Flatten a PDF
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Turn filled form fields and annotations into ordinary page content that cannot be changed.
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Drag & drop your PDF here
PDF only
A completed PDF form holds the page, and separately a layer of widgets holding what was typed. Send it as it is and the recipient can retype every answer. Open it in a reader that ignores widgets and the form looks blank, which is how a signed return arrives empty.
Flattening draws each field's appearance into the page and then removes the widget. What was an editable answer becomes part of the document, and every reader shows the same thing.
This is a one-way step. Keep the unflattened original if the answers may need to change, because there is no way back from a flattened file to an editable form.
Not as form fields. They are page content, the same as any other text on the page. Someone with a PDF editor could still alter the page, so this fixes the appearance rather than securing it.
A comment or highlight that carries its own appearance is baked in and removed, so it displays identically in every reader. One that has no appearance to draw, such as a plain link, is left in the document untouched rather than deleted.
No. It comes back as it was. The response reports how many appearances were baked and how many annotations were kept, so an API caller can tell an empty document from one that was left alone.
No. Flattening is one way. Keep the original if the answers may need to change.
No. It fixes the appearance so it cannot be changed by filling the form in again. Use Protect PDF to control who can open the file.