Flatten PDF

What does flattening a PDF do?

It draws what you see — form answers, highlights, shapes, stamps — into the page itself, the same way the page’s own text is drawn. The result looks identical, prints the same everywhere, and can no longer be edited as a form or a comment.

What is the difference between flattening form fields and flattening comments?

Form fields are the boxes you type answers into; flattening them fixes the answers in place and removes the form. Comments and markup are reviewers’ highlights, underlines, shapes, stamps and text boxes; flattening them makes them part of the page instead of separate comments. You can choose either or both.

Why are sticky notes not flattened?

A sticky note’s words only appear when someone opens it. Flattening it would leave a small icon on the page that can no longer be opened, with the words gone — so notes are kept as notes, and the result tells you how many.

Does flattening hide or remove anything?

It doesn't hide anything: flattening is not redaction — flattened answers and text boxes become ordinary page text that anyone can still select, copy and search. If something must not be readable, use the Redact tool instead. An area that was only marked for redaction in another app is left as it is, and you are warned about it.

What is lost when I flatten?

The ability to edit the form or the comments, and the text of any comment attached to a flattened highlight or shape — the mark stays, its comment does not. A digital signature is invalidated, because the file is rewritten. Keep the original if you might need to change anything later.

Does flattening change the title, author or other properties?

No. The document properties and XMP metadata are left exactly as they were. To view or clear them, use the metadata tool.