Flatten forms
Bake form field values into regular page content so they can no longer be edited.
This tool does not upload your files. Close the tab and nothing is left behind.
Locking a filled form before you send it
A completed application form is not really finished while its fields are still live. The recipient can change what you entered, some viewers on phones show the fields as empty, and a few print the blank form rather than your answers. Flattening turns the values into part of the page so that what you see is what everyone else gets.
Field values become ordinary page content and can no longer be edited, cleared or tabbed through. This is also the step to run before combining a filled form with other documents, because Merge and the other page tools refuse a PDF that still has live form fields.
Only form fields are affected. Comments, highlights and other annotations are left as they are, and a PDF that contains no form at all is simply saved back unchanged rather than reporting an error. The file never leaves your browser, which matters when the form has your address and identification numbers on it.
How to use
- 1
Select a PDF with forms.
- 2
Click Start.
- 3
Download the result.
Frequently asked questions
- PDF without forms?
- It's saved unchanged.
- Annotations too?
- Only form fields are flattened.