Tools / Flatten PDF
Flatten a filled PDF form
Make the answers part of the page, so everyone sees the same thing.
- This tool has no upload step
- This browser-only engine does not send your file
- Every tool driven in a browser each release
Choose a PDF
or drop them here
How it works
- Add the filled PDF form.
- Flatten it. The answers are drawn into the page and the fields removed.
- Download the flat copy.
Why a filled form arrives empty
The answers in a PDF form live in a field layer above the page, and some readers do not draw that layer at all.
Flatten before you send a filled form anywhere official
It is the difference between the recipient seeing your answers and seeing a blank form.
Flattening is one way
The fields are gone afterwards and the answers are part of the page. Keep the filled original if you may need to change an answer.
Check the flat copy, not the original
Open the downloaded file and read the answers where they sit on the page.
It also stops an answer being changed
Once the text is drawn into the page, nobody edits it by clicking on it.
Where this is the wrong tool. Flattening makes the answers permanent and removes the form. If you need to send a form somebody else must fill in, send the form, not a flattened copy of it.
When the browser is not enough
Scanly for Android
Take document-scanning workflows to your Android phone with Scanly. See the Google Play listing for current features, requirements and data-processing information.
Questions
Why does my filled form look empty to someone else?
Because the answers are not on the page. They are in a layer of form fields on top of it, and whether they show depends on the software opening the file. Flattening moves them onto the page itself.
Can I edit the answers afterwards?
Not in the flattened copy, which is the point of it. Keep the original if you might need to change something.
It says there are no fields.
Then the document is not a form, and flattening would change nothing. If it looks different on another machine, that is usually a missing font rather than a form layer.
Is my file uploaded?
No.