Flattening is the process of moving editable information— form field data and comments— into the main document layer so that it cannot be edited or changed.
At left, below is an illustration of editable form and comments elements. After flattening (right), the appearance of the elements remains, but they are no lonager editable.
Many folks simply print the document to the Adobe PDF print driver to flatten a document. However, that process takes several steps and eliminates bookmarks and other information.
Why would I need to Flatten a document?
Here are a few reasons that you might want to flatten a document:
- To ensure that comments are printed
- To prevent someone from changing the text inside a PDF form
- To lock your stamp on the document
To make the flattening process easier, you can use a FREE Acrobat X Action to flatten your document.
Acrobat X Flatten Action
The Acrobat X File Name Stamper Action automates the process of flattening the document. Just open your Actions Panel and click!
How do I get the Acrobat X Action?
You can get the Action over on the Actions Exchange on AcrobatUsers.com,
Alternately, you can download it direct below.
The PDF document you download below includes:
- Installation and use instructions
- Action (embedded in the PDF)
Enjoy!
| Flatten_Doc.pdf (753K)
Hint: Right-click and Choose Save Target As . . . to save to your desktop You will need Acrobat X Pro to run the Action |
 |
Comments
Is there a way to flatten just some of the form fields rather than all form fields?
— Rick’s Reply —
Not that I know of.
Hi Tried loading the Flatten Fields and Comments.sequ action but I am getting an error saying that the file is corrupt or not compatible with my version of Acrobat. I am currently running Acrobat X Standard. Do I need Pro?
Thanks.
Yes. Actions only work in Acrobat X Pro.
how do i embed this in a form action button?
The code used by the Action is:
event.target.flattenPages();
I tried embedding that in a button and wasn’t able to get it to work, so it may not be possible.
Tried several times. Form remains editable.
Am using Acrobat Pro x for PC.
What did you try?
I think I know the answer to this question, but any solution for flattening LiveCycle forms on Mac? Running Lion and Acrobat X Pro–and wouldn’t you know it, the Ninth Circuit uses LiveCycle.
The only way to Flatten a livecycle form is to print it to the PDF Print driver.
As for Stephen Kyle, the document is still editable, but the commments that were on it when you flattened will not be.
I understand that this documentation is only for Acrobat X Pro, but on to my question, is there a way to flatten a document in Acrobat X Standard with out having to reprint the document as a pdf?
Our last version was Acrobat 6.0 and that had a nice little add-in that did it. We just purchased 18 copies of Acrobat X Standard so we could mark up submittals in house and send them on and now we find out we can not flatten our commments – very, very frustrating and a waste of money!!!!
The JavaScript for flattening pages will work in Acrobat Standard. I had an older script on my blog, but it attached to the Document menu which no longer exists. Check out this Adobe Forum thread: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/790368
This script works perfectly with our PDF forms – until signature fields are filled.
The JS console reveals that the script causes….
“NotAllowedError: Security settings prevent access to this property or method.”
We have been using similar JS to flatten PDF’s prior to version X without a problem.
Interestingly, all previous scripts experience the same problem. They all work fine with filled signature fields in versions 8 and 9, but fail in version X (with the same console message as above).
Our Acrobat security and JS prefs appear to be the same in versions 8, 9 and X.
Just wondering if I’m missing something obvious that’s causing this?
Any ideas?
Thanks!
I assume you mean Digital Signature fields. When I ran the Action on a digitally signed file, the Flatten action was ignored. Digital signatures do add a type of encryption to the document, so I think you would need to print to the PDF printer to flatten the document.
Rick:
I have a somewhat off-topic question. I tried to download your “Add Navigation Buttons” action from the action exchange, but when I try to use it, Acrobat X Pro (Win7 Prof 64) tells me that the file is corrupt. Is there any other way to get the action?
Best regards…
I’d try downloading it again. It worked for me.
Thatn you!!! Thank you!!! This worked perfectly, older fiels where printing wierd and missing text changing it with sqaures and this solved it!
Thanks so much!
B
To upload the Flatten action using Acrobat X pro go to Tools –> Action Wizard –> Edit Actions –> Import (select it from where you saved it in your computer) and click close.
It’ll automatically appear in your actions list.
Try this because I tried to load the action the way the pdf describes and I got the same error advice.
It worked just fine for me!
In some cases, Acrobat is installed without associating the .sequ extension, so that is a good workaround.
Has anyone found a way to flatted specific fields w/ this app, as I need this for a business-sensitive document. Any help would be appreciated!
That would be possible (I think) via a custom JavaScript. Ask the programmers at Windjack.com.
I have Acrobat 9 Standard
To get the end results of a flattened document, I print as a Adobe PDF file which creates a new file with comments flattened.
It’s a hassle but works
Brilliant, Rick! Saved me hours. Thanks.
When I tried adding this Action to Acrobat XI Pro, I got an error message that I can import and run this Action item, but will not be able to take advantage of the new Action Wizard features in XI. Exactly what capabilities will I be giving up? The creation of all new Actions?
Actions should continue to work in AXI. If I have a chance, I will redo them as AXI actions.
Did you rewrite the Flatten for AXI?
I haven’t done that yet. Hopefully, I will get to that.
I changed computers and when I reloaded Acrobat X Pro, I no longer had the Flatten Fields option. (Running Windows 7.) Searching the Internet, I keep finding this page but only in .pdf and the sequ file does not show. Could you please post a link to the page with the sequ file itself, not just this pdf?
I installed it into Acrobat Pro XI and it doesn’t seem to flatten like it did in Pro X. All I am using it for is adding text using “Edit Text & Images” button to a scanned document. After running the flaten field action, the added text is not embedded in the document. It can still be moved around and deleted.