I have a small photography booklet I created in Photoshop, in a single PSD file, with each page as its own layer group.
Each group (ie, page) contains one small text blurb, and a couple of images.
In a nutshell, I'll load up the PSD file (with all 8 pages in 8 separate layer groups) -- leaving only one layer group visible at a time -- using Save As to create a PDF version of that page; while making sure to uncheck "layers" in the final save dialog.
I thought that last step would flatten the visible layers, while discarding the ones I turned off. But it only does the latter. The visible ones get exported without being flattened. The only reason I know this is because while assembling all 8 pages in Acrobat, I accidentally moved my background image and realized there was another background under it. One that should have been turned off, but wasn't.
Wouldn't have been an issue if PS could flatten all visible pixel layers during the save, while retaining the vector (text) data separately.
I realize that Acrobat -- unlike Photoshop -- WILL flatten the visible layers when I save the final PDF with all the pages combined, if I ask it to. But I've not found a way to do this from Photoshop without manually flattening the layers before exporting (a chore if you've got several pages to save).
So I guess my question is... is there a checkbox I'm not seeing in PS that will flatten visible pixel layers while retaining the vector/shape data separately, during a PDF save/export?
This way, if there's a layer that's left turned on but can't be seen because it's hidden under other layers, that information isn't bloating the PDF file. It's simply discarded.
Thanks!
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