Flatten PDF
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Flatten a PDF so form answers become part of the page and can no longer be edited. Free, no sign-up, and your file never leaves your device.
Stays on your device
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How to flatten a PDF form
Flattening turns a fillable form into a plain page. The answers typed into the form stay where they are, but they become part of the page. After that, nobody can change them by clicking in a field. This helps when you send a finished form and want the answers to stay as they are. Each field is drawn onto its page just as it looks on screen, and then the field is removed. The rest of the page stays the same. You can still select and copy the text and the typed answers, because the page is not turned into a picture. Only standard PDF form fields are flattened. Some older forms use a different format called XFA, which this tool does not support. Comments and links that are not form fields stay, and so does the title. Flattening is not redaction. Anything you can see in a field stays visible. You download one PDF named flattened.pdf.
Your file stays on your device. It is never uploaded, so you can flatten tax forms, applications and contracts that are private. You can check this yourself: open your browser's developer tools, go to the network panel and add a file. No upload appears. There is no sign-up and no watermark, and when you close the page the copy in your browser is gone.
There is no page limit and no daily limit. A long PDF works as long as your device has enough memory to open it. Very large files, such as scans with hundreds of pages, can be slow on a phone or an older laptop. To clear author and other hidden details as well, use Remove metadata from PDF.
If the page says your PDF could not be read, the file may be damaged or may not be a PDF, so try another copy. A PDF with no pages cannot be flattened. A password-protected PDF will not work here, so remove the password with Unlock PDF first and try again. If a field still looks editable, the form may use XFA, which is not supported.
How to use this tool
- Choose your file. It never leaves your device.
- Pick a setting, if the page has one.
- Download your new file.
Common questions
Will my typed answers stay after I flatten a PDF?
Yes, for standard form fields that show their text on the page. The answers stay visible and you can still select and copy them. The fields themselves are removed, so nobody can edit those answers anymore. The page is not turned into a picture.
Is my PDF uploaded when I flatten it?
No. Your file stays on your device. It is never uploaded. You get a new file named flattened.pdf, and your original is not changed. Only PDF to Word, OCR PDF and heavy compression send files to our server.
Does flattening remove comments and links?
No. Comments and links that are not form fields stay. A link still opens its web address, and a note keeps its text. Only form fields are drawn onto the page and removed. This is not redaction: anything visible in a field stays visible.
Is it free to flatten a PDF?
Yes, it's free. No account, no daily limit, no watermark.