Flattening PDF layers

When you flatten PDF layers, you remove any layers that aren’t visible and consolidate the rest into one layer. You might use this technique if you want to freeze a drawing or project at a certain stage of development in order to archive a non-editable version. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Choose File➪Save As to open the Save As dialog box.
2. Locate a folder destination in the Save In drop-down list and enter a new name for your flattened PDF document in the File Name text box. It is very important that you change the name of this file because flattening the layers in a PDF document cannot be undone.
3. When you’ve saved the PDF file under a new name, click the Layers tab on the Navigation pane and choose Flatten Layers on the Options menu at the top of the Layers palette. A Warning dialog box appears, stating This operation cannot be undone. Would you like to proceed?
4. Click Yes to close the Warning dialog box and flatten the document layers. The proof of your flattening action is exhibited in the Layers palette, which is now completely empty.

Editing Document Layers in a PDF File

Now that Acrobat 6 supports document layers created in programs such as AutoCAD, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Project, you may one day find yourself staring at a PDF document with the new Layers palette overflowing with layers, just like the one shown in Figure. Fortunately, Acrobat makes it a breeze to select, move, edit, delete, and even merge and flatten document layers. Note that you can view document layers in either the Standard or Professional versions of Acrobat 6. If you want to edit document layers, you must have Acrobat 6 Professional version.

The good news is that Acrobat treats visible text and graphic objects on document layers in exactly the same way as regular objects in PDF documents. This means that even though a portion or even a whole object may reside on different document layers, Acrobat views the object as a single item for selection and editing. Because of this seamless view of document layers, you can apply the same tools and editing techniques to document layer objects that have been described in previous sections of this chapter. For example, you can use the TouchUp Object tool to select, move, or edit a layer object. Figure shows the selection of all the visible chair components in the drawing using TouchUp Object tool, even though some of the furniture is drawn on different layers.
You might occasionally encounter a locked layer in a PDF document. You’ll know because a padlock icon appears next to a layers name in the Layers palette in the Navigation pane. These layers were locked by the author of the original AutoCAD, Visio, or Project document and are visible for informational purposes only. You can edit the Layer name in these cases by right-clicking the layer in the Layers palette and choosing Properties on the context menu. In the Layer Properties dialog box, enter a new name in the Layer Name text box and click OK.

Checking the flow of a new article

This Hand pointer with the arrow pointing down from a crossbar enables the reader to start reading the article at any place he or she chooses. You can use it to check the flow of your article. However, because you’re currently at the end of the new article you’ve just defined, you need to go back to the place where you defined the first article box before you click it, so that you can check the flow of the entire article from start to finish. Before you click this pointer and start checking the flow of the article, you may want to adjust the default fit-visible zoom magnification setting that’s currently in effect in Acrobat, because all articles in a PDF document apply the default fit visible zoom magnification setting to any article that you’re reading. To change this setting, press Ctrl+K (Ô+K on the Mac) to open the Preferences dialog box, click Page Display in the list box on the left, and enter an appropriate percentage value in the Max Fit Visible Zoom text box at the bottom of the dialog box (this starts out at a whopping 800%) before clicking OK. To check the flow of the article, click the Hand pointer with the arrow pointing down from a crossbar somewhere in the text of the first article box, and then continue to click the Hand pointer (which loses the crossbar while retaining the downward-pointing arrow) to view in succession each portion of every article box in the article. Acrobat lets you know when you’ve reached the end of the article (the last visible portion of the last article box) by adding a crossbar at the bottom of the downward-pointing arrow on the Hand pointer. When you click this Hand pointer, Acrobat returns you to the top of the article, and the page resumes the magnification setting currently in effect in the Document window (as shown in the Magnification text box on the Zoom toolbar).