Flatten a PDF
Lock in what has been filled: form entries, sticky-note stamps and drawn markup become plain page content.
Drop a PDF file here
Free · no signup · no watermark · files stay on this device · how local processing works
How to use Flatten PDF
- Open the PDFFilled forms and annotated files both work.
- Choose the methodBake fields and annotations into the page (keeps text), or flatten everything to images.
- FlattenDownload the flattened copy and send it on.
Why flatten?
Interactive fields can be changed by the next person, may render differently in other viewers, and are sometimes dropped by print shops and e-filing portals. Flattening draws each field’s current appearance onto the page and removes the interactive part.
Two methods
“Bake in” keeps everything vector and text-searchable: form fields are flattened via their appearance streams, and with the extra option, comments, stamps and ink drawings are painted into the page content too (links stay clickable). “Flatten to images” re-draws pages at 150 dpi — bullet-proof, but text is no longer selectable.
Before sending a filled form
When you fill in a tax form or an application in a PDF viewer, the answers live in form fields that the recipient can still change or that some viewers show empty. Flatten with the first method and the typed answers become ordinary page text: everyone sees the same thing, and nobody can quietly edit a value. Keep an unflattened copy if you might need to correct the form later.
Need more than one step? The Workbench runs Flatten PDF together with other operations on the same file in one go — for example merge → compress → protect.
Questions about Flatten PDF
Can I unflatten a PDF later?
No — flattening is one-way. Keep your original if you might need to edit the fields again.
A field came out empty — why?
Some fill-in tools don’t store an appearance for the value. Re-save the form in a full PDF reader or use the image method.
Does flattening remove signatures?
Drawn signatures are kept as page content; cryptographic digital signatures become invalid because the file changes.
Will flattening make the file smaller?
With the “bake in” method the size stays about the same. Flattening everything to images usually makes text-heavy files larger and scans smaller.