Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
March 16, 2012
Question

How to flatten a pdf?

  • March 16, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 21388 views

Hi!

I've exported a pdf from Indesign CS5 and it is spliing into lots of separate objects when viewed in Acrobat pro. I can select lots of objects with the touch up object tool.

The Indesign file uses lots of images and text with various effects (drop shadows etc) which is obviously making the file complex and Acrobat is splitting it up.

Is there anyway of flattening the pdf in Acrobat so that it is 1 combined image and not made up of lots of parts?

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

D
Dave Merchant
Legend
March 16, 2012

That's how PDF files work - page content is optimized into objects based on type and position. You can merge fragments of bitmap images using the tools in Preflight, but you cannot combine other types of page element.

"Flattening" has a special meaning in PDF, it refers to the process of turning annotations (comments and markup) into page objects. It has no effect on the way a page is stored within the file structure.

B
Bill12
Inspiring
March 16, 2012

If you want to turn the page into a single image, then save as an image (typically TIFF) and open the image in a new PDF. Not sure why you want to do this, but it would give what you have requested.

A
Anonymous
March 19, 2012

Thanks Bill,

This seems to have worked.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices