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Delete Layers in PDF

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
December 29, 2009
7 replies
154688 views

The PDF was exported from Adobe InDesign with layer option enabled. We need to delete one of the layer appeared in the PDF. Kindly help me out to delete the layer in PDF.

How to

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Correct answer Eugene Tyson

You can do it with the Preflight panel in Acrobat

Click the spanner and then search for Layer

runninghead_design

Inspiring

jane-e

Thanks but I'm not going to fill in a form as this known issue has been around for so long.

The workaround you suggest, while helpful, is far from ideal and I feel certain that Adobe: Team Acrobat are well aware of it.

If I have to use Acrobat again I'll look in to creating an Action for the task and assign a keyboard shortcut to it, if Acrobat has Actions yet.

S

stíobhartm4190497

Participant

I stumbled across this thread while looking for a way to do this. After a lot of futile searching, I finally found the answer myself. So this is what worked for me [Just posting it here for future reference]:

1: Hide the layer in question

2: Go to Tools > Protection > Remove Hidden Information

Run that command and, in the Results panel you'll see a list of various 'hidden' things Acrobat has found in the document

3: Untick everything apart from "Hidden Layers", then click "Remove"

Job's a good 'un!

runninghead_design

Inspiring

OK, this really shows how ridiculous Adobe have become, as per other posters here since 2012 (probably earlier too) it's now 2017 and there's STILL no Delete Layer option!!

runninghead_design

Inspiring

btw: Rove Hidden is now under "Redact"

T

TaxManCA

Participant

April 2012 and there still is no DELETE function/choice/feature for a layer. I inadvertantly created one, and now cannot get it deleted without using CJ2161's method. Utterly ridiculous for a $400.00 piece of software!

Steve Werner

Community Expert

You need to make a feature request for the Acrobat team. The link is in message #24. Be sure to provide a "use case" for why this feature is necessary.

It's not an InDesign issue.

A

Anonymous

I am currently experiencing the exact same issue. What a frustrating problem.

E

emmerie

Participant

I got this problem with Acrobat 9, did they fix it in 10? This is ridiculous!

Steve Werner

Community Expert

This is such a rarely requested feature that I doubt there has been any change in Acrobat X.

P

PDG777

Participant

We are using Acrobat X pro and there seems to be no ability to remove layers from a pdf and save-as with only selected layers. We are working with a large (45 mb) file with many many layers. Tunring the layers off is not an optimum solution. We want to be able to delete layers and save-as, in order to create a smaller file that is more managable. Adobe, you should add this function: delete layer!!

A

Anonymous

If you're looking to delete the layer from the PDF, you'll need Enfocus Pitstop. Just select the layer and delete. Not an InDesign solution though. Good luck.

P

Printer_Rick

Inspiring

There is an InDesign solution.

Place the PDF. With Object Layer options hide the unwanted layer. Export a new PDF.

A

Anna Thea

Participant

Okay, none of the above works for me. The unwanted layers always reappear after flattening / merging / saving As, even when I hide them.

Here's what worked:

1) HIDE the layers you want to KEEP. (The layers you want to delete remain visible).

2) Select Tools > Advanced Editing > Touch-up Text Tool.

3) Hit Ctrl-A to select all visible text objects.

4) Hit Delete.

5) Select Tools > Advanced Editing > Touch-up Object Tool.

6) Hit Ctrl-A to select all visible objects.

7) Hit Delete.

8) Now, you want to "merge away" the unwanted layers, which are now empty. In the Layers pane, Click the "Options" pull-down and select "Merge Layers...".

9) Hold down CONTROL and click all the UNWANTED (empty) layers.

10) Click "Add".

11) In the right-hand pane (target layer), select the first layer that you want to KEEP. This will basically merge that layer with all the empty ones, and in effect, delete the empty layers.

12) Hit OK, and you're done. When you save the file, the layers you want to preserve are preserved, and the file size is smaller, reflecting the "deleted" layers.

This thread didn't help me even though the subject seems to be precisely what I needed, so I came up with this "brute force" method... Hopefully this helps someone else in the same predicament. If there is a more efficient way of doing it, let me know.

Thanks cj2161! You saved my day and my sanity!

I have a pdf with about 40 layers. It's a map that I'm altering/working on. It's very detailed and has all the features I need but unfortunately it also has a lot of features I don't need -- like foot paths, electrical lines, fences and whatnot, all on different layers. I was planning on exporting the pdf into Illustrator and simply delete the unwanted layers there. But that didn't work, the 40 layers always merged into one in the process and I couldn't find a way around the problem. The obvious solution was to the delete the layers in the pdf but strangely there is no delete function. And even if you render the unwanted layers invisible, turn them off (whatever that means) and tick "will not export if invisible" they still get exported. But your roundabout method of emptying unwanted layers and merging them with one of the wanted ones actually works. I don't think I'd have been able to solve this riddle on my own accord.

The original file was autocad but I´ve never worked with autocad. So the pdf was simply a means to get this map into Illustator which I know how to use (more or less). Again, thanks for your help!

BobLevine

Community Expert

Open it in Acrobat and delete it there or just turn off the layer and create a new PDF without layers or with hidden layers disabled.

Bob

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I don't make layered PDFs very often, but in the past it has been my expereince that it makes no difference whether a layer is visible when you export from ID, regardless of the settings. All layers have always showed up in the PDF.