Whether you are ordering color copies, business cards, brochure, or booklet printing, you will need to submit a flattened PDF. Pro tip: Save a working version of your file as well as a PDF version that you can flatten. Flattening a PDF for print removes transparency information and converts images to a format that the printer can read. To avoid this issue, you want to flatten your PDF file for print.
If you print your PDF as is, you will only print the layer that is visible onscreen as opposed to all visual elements from various layers. When you create a PDF from layered documents using software such as Adobe InDesign or Adobe Photoshop, your PDF can contain multiple layers with different content on each one. If you’re new to the printing world, or even relatively acquainted, you may be wondering what a flattened PDF file is and how to achieve it.
