How to Change Rounded Corners to Square in Acrobat

[wardben]

I'm trying to change all the rounded corners in a document to square corners. When I edit an image in Photoshop, it imports with square corners, but after saving it back to Acrobat, the image in Acrobat is replaced, but keeps the rounded edges. This suggests that the issue may be a setting in Acrobat. Is there a way to change this setting?

Thanks 

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @wardben,

Thanks for sharing the details and screenshots — that helps clarify the situation.

What you’re seeing isn’t caused by a setting in Acrobat itself. Acrobat doesn’t control whether images display with rounded or square corners. Instead, the corners are part of how the PDF was authored: the image has been placed inside a frame or clipping mask (most likely a rounded rectangle) when the document was originally created in tools like InDesign, Illustrator, or another design program.

When you edit the image in Photoshop and save it back, Acrobat replaces the image inside that frame, but the mask/frame itself is preserved — which is why you still see rounded corners.

What we can do:

Here are some ways to get square corners instead:

1. Check for a clipping path/mask in Acrobat Pro

• Go to Tools → Print Production → Output Preview.

• Use the Object Inspector to see if the image is inside a rounded frame.

2. Edit in Illustrator (most reliable)

• Export the page/object to Illustrator.

• Select the frame and change the rounded rectangle to a square one.

• Save back to PDF — Acrobat will then display the square corners.

3. Flatten transparency

• Try Print Production → Flattener Preview in Acrobat Pro.

• This sometimes removes vector masks (though it may also “bake” the image and reduce editability).

4. Adjust in the source file (best long-term fix)

• If you have access to the original design file (e.g., InDesign), adjust the image frames there and re-export the PDF with square corners.

What won’t work

• Acrobat preferences or settings — there’s no toggle for rounded vs. square corners.

• Editing just the raster image in Photoshop — the frame/mask will remain applied.

Let us know how it works.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team | Meet Acrobat Studio

[wardben]

Hi @Tariq Ahmad,

It sounds like option 2 will be my best option, as I don't have access to the original file and have spent a lot of time editing it in Acrobat. Will the process be the same for the photos that I can only edit in Photoshop and not Illustrator?

[Luke Jennings3]

I agree with Tariq's good advice. To elaborate, if you only have access to the final document, open a copy of it in Illustrator and show the layers, by turning the layers on and off you might be able to find and remove the element producing the rounded corners. Note, Illustrator is not a universal pdf editor and can cause unwanted changes in your pdf, one work-around would be to place the original pdf into InDesign, then replace the original (round corner) images with the new images saved from Illustrator, then export to a new pdf.