With the introduction of the PAdES format, it's important to have the means to validate it as well. Here are three ways you can do this:

1. Validate using Adobe Reader

Download and install Adobe Reader if you don't have it already.

2. Validate using ec.europa.eu

The European commissions' validator is probably the best approach to validate a PAdES file

2.1 Access this link in order to start the validation process. 2.2 Click the Choose file button and upload the desired PAdES file. In order to make sure you do not encounter any upload errors during the validation process, avoid uploading documents greater than 8MB.   2.3 Click the Submit button and wait for the validation process to finish.

2.4 If the validation process was successfully completed, you will encounter this page which contains all the necessary information:

3. Validate using ETSI

ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) are the ones who defined the PAdES standard. Their online validator is available on demand, meaning you will need to send them a request in order to access it (by clicking the contact button on their website).

3.1 Access this link in order to start the validation process.

3.2 Once you’ve been invited, login with the provided credentials.

3.3 Firstly, you have to access the PAdES Conformance Checker section by clicking the PAdES Checker button from the left side of the screen . Afterwards, simply click the Choose file button and Upload the desired PAdES file.

In order to make sure you do not encounter any upload errors during the validation process, avoid uploading documents greater than 17 MB.

3.4 Once the validation process was successfully completed, at the bottom of the page you will encounter this message:

By clicking the underlined text, you will be redirected to the HTML report which contains all the necessary information.