Flatten Annotations

Flatten Annotations

Flatten Annotations is a REST API tool that collapses annotation appearances into page content and makes them no longer editable. It's designed to provide developers with precise control over document finalization, ensuring PDF annotations display consistently across all viewers and platforms while safeguarding against unintended modifications.

Key Benefits of Flatten Annotations API

  • Maximize compatibility by converting diverse PDF annotation types into standard page content, ensuring universal display across all PDF viewers and processing tools.
  • Lock in feedback by preserving highlights, comments, and shapes directly into the document's content layer, preventing further editing or accidental changes to critical review notes.
  • Remove hidden comments and associated metadata from annotations, effectively sanitizing the PDF to ensure only visible content remains, enhancing document security and privacy.
  • Streamline document workflows by creating definitive versions of PDFs with finalized annotations, ideal for archiving, distribution, or legal purposes.
  • Enhance document integrity by making all annotation appearances permanent, crucial for audit trails and compliance requirements.
  • Automate the preparation of PDFs for consistent viewing and printing, eliminating rendering inconsistencies often associated with dynamic annotations.
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Why is pdfRest the best API to flatten PDF annotations?
pdfRest offers the best solution for flattening PDF annotations, because it maximizes compatibility, locks in feedback, and removes hidden comments.

Maximize Compatibility

Not all PDF viewers and processing tools handle PDF annotations in the same way. PDF annotations come in a variety of types, can be added in varying ways, and can be rendered with inconsistent results. In the worst cases, some tools or services may fail to display annoations at all.

pdfRest Flatten Annotations removes uncertainty by turning annotation objects into standard page content, ensuring they will display the same for all users. When preserving annotation appearances is key, trust the pdfRest flattening process to maximize support and compatibility.

Lock In Feedback

PDF annotations are often used to provide feedback for the underlying PDF on top of that document's content layer. This feedback travels with the document and can be further edited or modified at any point. Shapes can be moved, highlights can be adjusted, annotation text can be changed.

When you no longer want this feedback to be editable, flattening annotations is the best way to lock that feedback directly into the document and preserve it as standard page content. This supports a workflow for review, feedback collection, and feedback communication, avoiding confusion or inadvertent changes to the feedback.

Remove Hidden Comments

PDF annotations can include both visual elements that are displayed in the document and hidden comments that are associated with these annotations. These extra comments can only be accessed with supported PDF viewers and displayed off to the side of the document. Flattening annotations preserves the visual representation of annotations directly into the content layer of the PDF and also removes these hidden comments, which may include information not intended to travel with the document. Flattening annotations is an effective way to sanitize annotation content so that what you see on the PDF is all that remains from the original annotations.

Start from Code Examples
See more code examples in our GitHub repository

Need more help?

Start with a Tutorial for step-by-step guidance

How to Flatten Annotations in PDF Files in .NET with C#
How to Flatten Annotations in PDF Files with JavaScript in NodeJS
How to Flatten Annotations in PDF Files with PHP
How to Flatten Annotations in PDF Files with Python
Customize Your Solution

Learn about the parameters for this tool to create your custom solution.

File

The file parameter allows you to select a local file to be uploaded to pdfRest’s processing server.

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Frequently Asked Questions
Need more help? Contact Us or visit our documentation.

The Flatten Annotations API is a REST API tool that converts dynamic PDF annotations into static page content. This process makes the annotations a permanent part of the document, ensuring they are no longer editable and display consistently across all PDF viewers.

PDF annotations are interactive and dynamic objects layered on top of a document's main content. They include a variety of elements such as highlights, text comments, shapes, stamps, and notes, which can be added, edited, and moved by users in many PDF readers.

Flattening annotations is crucial for document finalization and integrity. It serves three key purposes:

  1. Ensures Consistency: It prevents rendering inconsistencies that can occur when different viewers display annotations differently.
  2. Locks in Content: It makes feedback and comments permanent, preventing accidental changes or further editing.
  3. Enhances Security: It can be used to sanitize PDFs by removing hidden comments and associated metadata that may contain sensitive information.

The API supports a wide variety of PDF annotation types, including highlights, underlines, strike-throughs, text boxes, shapes, stamps, and sticky notes. By converting these diverse types into standard page content, the API ensures universal display and maximum compatibility.

pdfRest offers the best solution for flattening PDF annotations because it provides a reliable, automated process that maximizes compatibility, locks in feedback to prevent editing, and removes hidden comments to sanitize the document. Its RESTful design allows for easy integration into automated document workflows.

PDF annotations can include hidden metadata and comments that are not always visible on the document's surface. These hidden comments can be accessed with specialized tools and may contain sensitive information. Flattening annotations is an effective way to sanitize a document, preserving the visual appearance of comments while permanently removing any associated hidden data.

Ensuring the security and privacy of your data is a top priority at pdfRest. Our platform is built for robust, enterprise-grade security and compliance, including GDPR and HIPAA. All your files are secured with encryption during both transit and at-rest, and they are permanently deleted after the stated file retention period (30 minutes for most plans). For complete details, please refer to our Data Processing Agreement (DPA).

To facilitate GDPR compliance for your flattening workflows, pdfRest processes your data within the European Union and adheres to other strict data protection requirements. You can ensure all processing occurs within the EU by sending your API calls to the dedicated EU endpoint, https://eu-api.pdfrest.com/flattened-annotations-pdf. Please note that a GDPR usage fee may apply for some plans. For more information, please review our Data Processing Agreement.

Integrating the Flatten Annotations API is straightforward. We offer comprehensive API documentation and code samples in many programming languages. The API Lab also allows you to test and generate code snippets directly from your browser, simplifying the setup and ensuring a smooth integration experience.

Yes, you can use API Lab for a no-code solution directly from your browser. The API Lab provides a simple, visual interface where you can upload your PDF and send API calls without writing a single line of code.

Yes, pdfRest offers two self-hosted options. The pdfRest API Toolkit on AWS allows you to deploy and manage your own backend processing infrastructure within your AWS environment with pay-as-you-go pricing through the AWS Marketplace. The pdfRest API Toolkit Container provides ultimate environmental control as a Docker Container, giving you the flexibility to run the API in on-premises data centers or public/private cloud environments with a flexible, custom licensing model.

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