---
title: "Universal Processed Format"
source: https://dev.pageseeder.com/psml/universal_format/Universal_Processed_Format.html
last_updated: 2026-08-07T17:09:54+10:00
tokens: ~580
---

# Universal Processed Format

Universal Processed Format is the result of processing [Universal Portable Format](Universal_Portable_Format.md), in the following ways:

- Stripping metadata.
- Processing [xrefs](../../reference/glossary/cross_reference.md).
- Generating numbering.
- Processing image references.
- Custom pre/post formatting.

## Processing

The processing is not isomorphic (in other words, after processing it might not be possible to reverse the transformation to produce the original source)

![Universal Process Format](/content/psml/universal_format/../../images/psml/universal_process.webp)

> **Note:** It is not possible to import or upload the processed format into PageSeeder.

PageSeeder provides the [Task process](../../guide/publishing/ant_api/tasks/task_process.md) to generate the processed format from the portable format.

## Difference with portable format

It has the same file structure and [PSML](../../reference/glossary/psml.md) as the Universal Portable Format, except for the following:

- Attribute `@level="portable"`must be changed to `@level="processed"` in all PSML documents, `@level="metadata"` remains unchanged.
- Processed `<xref>` and `<blockxref>` can contain `<document>, <locator>, <fragment>, <media-pragment>, <xref-fragment>` or `<properties-fragment>` elements.
- Processed `<link>` and `<image>` can contain `<document>` elements.
- If generating table of contents:


  - The top `<toc>` element contains content for all `<heading>` elements in the processed document (including embedded or [transcluded](../../reference/glossary/transclusion.md) content), for example:
\<toc\>
  \<toc-tree title="Specification"\>
    \<toc-part  level="1"
               title="Introduction" 
               idref="123-1-1-1"\>
      \<toc-part level="2"
                title="Overview" 
                idref="123-1-2-1"
                prefix="1."
               canonical="0.1." /\>
    \</toc-part\>
  \</toc-tree\>
\</toc\>


  - `<heading>` elements have an `@id="[URI ID]-[position]-[fragment ID]-[index]"` attribute, where:  



    - `position` is the position of the document in the publication (if the same document has been embedded or transcluded multiple times).
    - `index` is the number of preceding `<heading>` or `<para>` elements in the fragment + 1.