How do I 'Flatten' an Illustrator file?

[Ken Nielsen]

I have a logo I've been working on with lots of layers, and sub-layers and now I would like to collapse or 'flatten' everything into one layer for use as a logo without the encumbrance of the many layers it took to make this artwork. I've tried 'flatten' but that still keeps the layers and sub-layers. I'm not sure what else to try. I want what is on top to appear and layers below to be sandwiched down so everything looks like it is on the screen. In Photoshop, I would just flatten and get the result I am looking for on one layer, but in Illustrator, it's not cooperating the way I would like it to. I have converted all type to paths, so that is done.

Where do I go from here to get the 'flattened' file I am after?

TIA,

Ken

[Salah Fadlabi]

Have you tried to place logo document file in a new illustrator document?

[Ken Nielsen]

I have selected all, cut to clipboard and pasted into a new document... is that what you mean? This does not change the many layers still remain.

[Salah Fadlabi · Accepted solution]

Ken Nielsen wrote:

I have selected all, cut to clipboard and pasted into a new document... is that what you mean? This does not change the many layers still remain.

Create File>new, then File>Place the logo file in the new document.

[Ken Nielsen]

Salah Fadlabi wrote:

Ken Nielsen wrote:

I have selected all, cut to clipboard and pasted into a new document... is that what you mean? This does not change the many layers still remain.

Create File>new, then File>Place the logo file in the new document.

That definitely does work, it's no longer Illustrator artwork when doing this, but still scaleable and I don't need to edit the logo anyway. so this works. I'll crop the artboard nice and close and use this method, which I'm going to believe preserves the vector scaleability of the placed artwork since it is a place Illustrator file.

Thanks To Everyone, All answers here are correct actually, It's just that grouping and converting to shape are not getting rid of the layers at this point and that could be for some strange reason I will explore that now...

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Pasting into a new document will ONLY work if you uncheck "Paste Remember Layers" under the Options menu of the Layers panel.

[Ken Nielsen]

Jeff Witchel, ACI wrote:

Pasting into a new document will ONLY work if you uncheck "Paste Remember Layers" under the Options menu of the Layers panel.

Yes, good point. I had it unchecked but good to check that it is unchecked also.

Thanks Jeff,

Ken

[mollyk51258388]

DOESNT WORK

[Monika Gause]

mollyk51258388  schrieb

DOESNT WORK

If you just want to complain, then it's OK.

If you need help, please create a new thread, post system info and version. And describe your artwork or better post a screenshot and describe what exactly you want to do.

No one remembers this thread or what it is about and only few people are eager to read through everything in order to even guess what you want to do.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Select everything and go to Object > Group

Grouping everything will force everything to be the same Layer.

[Ken Nielsen]

When I select all, then group, here is what happens, still many layers left...

[Monika Gause]

In terms of the layers panel Illustrator is completely different from Photoshop.

Are all these shapes of the same color? In that case combining them into 1 shape might make sense. Otherwise: group them as has already been written

[Ken Nielsen]

Selecting all and converting to shape and the layers all remain as shown above. I would have thought that group would have done it. Don't tell me Illustrator is giving me strange behavior again... maybe time to shut down and restart the system?

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

As I said earlier,

"Select everything and go to Object > Group. Grouping everything will force everything to be the same Layer."

[Ton Frederiks]

Why worry about layers?

[Ken Nielsen]

Ton Frederiks wrote:

Why worry about layers?

I wouldn't, normally, but this has 'tons' of layers and bringing those into another file where I'm building an ad adds too much clutter. Would be nice to have one layer with the logo on it.

[Ton Frederiks]

If you just Place the file as a link into another document, you will never see the layers.

[Ken Nielsen]

Ton Frederiks wrote:

If you just Place the file as a link into another document, you will never see the layers.

Thanks for mentioning that word 'link' as this is not as 'portable' as actually having one layer of Illustrator art that carries the logo, but maybe I am pushing what I am able to do with this.

[Ton Frederiks]

But even when you choose "Embed" I would not worry about the layers, linked or embedded it's the same content.

[vtechK120]

If you just want a flattened copy saving your art work as Ai...then copy & Paste into Ps and merge what ever comes in...just a thought

[Danny Whitehead.]

vtechK120 wrote:

If you just want a flattened copy saving your art work as Ai...then copy & Paste into Ps and merge what ever comes in...just a thought

Definitely do not do that.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

You're not really doing a layout for a ad in Illustrator are you? You would not have had this question if you did your layout in a layout application such as InDesign.

[Ken Nielsen]

Jeff Witchel, ACI wrote:

You're not really doing a layout for a ad in Illustrator are you? You would not have had this question if you did your layout in a layout application such as InDesign.

Yes, I need 'graphics capability' of Illustrator to work on this ad. I was just hoping that I could have the logo as one layer in Illustrator rather than the scads of layers that went into the original logo. I try to use appropriate software for each project, but for this one ad, the graphics capability and flexibility made me choose Illustrator for this one project.

[Danny Whitehead.]

Ken Nielsen wrote:

Ton Frederiks wrote:

Why worry about layers?

I wouldn't, normally, but this has 'tons' of layers and bringing those into another file where I'm building an ad adds too much clutter. Would be nice to have one layer with the logo on it.

Where's the clutter? There's no reason whatsoever to fuss about those sublayers. In your screenshot, just rename the top layer 'Logo' (for instance), click on its little arrow to hide all the sublayers, and forget about them.

[Kris Hunt]

Ken, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Illustrator works. Grouping the layers will get you the closest to what you're after, but you will never be able to get rid of all the sublayers, because Illustrator is object-oriented, which means your graphics are composed of objects with a stacking order, i.e., layers. Just close the disclosure arrow that reveals the sublayers and you can pretend they're not even there if they bug you.