate); gap 8 holds the convert-and-share
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workflow's partial sub-cases and is the first beta item. Gap numbers are kept when a gap closes, so
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references elsewhere stay valid (gap 1, encrypted output Acrobat rejected, closed with #836).
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Hours are Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours. "Doc" names the parity document the gap belongs to.
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When a gap closes, delete its entry, note it in the [ROADMAP.md](../ROADMAP.md) progress log and
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update the numbers.
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## Summary
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| # | Gap | Kind | Hours | Doc |
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| 2 | Rendering is borrowed and its fidelity unmeasured | feature, spec | 110–190 | [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md) |
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| 3 | Editing existing text is fragile on real files | feature | 100–180 | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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| 4 | No printing on the web | feature, platform | 15–30 | [hardware-parity.md](hardware-parity.md) |
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| 5 | Chinese UI shows missing-glyph boxes in releases | localization | 6–12 | [localization-parity.md](localization-parity.md) |
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| 6 | Open-issue backlog of wrong results in shipped features | stability | 45–80 | this file |
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| 7 | OCR reads only unaccented Latin | feature | 40–75 | [file-format-parity.md](file-format-parity.md) |
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| 8 | Office export weak, Office import absent | file format | 55–100 | [file-format-parity.md](file-format-parity.md) |
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| 9 | No Preflight; PDF/A partial; PDF/X and PDF/UA absent | standards | 65–115 | [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md) |
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| 10 | Signatures: no PKCS #11, timestamp servers or online revocation | feature, hardware | 40–70 | [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md) |
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| 11 | Accessibility: checker only, no tagging tools | feature | 40–70 | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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| 12 | No measured fidelity harness against Acrobat | quality | (in 2) | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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| 13 | Performance budgets and lazy loading of very large files | performance | 25–45 | this file |
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| 14 | Arabic not mirrored; no Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese | localization | 30–50 | [localization-parity.md](localization-parity.md) |
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| 15 | Forms: JavaScript object model, actions, submit, XFA depth | feature | 40–75 | [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md) |
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| 16 | UI precision gaps (multi-select move, rulers, accelerators, windows) | UI/UX | 30–60 | [ui-parity.md](ui-parity.md) |
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| 17 | Certificate security and other protect gaps | feature, spec | 15–30 | [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md) |
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| 18 | Print production tools absent | feature | 25–45 | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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| 19 | Preferences mostly missing | UI/UX | 15–25 | [ui-parity.md](ui-parity.md) |
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| 20 | Scanners, GPU page rendering, pen pressure, Read Out Loud | hardware | 25–50 | [hardware-parity.md](hardware-parity.md) |
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| 21 | Compare: no side-by-side view or filters | feature | 10–20 | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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| 22 | PDF 2.0 extras, linearization, Arlington validation | spec | 20–35 | [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md) |
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| 23 | Local AI provider (summarize, ask, alt text, redaction suggestions) | AI | 20–40 | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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| 24 | Checklist not diffed against Acrobat's own menus | measurement | 4–8 | [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md) |
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## The gaps
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### 2. Rendering is borrowed and its fidelity unmeasured
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- **Missing:** our own renderer (M2: `model` crate, font engine, DisplayList devices, ADR-0004), or
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an owner decision to adopt another engine; and any measurement of rendering against Acrobat.
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- **Evidence:** pages are drawn by vendored `hayro` 0.7 with 23 local patches to `hayro-interpret`,
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10 to `hayro`, 3 to `hayro-jbig2` and 13 to `hayro-syntax` (`vendor/README.md`); `lopdf` still
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backs document inspection. All 7 rendering P0 features are `partial`. User reports: TikZ pattern
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fills drawn wrong ([#794](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/794)), blurry text at
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1080p/1440p ([#730](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/730)), fixed zoom sizes differ
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from Acrobat ([#739](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/739)). An outside author
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proposes his MIT/Apache renderer as the bridge
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([#841](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/841)).
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- **Impact:** every page a user sees. Wrong glyphs, shadings or blend modes erode trust faster than
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any missing feature.
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- **Fix:** first a fidelity harness (gap 12), then the renderer: own devices (150–250 h in the old
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plan) or an adopted engine plus our own font and text layers.
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- **Estimate:** 110–190 h (includes the harness). **Owner decision needed** on #841 vs M2.
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**Doc:** [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md).
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### 3. Editing existing text is fragile on real files
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- **Missing:** robust in-place editing of text PdfCraft didn't write: subset fonts without the
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needed glyphs, CJK and right-to-left text, rotated text, lists, superscript/subscript, keeping
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structure tags, find and replace in edit mode; vector and object editing; arrange and align.
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- **Evidence:** `edit.text-edit` is partial (font reused or Helvetica substituted);
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`edit.rtl-cjk-editing`, `edit.rotated-text-editing`, `edit.keep-tags-on-edit`,
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`edit.vector-edit`, `edit.edit-object-tool` are planned. Users:
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[#766](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/766) (editing Arabic text),
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[#844](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/844) (several elements now move together on
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one page, not across pages),
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[#787](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/787) (move images between pages),
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[#791](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/791).
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- **Impact:** "Edit PDF" is one of Acrobat Pro's top reasons to buy. Substituting Helvetica changes
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how a document looks.
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- **Estimate:** 100–180 h (the longest feature pole, M7). **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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### 4. No printing on the web
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- **Missing:** browser printing.
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- **Evidence:** the web build has no spooler: off Windows and unix, `spool::submit` reports that
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printing to a printer isn't available and only the print-ready PDF can be saved.
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`crates/print/README.md`: "Not yet: the web spooler".
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- **Impact:** the web build cannot send a job to a printer; printing is a P0 workflow. Printing on
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Windows shipped with [#756](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/756).
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- **Estimate:** 15–30 h. **Doc:** [hardware-parity.md](hardware-parity.md).
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### 5. Chinese UI shows missing-glyph boxes in releases
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- **Missing:** a Simplified Chinese (`Hans`) UI face in release builds and a working fallback.
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- **Evidence:** [#826](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/826),
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[#688](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/688),
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[#728](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/728),
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[#758](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/758),
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[#689](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/689) (Flatpak). `AGENTS.md` §1.1 bars Noto
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CJK (Source Han rebranded), so craft-fonts needs another openly licensed Hans face.
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- **Impact:** the second-largest language group sees a broken interface although the catalog is 97%
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translated.
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- **Estimate:** 6–12 h (font sourcing in craft-fonts plus the fallback chain). **Doc:**
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[localization-parity.md](localization-parity.md).
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### 6. Open-issue backlog of wrong results in shipped features
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- **Missing:** fixes for the ≈ 13 of ≈ 25 filed reports of features marked `shipped` that give wrong results still open,
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plus triage of ≈ 220 other open issues.
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- **Evidence:** 245 open issues on 2026-10-10. The first batch of `fix(...)` reports was fixed by
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2026-10-10 (#799, #800, #807, #809, #810, #811, #815, #816, #817, #818, #819, #821); the rest of
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the backlog is untriaged.
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- **Impact:** every one is a user who lost trust. Crash reports outrank feature work
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(`AGENTS.md` §4).
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- **Estimate:** 45–80 h (≈ 0.2–0.4 h per issue). **Doc:** this file.
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### 7. OCR reads only unaccented Latin
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- **Missing:** every other script and accented Latin; editable-text output; deskew, rotation,
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despeckle, background and camera clean-up; MRC compression; pluggable engines; OCR in the
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browser; scanner input.
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- **Evidence:** `ocr.ocr-languages` partial ("the models read only the Latin alphabet without
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accents"); 19 of 26 OCR features planned; [#744](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/744)
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(Dutch). Acrobat ships on-device recognition for dozens of languages.
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- **Impact:** scanned documents are a core Pro workflow outside English.
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- **Estimate:** 40–75 h, partly blocked on openly licensed models. **Doc:**
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[file-format-parity.md](file-format-parity.md).
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### 8. Office export weak, Office import absent
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- **Missing:** Word export that keeps layout; Excel and PowerPoint export; creating PDFs from Office,
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HTML, web pages and PostScript; SVG/XML/EPS/PS/JPEG 2000 export.
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- **Evidence:** `create.export-docx` partial; [#773](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/773)
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(an invoice converted to Word loses its layout, gains table borders and duplicates pages);
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`create.export-xlsx`, `create.export-pptx`, `create.from-office`, `create.from-html` planned.
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- **Impact:** "Export PDF" and "Create PDF" are two of Acrobat's most used tools.
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- **Gate:** lossy or missing sub-cases of the convert-and-share workflow (partial, not blocking).
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First beta items: Create PDF from Office (LibreOffice sidecar, 10–20 h) and a Word export that
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keeps layout (20–35 h).
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- **Estimate:** 55–100 h. **Doc:** [file-format-parity.md](file-format-parity.md).
