Is merge the same thing as flatten?

[Sheri Medforrd]

I am doing a coloring book as a way to learn to self publish on KDP amazon publishing. My pdf won't upload and KDP says that some of the jpegs still have layers? I don't see any layers in the layers panel, but I found the merge down feature. Does this flatten files so I can then export as pdf? 

[Dan C]

Hi Sheri, 

Jpeg as a format cannot support layers. But yes merging layers is essentially the same as flattening though alpha is kept (but again this is not something jpeg can support).

Lee

[debraspicher]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:13 PM, Sheri Medforrd said:

I am doing a coloring book as a way to learn to self publish on KDP amazon publishing. My pdf won't upload and KDP says that some of the jpegs still have layers? I don't see any layers in the layers panel, but I found the merge down feature. Does this flatten files so I can then export as pdf?

It may be the way the PDF is setup on export that is generating that specific error. As to your question as far as "flattening", when all layers are merged into one, yes this is technically what a flattening operation does, except that it also rasterizes. In Photo, it is in Document > Flatten. If your file is only one layer, you can try rasterizing the primary layer by right clicking and the selecting Rasterize or Rasterize & Trim from there, then export as PDF... **Make sure you that you have a backup of your original file before doing this, because any vector data will be lost**