8 Reasons to Flatten XFA PDFs

Dynamic PDF XFA documents sometimes masquerade as PDFs, but they’re not actually PDFs. They don’t contain meaningful PDF content; on the contrary, they contain a ‘shell’ of a PDF that’s merely a fallback for PDF viewers that aren’t XFA-aware. So instead of seeing the expected content, you see some placeholder image or text.  

Many companies over the last several years have been greeted with questions, complaints, and just plain confusion from customers and even internal employees with queries like, “Why doesn’t your software open my PDF?”, or “Your software says I need to use Acrobat to open this PDF – why do we have to use Acrobat?”, or even “Your software says I need to upgrade my version of Acrobat, but we’re not using Acrobat! We’re using your software – please help!”

The result is typically the same story – developers spend many hours online, searching in vain for why a particular PDF form document won’t open in the software they built to process PDF documents.  Inevitably, they are bewildered to learn that XFA PDF documents are only masquerading as PDFs but aren’t true PDFs, and their software simply will not work with these documents.  They search high and low, and they all eventually come to the same conclusion that PDF software is plentiful, but PDF XFA support is rare. 

XFA flattening is the solution we suggest to help you manage your XFA forms using standard PDF software. 

What is XFA Flattening?

Think of PDF forms as three-dimensional objects, possessing width, height, and also a ‘depth of interactivity’ dimension. We’re going to take that three-dimensional object and flatten it to become two-dimensional. So now, the form only possesses width and height ­– all objects on the page are flat and cannot be pressed down or interacted with. Text Boxes become regular Text.  Buttons, Check Boxes, Radio Buttons, and editable Barcodes become drawings or images of Buttons, Check Boxes, Radio Buttons, and Barcodes, respectively.

Luckily it’s possible to flatten XFA forms to regular PDF content that any standard PDF software can support. Before we get into how to flatten PDF forms, let’s take a look at why you should. 

There are several reasons why you might want to flatten PDF forms, including:

1. Compatibility: Flattening PDF forms makes them universally accessible and ensures they can be viewed and printed correctly by a broader range of PDF viewers and software. Interactive form fields in their native format may not render properly on all platforms.
2. Data Security: Flattening forms can help protect sensitive data. When forms are flattened, any data entered into form fields is no longer editable, which reduces the risk of unauthorized alterations. This is particularly important for documents containing confidential or legal information.
3. Long-term Archiving: For documents that need to be archived for an extended period, flattening ensures that the content remains unchanged over time. It safeguards against changes in form fields, layouts, and data that might occur if the forms are left in an interactive state.
4. Print Quality: Flattening PDF forms guarantees that the printed output matches the intended layout and design. Interactive elements that work on-screen may not translate well when printed, and flattening ensures consistent results.
5. Reducing File Size: Flattened PDFs tend to have smaller file sizes than their interactive counterparts, which can be beneficial for storage, email, and web distribution.
6. Preventing Alterations: Flattening PDF forms prevents users from making unintended or unauthorized changes to the document, which is important for documents that require an immutable record.
7. Simplified Review and Approval: Flattening is often used in review processes. It allows reviewers to add comments, annotations, or digital signatures to a document without altering the underlying form data.
8. Preserving Data Integrity: For forms that have complex calculations, data validation, or scripting, flattening ensures that the calculated results and data integrity remain intact when the form is shared or archived.

It's important to note that flattening PDF forms is typically a one-way process, and once flattened, the document becomes static, losing its interactivity. Therefore, before flattening a PDF form, you should carefully consider your specific use case and whether the loss of interactivity is acceptable. In some scenarios, it might be more appropriate to maintain the forms in their interactive state for ongoing data collection and processing.

Need to flatten forms with an SDK? Forms Extension is for you.  
 

Prefer a command-line tool? 
Forms Flattener is your answer.