XBRL and PDF

This post captures thoughts related to XBRL and PDF.  On the one hand, XBRL is a machine readable format; but the information also needs to be readable by humans.  On the other hand; converting XBRL reports and report models can be completely automated.  Not judging one way or another, here are some thought on XBRL and PDF:

  • XBRL to PDF Converter: This tool can be used to convert XBRL to PDF. Now, I have not gotten this to generate a human readable version of a machine readable XBRL report; but perhaps this idea is a good one. (Here is another XBRL to PDF converter.)
  • PDFHost: This is a free tool for putting a PDF file somewhere on the internet.  It seems quite easy to use.  You can EDIT a file.  You can make a file READ ONLY.  An issue with this site is that it appears that anyone with the link to a document can edit or even delete the document.
  • Generating PDF from XBRL: This is a PDF file that was generated from XBRL.
  • XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO): This is a W3C standard language for converting XML into PDF, HTML, or other such formats.
  • FOP: A FOP is a Formatting Objects Processor. You can use something like the free Apache FOP to convert XSL-FO to PDF, HTML, or other format.
  • Adobe InDesign: Adobe InDesign is a commercial product for publishing things including "pixel perfect" PDF documents.
  • Page Break Problem with HTML: HTML does not have a notion of a "page break". So, which you can generate a very nice and I could say "pixel perfect" rendering in HTML; those HTML pages will not have page breaks.  There are "hacks" and "work arounds"; but those hacks and work arounds only go so far.
  • Inline XBRL for PDF: Inline XBRL is a mechanism for imbedding machine readable XBRL within an HTML (really XHTML) document.  People have discussed creating a similar mechanism for embedding XBRL within PDF.  CoreFiling 

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