Free · runs in your browser · nothing is uploaded · works offline
Flatten a PDF Online — Lock Form Fields and Remove Annotations, No Upload
Filled forms and markup burned in or stripped on your device, links kept if you want them.
Filled forms and markup burned in or stripped on your device, links kept if you want them.
Private by design: processing happens on your device with open-source libraries served from this site (licences). Nothing is uploaded, and once loaded the tool keeps working offline. Need other tools? All tools are on the homepage.
Free, no ads, no upsell. If it saved you a trip to a paid converter, you can buy the developer a coffee — it funds new tools and keeps this one free. ☕ Buy me a coffee
Runs on your deviceTested on Pixel 7 & MacBook Air M2Open-source engines · licences
About this tool
Fillable forms and sticky-note comments live in separate layers that some viewers ignore, print strangely, or let the next person change. Flattening writes the filled values into the page itself and removes the interactive fields, so the PDF prints and displays identically everywhere and can no longer be edited by hand. Comments, highlights and stamps can be removed in the same pass; clickable links are kept unless you choose otherwise.
This is the step to run before sending a completed form, a signed agreement or a reviewed draft that should no longer carry its review markup — and because nothing is uploaded, the completed form stays on your device.
How it works
- Step 1. Choose or drop the PDF(s).
- Step 2. Decide whether to flatten fields, remove markup and keep links.
- Step 3. Press Flatten PDF; the note lists what was changed.
Questions
Is flattening the same as redacting?
No. Flattening fixes what is visible; it does not remove text. To permanently remove content use Redact.
Can I un-flatten later?
No — keep the original if you may need to edit the fields again.
Are digital signatures kept?
Signature fields are flattened to their appearance; a cryptographic signature will no longer validate, so flatten before signing, not after.
Good to know
- Comments without an appearance stream simply disappear (they are not drawn first).
- Cryptographic signatures are invalidated.