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### 9. No Preflight; PDF/A partial; PDF/X and PDF/UA absent
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- **Missing:** Preflight (profiles, single checks and fixups, results tree, reports, droplets);
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PDF/A-1, PDF/A-4 and conformance levels a/u; PDF/X verify and convert; PDF/UA-1/2 verify; PDF/E,
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PDF/VT; output-intent choice; transparency flattening.
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- **Evidence:** 12 Preflight features and 9 standards features planned; `optimize.pdfa-validate`,
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`optimize.pdfa-convert` partial (2b/3b structural rules; CMYK documents get no output intent).
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Acrobat ships hundreds of built-in Preflight profiles.
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- **Impact:** blocks print shops, archives and accessibility compliance work.
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- **Estimate:** 65–115 h. **Doc:** [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md).
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### 10. Signatures: no PKCS #11, timestamp servers or online revocation
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- **Missing:** PKCS #11 tokens and smart cards on macOS and Linux; timestamp-server preferences;
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fetching OCSP/CRL online for LTV; FieldMDP and locking fields on signing; the OS trust store; EU
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Trusted Lists; signature graphics and saved appearances; compare signed version; signing in the
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browser.
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- **Evidence:** `sign.pkcs11`, `sign.timestamp-servers`, `sign.field-mdp`, `sign.os-trust`,
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`sign.eutl` planned; `sign.pades-bt`, `sign.ltv`, `sign.ocsp-crl` partial (caller-supplied
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evidence). Users ask for Acrobat-like validation
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([#824](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/824),
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[#775](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/775),
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[#718](https://github.com/storytold/pdfcraft/issues/718)).
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- **Impact:** government and legal users sign with tokens and need B-LT/B-LTA.
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- **Estimate:** 40–70 h; tokens need hardware to test. **Doc:** [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md).
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### 11. Accessibility: checker only, no tagging tools
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- **Missing:** autotag (document and fields), Tags, Order and Content panels, tag properties,
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Reading Order tool, artifact marking, table editor, role map, Make Accessible action, Read Out
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Loud; full keyboard operation of PdfCraft itself and a screen-reader audit.
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- **Evidence:** all 32 checker rules shipped, but 21 tagging and reading features planned;
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`a11y.keyboard-only` (P0) planned, `a11y.app-screen-reader` partial.
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- **Impact:** remediation work is impossible; PdfCraft itself is not yet usable without a mouse.
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- **Estimate:** 40–70 h. **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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### 12. No measured fidelity harness against Acrobat
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- **Missing:** side-by-side comparison of rendering, text extraction, form calculation and
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signature validation against Acrobat on synthetic fixtures; an interop suite that opens every
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kind of output we write (encrypted ones above all, after #774) in pdf.js, MuPDF and Poppler as
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oracle processes.
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- **Evidence:** none exists; only text extraction has an oracle (word-F1 0.98 against `pdftotext`).
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Acrobat captures must stay local in `plan/acrobat/` (clean-room, `AGENTS.md` §1.1).
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- **Impact:** until it exists, every quality number here is a judgement.
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- **Estimate:** counted in gap 2 (≈ 20–30 h of it). **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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### 13. Performance budgets and lazy loading of very large files
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- **Missing:** `misc.performance-budgets` (P0) and `core.lazy-loading` (P0): open GB files within a
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memory budget, with budgets checked on Tier-1 platforms.
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- **Evidence:** #307 brought a 9,156-page file from > 10 GiB to ≈ 500 MiB inspection, but
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file-backed input and global memory budgets remain open; blurry fonts at common resolutions
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(#730).
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- **Estimate:** 25–45 h. **Doc:** this file.
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### 14. Arabic not mirrored; no Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese
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- **Missing:** a right-to-left layout (panels, menus, alignment), bidirectional text in the text
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layout itself (wrapping, typed text); catalogs for Hindi, Indonesian, Korean and Vietnamese
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(Acrobat ships Korean; it ships Arabic in its Middle East edition; it ships none of the other
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three).
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- **Evidence:** [localization.md](localization.md) §Arabic; `misc.rtl-ui` planned.
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- **Estimate:** 30–50 h (Arabic RTL 20–35, four catalogs 10–15 plus review). **Doc:**
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[localization-parity.md](localization-parity.md).
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### 15. Forms: JavaScript object model, actions, submit, XFA depth
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- **Missing:** the wider Acrobat JavaScript object model (annotations, layers, dialogs), document
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actions, the Actions tab triggers that run JavaScript, form submission, the debugger, barcode
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fields, rich-text values; XFA flattening and complete dynamic-form fidelity.
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- **Evidence:** `form.js-host` partial, `form.document-actions`, `form.submit-form`,
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`edit.action-javascript`, `form.js-debugger`, `form.xfa-flatten` planned; XFA layout, FormCalc
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and data partial.
