Flatten a PDF: Freeze Forms and Annotations
Flattening trades editability for certainty: whatever is on screen becomes part of the page, in every viewer and on every printer.
What this tool does
Fixes a document's state so it prints and shares the same everywhere: either only the form fields become part of the page, or the whole document is rendered flat at a resolution you pick.
How it works
Choose “only form fields” to keep the PDF small, editable in a design tool and searchable, or “all content” to rasterise the pages for a scan-like result at 150–300 DPI. Flatten after a form is filled and before it is filed — a flattened form can no longer be changed.
- Choose the PDF, or drag it onto the page.
- Set what to flatten and resolution (dpi) — the settings below explain what each one changes.
- Run the tool and download the result.
Settings that decide the result
- What to flatten — All content (rasterise the pages), Only form fields
- Resolution (DPI) — 75, 100, 150, 220, 300
When to reach for it
- A filled form must not change again. Flatten the fields into the page.
- Annotations shift between viewers. Render the document flat so there is nothing left to render.
Questions we get
What does flattening do to form fields?
It bakes fields and overlays into the pages — values stay visible as plain text but nothing is fillable anymore. Ideal before printing or archiving a signed document.
Where it fits
The tools people usually open next to Flatten:
- Repair — Recover data from a corrupted or damaged PDF document
- Compress — Reduce the size of your PDF.
- Grayscale — Make a PDF text and images grayscale
Every tool works on a copy, so the original file is never modified. Uploads are stored under an unguessable id and deleted automatically two hours after you last open them; nothing is listed, shared or indexed. More on the security page.