In this article, you will learn
- which prerequisites are required for this Fixup, and
- how to apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Fixup Flatten Layers is available in the Workflow. The purpose of this Fixup is to flatten the currently visible content on a layer and to remove the entire layer structure.
2. General
Use this Fixup when you want to preserve only the currently visible content and remove all other objects that are not displayed from the Print Item. This can significantly reduce the PDF file size and help prevent potential errors.
You will find this Fixup in the footer of the sections Document Information and User-defined Fields in the Fixup group Manage Layers of an Article, Order resp. Production Job or in the tab Data Preparation.
3. Description
With this Fixup, all layers that are currently not visible – including the objects on those layers – can be removed from the PDF file. The currently visible content is consolidated into one layer. As a result, all hidden layers and their contents are deleted, the currently visible objects are moved to one layer, and all existing layers are removed from the document.
3.1. Prerequisites and Functionality
For this Fixup to perform as intended, the following requirements must be met:
- The Print Item has several layers.
- Individual layers of the Print Item can be shown or hidden.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Flatten Layers
No other options can be chosen.
3.2. Example File
To experiment with this Fixup, refer to the sample file "Layer_Sample.pdf". The sample file contains six layers, two of which are hidden and four of which are visible.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Layer_Sample_End5.pdf" is created, in which all objects have been reduced to one layer. Visually, the file remains unchanged.
Figure 2: Left: Original file; Right: All objects of the original file reduced to one layer
Article update: Version 1.20.0 – 03/2025