Flatten a PDF
Turn filled-in form answers, highlights, stamps and drawings into part of the page, so the document looks and prints the same everywhere and the answers can no longer be changed by typing into the form.
How to use it
- Choose your PDF, or drag it onto the box.
- FilePresto tells you what it found. Tick form fields, comments and markup, or both.
- Press Flatten and save, then open the copy and check it.
What gets flattened
Form fields: typed answers, ticked boxes and chosen options are drawn onto the page exactly as they appear, and the form's boxes are taken away.
Comments and markup: highlights, underlining, stamps, drawings, text boxes and the icons of sticky notes are drawn onto the page. The words inside a note that open in a pop-up are not kept, so FilePresto asks you to confirm you have read them first.
Links, attached files and layers are left as they are. So are proposed redaction marks: flattening one would make the page look redacted while the words stayed underneath, so FilePresto leaves them alone and tells you. Redact PDF removes words properly.
What flattening does not do
Flattening does not make a PDF uneditable. The answers can no longer be changed by typing into the form, but anyone with a PDF editor can still change the page. To control who can open the document, password-protect access; that is not a guarantee against editing either. To take information out for good, redact it.
When it helps
Some websites and systems reject PDFs that still contain form fields, and some PDF readers show filled-in answers or comments differently or not at all. Flattening a copy before you send or upload it avoids both problems.
Questions
Can I undo flattening?
Not in the flattened copy. Keep your original if you may need to change the answers later.
Why will it not flatten my signed PDF?
A digital signature proves a document has not changed since it was signed. Flattening changes it, which would break the signature, so FilePresto refuses. Crop PDF does the same.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The work happens inside your web browser, on your own device. Before your file is opened, this page locks itself: from then on your browser refuses to let it fetch, upload or send anything at all. You can check: once the page has loaded, switch off your internet connection and it will still work. How the lock works.