- Drag it in, choose it, or paste it. It is read here in the tab and never uploaded.
- The settings column holds 1 control for this tool. The defaults suit most files.
- “Flatten PDF” works on your device, then Original and Result sit side by side with a download.
About Flatten PDF
Flatten PDF draws form fields and markup into the pages themselves, so answers, signatures, highlights and stamps become part of the document and can no longer be edited or moved.
A filled-in form holds its answers in fields that sit above the page, and a commented document holds its markup the same way. Both can be changed, moved or cleared by anyone who opens the file, and both can render differently — or not at all — depending on the reader. Flattening draws them into the page, so what you see becomes what the document is.
After flattening there are no fields left to edit and no annotations left to delete. The answers, the signature, the highlights and the stamps are page contents, exactly as if they had been printed. This is the step people are looking for when they say a PDF should be final.
A document with neither fields nor markup is saved as it is, with a note saying nothing needed flattening, rather than being rewritten for no reason.