PDF created with Illustrator is showing hidden layers. Sometimes.

[caresrg]

I admit I am an Illustrator noob. I'd like to understand what is happening here, and avoid it if I can. I created a PDF from an illustration, after hiding a couple of layers. I thought that the PDF would only have the layers that were visible, and when I open it in all the various readers I have on my PC, that was the case. Recently, though, a friend printed it from his Mac (I'm not sure which app), and ALL the layers printed on top of one another. How can I prevent that extra information from being in the PDF in the first place? TIA!

[don2824lambson]

perfect explanation Mike.

Thanks.

issue resolved.

(not sure why this problem didnt pop up the last 13 years ive been making PDF's for laser cutting, anyway, just glad you helped me solve it.)

[don2824lambson]

also, im looking for the 'correct' button below your answer - and am not seeing it. sorry.

[MikeGondek]

Thanks Don, glad that helped you, many people miss that feature myself included.

Only the orinigal poster can mark an answer as correct. Anyone can click on helpful and/or like.

[jennafers69294864]

YES!

Turning the acrobat layers off when saving the PDF in Illustrator worked. 

Thank you!!

[Leslie5C80]

Illustrator hiding images it shows in PDF file. Only show in Firefox browser. IE and Chrome are fine.

[Monika Gause]

So you import a PDF and the images are done?

Has the PDF been created in Illustrator and has it been saved with "Preserve editing capabilities"?

Otherwise there is no guarantee that you can import it or edit it or whatever.

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-ten-commandments-of-pdf.html

[Leslie5C80]

Thank you very helpful!

[Luke Jennings3]

Some PDF viewers will ignore layer properties and show all of the layers, even if they are turned off or set to never show. The solution is to only use Acrobat or Reader to view your PDFs, or delete the unwanted PDF layers in Illustrator or Acrobat.

[Leslie5C80]

Yes I have follow your advice and delete the unwanted PDF layers in Illustrator.

Thank you very much! 

[acriptia9]

I just had a similar situation where a client gave me an illustrator pdf with a hidden layer. I made some modifications to the visible layer, that he requested, but left his hidden layer in the file. He printed it many times using Acrobat without any problem but then he tried to print it using Microsoft Edge and the hidden layer showed up. The hidden layer did not appear when the file was opened in photoshop nor when opening it in Acrobat in Edit view. Ultimately, I just had to delete the hidden layer.