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- **Estimate:** 40–75 h. **Doc:** [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md).
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### 16. UI precision gaps
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- **Missing:** moving several selected objects across pages (same-page moves shipped, #844), nudging with arrow keys, single-key tool accelerators,
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rulers, grids and guides, loupe and dynamic zoom, multiple windows and split view, comment
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pop-ups that can be moved, connector lines, customisable quick tools; shortcut display and tool-mode bugs (#746, #721), macOS window controls
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(#789).
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- **Estimate:** 30–60 h. **Doc:** [ui-parity.md](ui-parity.md).
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### 17. Certificate security and other protect gaps
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- **Missing:** encrypting for certificate recipients (and opening such files), security policies,
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attachment-only encryption, redaction pattern locales and partial-word redaction, folder
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redaction, protected view, URL and attachment trust.
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- **Estimate:** 15–30 h. **Doc:** [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md).
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### 18. Print production tools absent
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- **Missing:** Output Preview, separations, total area coverage, overprint preview, ink manager,
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colour conversion, printer marks, fix hairlines, flattener preview, colour management settings;
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print as image; PostScript output.
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- **Evidence:** 18 print-production features planned (L area).
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- **Estimate:** 25–45 h (part of the L area's 30–55). **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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### 19. Preferences mostly missing
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- **Missing:** most of Acrobat's twenty or so preference pages (General, Documents, Commenting, Forms, Identity,
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Signatures, Security, Measuring, Units and guides, Convert, …). Today: Interface language,
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Documents and view, Identity, Fill & Sign, JavaScript.
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- **Estimate:** 15–25 h. **Doc:** [ui-parity.md](ui-parity.md).
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### 20. Scanners, GPU page rendering, pen pressure, Read Out Loud
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- **Missing:** TWAIN/WIA/ICA/SANE scanning; GPU-accelerated page rendering (pages are rasterized on
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the CPU and uploaded); pressure-sensitive ink; platform text-to-speech.
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- **Estimate:** 25–50 h; scanners need hardware. **Doc:** [hardware-parity.md](hardware-parity.md).
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### 21. Compare: no side-by-side view or filters
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- **Missing:** synchronised side-by-side view, filters by change type, page ranges, scanned
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documents.
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- **Estimate:** 10–20 h. **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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### 22. PDF 2.0 extras, linearization, Arlington validation
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- **Missing:** UTF-8 text strings, associated files (`/AF`), document parts, structure namespaces;
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linearized save (Fast Web View); deterministic save; structural validation against the Arlington
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model.
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- **Estimate:** 20–35 h. **Doc:** [pdf-spec-parity.md](pdf-spec-parity.md).
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### 23. Local AI provider
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- **Missing:** the opt-in provider interface (local model or the user's own endpoint) and the
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features on it: summarize, ask with page citations, alternate-text and redaction suggestions.
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Acrobat's AI Assistant is a cloud service and out of scope.
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- **Estimate:** 20–40 h. **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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### 24. Checklist not diffed against Acrobat's own menus
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- **Missing:** a menu and tool listing captured from Acrobat (names only, `plan/acrobat/`, never
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committed) diffed against the checklist, so that features the checklist never listed show up.
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Also correct `misc.localization` and `misc.installers`, which are still `planned` though both
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ship.
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- **Estimate:** 4–8 h. **Doc:** [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md).
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## Revision history
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| Date | Change | Summary |
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|---|---|---|
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| 2026-10-11 | patch | Gap 2: 23 hayro-interpret and 10 hayro patches after axial and radial shadings became native gradients (backport of hayro 0.8) |
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| 2026-10-11 | minor | Closed gap 1 (#774, fixed by #836; numbers kept, its interop suite moved to gap 12); gap 6 lists the fixed #799–#821 batch; gap 3 and 16 updated for #844 (same-page move), #740 (column select) and #759 (1:1 touchpad scrolling) |
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| 2026-10-10 | minor | Removed the alpha markers: with the cross-app gate rule, gaps 1 and 8 are partial sub-cases, not blockers; stage alpha |
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| 2026-10-10 | minor | Marked the alpha blockers (gap 1 and the Office part of gap 8) after the core-workflow gate put the stage at pre-alpha |
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| 2026-10-10 | major | Created. Ranked 24 gaps from the 2026-10-10 re-measure, the open GitHub issues and the former ROADMAP.md §Where we're lacking and where we're going (renderer, hardening, fidelity, editing, Pro workflows, 1.0 polish), which this file replaces |
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