In collaboration with the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Library of Congress and others, the PDF Association will participate in an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation project to identify the essential characteristics and optimal functional requirements of email messages and necessary related information in a PDF technology-based archive. Running over six months, the project's objective is to publish a technical white paper defining how email messages and their identified essential characteristics and functionality should be converted into PDF containers that can be considered - in the context of captured information - provably authentic and complete email records.

Records management is, and always has been, a balancing act. On one side is compliance. It is at the very core of why records management exists. On the other side is the end user experience with creating, capturing and using records. These two sides usually pull in different directions. It is very difficult to manage a record if it is not identified and captured, and it is unrealistic to expect end users to be highly skilled record keepers, with hours of their day devoted to keeping records perfectly. Records management as a profession is under increasing pressure to develop approaches and solutions that perfectly balance these com­peting priorities.