Attach files to the PDF

The PDF file format offers the possibility of embedding files in the document so that they can then be downloaded as stand-alone documents. Electronic invoices, for example, can be sent as a “human-readable” PDF with an attached computer-readable description (as XML).

Any number of files can be attached, but only one ZUGFeRD invoice.

Attach files

<AttachFile description="A nice view"
            type="application/pdf"
            filename="ocean.pdf" />

This command is used to attach a file to the PDF. The type is the mime type of the attached file.

attachfile
This is what attached files look like in Adobe Acrobat.

Attach ZUGFeRD invoicesPRO

To attach an electronic invoice, the value at type must be exactly the string ZUGFeRD invoice:

<AttachFile description="Electronic invoice"
            type="ZUGFeRD invoice"
            filename="invoice.pdf" />

The output filename is automatically set to ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml and the document conforms to the PDF/A-3 standard.

attachfile zugferd
The file name is changed to ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml.