In this article, you will learn
- which requirements must be met for this Fixup to be applied, and
- how you can apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The application provides the Fixup Flatten or Remove Annotations. The purpose of this Fixup is to flatten comments or Annotations within the printable area, thereby making them printable, movable, or removable. This can also significantly alter the appearance of the Print Item in some cases.
2. General
The Fixup Flatten or Remove Annotations can be used to convert comments or sticky notes in the PDF that are located within the printable area into printable objects created in RGB. The resulting RGB objects are assigned the source profile RGB, and all fonts used in the Annotations are embedded.
You can find this Fixup in the tab Data Preparation of an Article, Order, or Production Job by:
- Entering the name of the Fixup in the section Filter,
- Activating the option Page Content in the section Category,
- Activating the option Convert and Make Visible in the section Action,
- Activating the option Annotation in the section Property.
3. Description
This Fixup can be used to convert Annotations created as text, shapes, lines, notes, or highlights in the print file into printable objects. Comments are normally not printed, which is why the appearance of the file can differ significantly before and after printing. However, if a comment is intended to be printed, it must be flattened first.
There are different Types of Annotations. To simplify the use of this Fixup and make it understandable even for beginners in prepress, the types have been divided into two groups. The groups are organized as follows:
Graphical and textual Annotations:
TextFree TextHighlightUnderlineStrike-throughSquiggly UnderlineLine and ArrowRectangle and CirclePolygon and PolylineStampFreehand Lines and Signatures(Ink)PopupWatermarkInsertion Mark(Caret)Print MarksRedaction
Remove all other types (not relevant for printing):
LinkSound and MovieFile AttachmentRich Media and 3DScreen
3.1. Requirements and Functionality
For the Fixup to perform as intended, the following condition must be met:
- Within the printable area, there is a comment/note that should either be printed or removed.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Flatten or Remove Annotations
To flatten or remove Annotations, the following options are available:
- Templates [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a Template and thus applied to other Articles/Print Items. In addition, they can be used in the processes Apply Fixups as well as Preflight and Apply Fixups.
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Options [2] – select from the dropdown menu how Annotations in the print file should be handled. The following options are available:
- Flatten all Annotations – all Annotation types in the Print Item are flattened, prepared for printing, and made visible.
- Remove all Annotations – all Annotation types in the Print Item are deleted and thus removed from the file.
- Move all Annotations outside the ImageBox – all Annotation types are moved outside the ImageBox..
- Flatten graphical and textual Annotations, move all other types outside the ImageBox – all graphical and textual Annotations are flattened, while all other Annotation types are moved outside the ImageBox.
- Flatten graphical and textual Annotations, remove all other types – all graphical and textual Annotations are flattened, while all other Annotation types are deleted from the file.
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Variable Content [3] – select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for handling Annotations should be taken. The following values must be present in the selected field to trigger the respective option:
Flatten_AllRemove_AllMove_AllFlatten_Graphical_Text_Move_otherFlatten_Graphical_Text_Remove_other
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this feature, you can use the sample file "Sample_Render Comments.pdf". The file contains a comment that significantly changes the appearance of the Print Item. Therefore, the comment should also be printed.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Render Comments_End.pdf" is created, where the Annotation has been flattened and the fonts have been embedded.
Figure 2: Left: Original file, where the comment is not visible; Right: Revised file, where the comment has been flattened
Article Update: Workflow 1.20.2 – 09/2025