Comments won't flatten

[coffent]

I have a pdf of a scanned image. Using the Commenting tool in PDF-XChange Editor v. 6.0, I typed something on it, then did Comments>Flatten Comments and saved the file. When I reopened it, the entry had not been "flattened" - using "Edit Content" I could still delete it, move it, etc.

I thought flattening a comment made it part of the image so that it could no longer be edited. Am I wrong?

I saw an answer to another user's question, saying "Us[e] the Export as image tool,(under Convert) to ensure everything is rendered as an image and not able to be affected without an OCR process. We Rarely recommend Exporting a PDF to PDF as this can eventually lead to document corruption."

But I want the image to remain in PDF format. Is it possible to do what I want?

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

It sounds like document security is more what you are looking for than flattening to an image.

What the flatten comments fuction does is converts the contents of an annotation to base content, so things like the typewriter tool, are not really affected by it as they already consist of no more than base content.

If you would like to look at documenht security on the other hand, you can see and modify it from the document properties window (CTRL+D)
Once security is added to a document you can specify what changes (if any) to allow people to make. Then the only way someone can alter the document is by knowing the password or having the signature youve set installed.

Let me know if that works!

PS.
If you are deadset on having the document become an image, you could export it to a PNG, and then reopen and resave the resulting image as a new PDF, this is somewhat different from saving a PDF to PDF as there is a different style of conversion happening along the way.

[coffent]

Hi Daniel - thanks for the information. I'm realizing better now what "flattening" comments does. It makes them such that if one clicks on them with the hand tool, they no longer are highlighted and able to be edited. However if one uses Edit Content, they can still be moved or changed since they now are, as you say, base content. So with that understanding, I think I've solved my problem. Thanks again.

[Dimitar - Tracker Supp]

Hello coffent,

We are glad to hear that.

If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask us.

Regards.