What does flattening a PDF actually do?

A filled form is not the same thing as the text it shows you. The values live in field objects, and a reader may re-draw them in a different font, let someone edit them, or fail to show them at all. Flattening draws those values onto the page and removes the fields, so what you see is what everyone else sees.

Is flattening the same as redacting?

No, and the difference matters. Flattening makes content uneditable, not invisible — flattened text is still there and still copyable. If you need something to be genuinely gone, use the redaction tool, which paints solid marks over the area and rasterizes the page so nothing underneath survives.

Why did my filled form come out blank somewhere else?

That is the bug flattening fixes. When form values are set by software rather than typed, the field can carry a value with no drawn appearance — some readers render it, others show an empty box. This tool regenerates those appearances before flattening, so the answers are drawn onto the page itself.

Which option should I choose?

Keep the default unless you have a reason not to. It leaves your text selectable and searchable, which is what you want for anything someone will read or copy from. Choose the image option when you want nothing at all to be selectable — accepting a larger file and text that no longer works with search or a screen reader.

Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?

No. Every operation runs entirely in your browser on your own device. Your files are never uploaded anywhere, and nothing is stored once you close the tab.

Is it really free? Are there limits?

Yes, it is completely free with no account required. There are no page or file-count limits and no watermarks — because the work happens on your device, there is nothing for us to meter.

Flatten a PDF

Bake filled form fields, comments and stamps into the page so they cannot be edited and cannot re-render differently in someone else’s reader. Your files are never uploaded. Your files are never uploaded — everything runs on your device.

Your PDF
Drop PDFs or images here — or click to choose
PDFJPGPNG
Your files are never uploaded — everything runs on your device.
Edit
Export

How to flatten a PDF

Open your PDF

Drag and drop the PDF, or click to choose it. You can reorder, rotate or delete pages first if you like.
Pick what to flatten

The default bakes in form fields and annotations and leaves the text selectable. The second option redraws every page as an image instead — nothing stays selectable and the file gets larger.
Flatten & download

Before you press it, the tool counts the form fields and annotations it found — so if there is nothing to flatten, it says so rather than handing you an identical file.

What you can do

Merge & split

Combine several PDFs into one, or pull out just the pages you need and download them as a separate file.

PNG to PDF, JPG to PDF

Drop in PNG or JPG images and each one becomes a PDF page you can arrange alongside your documents, then download as a single PDF.

PDF to PNG, PDF to JPG

Go the other way too: render each page (or just the ones you select) to PNG or JPG and download them together as a ZIP.

Rearrange PDF pages

Drag a page by its handle to move it. Works with a mouse and with touch, so you can reorder pages on your phone too.

Rotate & auto-orient

Turn any page 90° at a time, or let Auto-rotate detect sideways and upside-down scans and straighten them for you.

Preview any page

Click a page to open a crisp full-size preview and step through the document before you download.

Delete & extract

Remove pages you do not need, or extract a range by selecting pages and downloading only the selection.

Reduce the file size

Make a PDF smaller: a lossless re-save that keeps selectable text, or a stronger image setting for scans and image-heavy files.

Private and free

No accounts, no page limits, no watermarks. Your files are never uploaded — every operation runs locally in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

What does flattening a PDF actually do?: A filled form is not the same thing as the text it shows you. The values live in field objects, and a reader may re-draw them in a different font, let someone edit them, or fail to show them at all. Flattening draws those values onto the page and removes the fields, so what you see is what everyone else sees.
Is flattening the same as redacting?: No, and the difference matters. Flattening makes content uneditable, not invisible — flattened text is still there and still copyable. If you need something to be genuinely gone, use the redaction tool, which paints solid marks over the area and rasterizes the page so nothing underneath survives.
Why did my filled form come out blank somewhere else?: That is the bug flattening fixes. When form values are set by software rather than typed, the field can carry a value with no drawn appearance — some readers render it, others show an empty box. This tool regenerates those appearances before flattening, so the answers are drawn onto the page itself.
Which option should I choose?: Keep the default unless you have a reason not to. It leaves your text selectable and searchable, which is what you want for anything someone will read or copy from. Choose the image option when you want nothing at all to be selectable — accepting a larger file and text that no longer works with search or a screen reader.
Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?: No. Every operation runs entirely in your browser on your own device. Your files are never uploaded anywhere, and nothing is stored once you close the tab.
Is it really free? Are there limits?: Yes, it is completely free with no account required. There are no page or file-count limits and no watermarks — because the work happens on your device, there is nothing for us to meter.

Flattening to images is sometimes reached for as a way to shrink a file, and on a text document it does the opposite — a page of type turns into a photograph of a page of type. Why is my PDF so big? has the measured byte counts, and what actually reduces them.

Your PDF

Edit

Export