Flatten PDF (Make It Permanent) - Free Online Browser Tool

Bake form fields, comments and markup into the page so nothing can be edited or deleted afterwards.

A completed document is not finished until its interactive parts are gone and its confidentiality is settled. Flattening stops anyone undoing your entries, and turning the pages into images stops the text being lifted back out. Neither is a password - PDF encryption is not available in a browser, and this tool will not pretend otherwise - but together they are the strongest thing that can honestly be done to a file here.

This flatten pdf (make it permanent) utility runs completely inside your web browser. Your document is opened locally and processed on your own device using JavaScript and WebAssembly, so your file is never uploaded to any server. There is no signup, no watermark and no limit on how many documents you can handle.

  • 100% client-side - files never leave your device
  • Instant processing, no upload wait
  • Works on desktop, tablet and mobile
  • Free forever, no account required

Common next steps: Flatten Form Fields, Flatten / Remove Annotations, Stop Text Being Copied, Sanitise PDF for Sharing.

How to Use the Flatten PDF (Make It Permanent) Tool

Five steps, and the whole thing runs locally on your own device.

  1. Load the document

    The filled-in or marked-up file, not the blank template.

  2. Choose what happens to the fields

    Bake the entered values into the page, or clear them and remove the fields entirely.

  3. Choose what happens to the markings

    Bake comments and markup in, or remove them along with their marks.

  4. Decide whether the text stays text

    Leave it selectable, or turn every page into an image so nothing can be copied out of it.

  5. Download the bundle

    A ZIP holding the flattened PDF and a short note naming every change.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does flattening actually remove?

The interactive layer: form fields become ordinary page content, and annotations stop being selectable, movable and deletable. The visible result is identical, which is why it is worth doing before sending.

Can I still edit the file afterwards?

No, and that is the point. The values are drawn into the page, so correcting a typo means going back to the original. Keep the pre-flatten file until you are sure.

Is the finished file encrypted, or just made permanent?

Just made permanent. Encryption needs a cipher, a key-derivation function and a permission bitmask, and the library this runs on has no encryption API - a password written by hand would be a flag any reader could ignore. Flattening removes the ability to change the file instead, which does not depend on the reader behaving.

What does the image option cost me?

Selectability and accessibility. A rasterised page is an image: no text to copy, no text to search, and nothing for a screen reader to follow. Choose it for the pages that carry the sensitive part and leave the rest as text.

Why is there a note in the download?

Because flattening cannot be undone, so the download is the last chance to check the right file went through. The note names every change, and says plainly that no password was set.