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Need to flatten a document that has signatures so it will print. Using menu items please, no script super user suggestions please.
Community Beginner ,/t5/acrobat-discussions/need-to-flatten-a-document-that-has-signatures-so-it-will-print-using-menu-items-please-no-script/td-p/8978269 Mar 29, 2017 Mar 29, 2017
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I've been told if I cannot flatten the pdf document, it will not print and indeed it stops the printer cold and the network (and unchangeable) printer has to be rebooted much to the annoyance of everyone else in the department.
How can I flatten and entire pdf document that may be multiple pages, I do not want to have to pick and choose different signatures or images, I just want to flatten the entire thing so it will print. I've been told this is in the Tools menu but I can't find it and don't know how to use it possibly if I do find it.
Please remember this is a network printer at a workplace and I cannot install add-ons to my computer or change printer settings and neither do I have the time in my workload to learn how to add script or lines of code; this is not allowed and is also why I requested and had Adobe Acrobat XI installed and that took a fair amount of time.
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1 Correct answer
Community Expert , Apr 01, 2017 Apr 01, 2017 Stephen_A_Marsh • Community Expert , Apr 01, 2017 Apr 01, 2017Sharon, I am just going to throw out a whole list of things to try, with luck one of them will be the answer that you are looking for:
* Tools > Print Production > Preflight > PDF Fixups > Flatten annotations and form fields
* Tools > Print Production > Flattener Preview: Apply to all pages in document
One last thing to try if all else fails, when you select Print, see if the Advanced > Print as Image option helps (this will be slow and it is sticky, so make sure to print again and turn it off if t
12 Replies 12/t5/acrobat-discussions/need-to-flatten-a-document-that-has-signatures-so-it-will-print-using-menu-items-please-no-script/m-p/8978270#M49090 Mar 29, 2017 Mar 29, 2017
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We need much more information to answer your question.
Reader or Acrobat?
What operating system?
What printer manufacturer and model? And what type of printer is it? PostScript, direct PDF, what?
We know of absolutely no problems and restrictions in Reader or Acrobat's printing subsystem that prevents full and proper printing of documents with signatures of any kind!
And in terms of what you call “flattening” there are several meanings to that, all very different. One could be “flattening layers” of the PDF file, “flattening transparency” within the PDF file, “flattening annotations” into the PDF pages' contents, or using the word “flattening” as a substitute for the word “rasterizing” in which all content is turned into one, big honk'in image on each page. Flattening annotations might be associated with signatures, but it makes no sense to us at Adobe why this would be necessary for printing.
Please provide the above-mentioned information as well as the source of these instructions you have received such that we may further assist you.
- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021) Community guidelinesBe kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
Community Beginner ,/t5/acrobat-discussions/need-to-flatten-a-document-that-has-signatures-so-it-will-print-using-menu-items-please-no-script/m-p/8978271#M49091 Mar 29, 2017 Mar 29, 2017
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I am using Adobe Acrobat Professional XI on a Windows 7 Professional PC.
We have people here that use Blue Bean to flatten multi page documents and they print just fine to the network printer, therefore I am not allowed to ask that the printer properties be changed, that is not the issue here.
I wish to be able to flatten an entire multi page document with added signatures (I deal with multi million dollar Contracts and Pay Applications) and nothing on the entire document may be changed, but it can't print because approval signatures gathered create layers and that will stop the printer dead in its tracks, however anyone using Blue Bean can print it with no instruction or script ability needed.
I do not want to get Blue Beam and have been using Adobe Standard until I heard that the flattening ability had to use Adobe Professional. So after a week or so I managed to have Adobe Acrobat Professional XI installed. So seriously I do not need to be told that Adobe can't do it and now I need to get a Java script add-on or something, that just sounds absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary and would put me another week out completing time sensitive material.
I don't remember who told me, but I was told if I "flatten" the document then it will print. If I did remember I would certainly call him or her and ask where under the Tools menu is it and how do I use it.
Since I don't want to spend an hour going through every document that crosses my desk for where on each page is the flipping signature, then yes, maybe I need that last suggestion to turn each and every page and everything on it into a big honkin image which is what pdf pages are anyway before layers are created with multiple signatures, because what ever Blue Beam does I'm sure is not as fully involved as all those other suggestions.
