PDF Layer Manager (Optional Content)
Switch a PDF’s layers on and off, then keep them, delete the hidden ones or flatten.
Try before you buy.
- Free preview: up to 3 pages of the saved PDF, those your layer changes show on first, as watermarked page images, with a summary of the layers kept, hidden or deleted.
- Locked until you unlock it: download.
- Unlock: Pro pass, ₹179 for 30 days, a one-time payment that never renews.
Ways to unlock shows how to get the full result.
Printing this result is locked in the free preview.
Layers
No layer matches.
Preview
Save a copy
Locked in the free preview. Opens the ways to unlock this result.
Locked in the free preview. Batch runs unlock with a pass.
Locked in the free preview. Query results unlock with a pass.
About the PDF Layer Manager (Optional Content)
Drawings exported from CAD and GIS programs, maps, and print files from InDesign or Illustrator often come with layers — in PDF terms optional content (ISO 32000-1 §8.11): walls, furniture and dimensions, contours and aerial photos, language versions of the same leaflet. This tool lists every layer with its nesting, radio-button groups, lock and print settings, and the pages it is on, and redraws the page as you switch layers on and off.
Then choose how the copy is saved: keep the layers with your choice as the view the file opens with, delete the hidden layers together with everything on them, or flatten so the pages keep exactly what the preview shows and the file has no layers any more. Text and drawings stay vector — nothing is turned into a picture — and the file is processed in your browser, never uploaded.
How to use it
- Press Choose a layered PDF (or drop it on the box). The layers appear on the left, the first page that uses them on the right.
- Tick or untick layers — the preview redraws. Show all, Hide all and File’s settings switch everything at once; a group’s checkbox switches the layers under it. With many layers, type in Find a layer or tick Only layers on this page.
- Choose how to save: Keep the layers, Delete the hidden layers or Flatten. For the first two, the option Print and export the same layers makes printing follow your choice too.
- Press Save PDF: with a Pro pass the copy downloads at once, with “-layers”, “-without-hidden-layers” or “-flattened” added to its name; without a pass the page shows a free preview of up to 3 of its pages — those your layer changes show on first — watermarked, and the download stays locked until you unlock it. The original is not changed.
Examples
A floor plan with layers Walls, Furniture, Dimensions, Notes → untick Dimensions and Notes → Delete the hidden layers
The new file has two layers, Walls and Furniture, still switchable; the dimensions and notes are gone from the file, not just hidden.
A USGS US Topo map (GeoPDF) → untick Orthoimage, Contours and Shaded Relief → Delete the hidden layers
A much smaller file: the aerial photo (Orthoimage) is a large picture, and it is gone from the file, not just hidden. Roads, names, water and woodland stay as switchable layers.
A multilingual leaflet with English, Hindi and Tamil text layers (a radio-button group) → tick Hindi → Keep the layers
The file opens showing the Hindi text; readers with a layer panel can still switch to English or Tamil.
Common uses
- Architects and engineers sharing drawings with only the layers a contractor or client needs.
- Making a print-ready or archive copy of a layered map or drawing that looks the same in every viewer.
- Removing working layers (notes, construction lines, crop marks, internal comments) before a PDF leaves the office.
- Setting which language or variant a layered print file shows when it is opened.
How layers work in a PDF
Each layer is an optional content group with a name. Parts of the page content — paths, text, pictures, embedded drawings, even comments — are marked as belonging to a layer, or to a combination of layers (a membership dictionary: “show this when Walls and Furniture are on”). The file’s default configuration says which layers are on when it is opened, how they are nested and labelled in the layer panel, which are locked, and which are alternatives of each other (radio-button groups). Layers can also have their own print and view settings, for example a layer that is shown on screen but never printed.
The preview is drawn with pdf.js, the PDF engine of Firefox, using exactly the layer settings you choose, so what you see is what the saved file shows.
The three ways of saving
- Keep the layers — only the default configuration changes: your choice becomes the view the file opens with, and the layers’ own view settings are set to match so readers don’t switch them back. With Print and export the same layers, the print and export settings follow your choice as well. Nothing else in the file changes.
- Delete the hidden layers — the unticked layers are removed from the layer list together with all content that can no longer appear without them. Content shown by a combination such as “Walls or Notes” stays, and now depends on Walls alone; content that would show whatever the remaining layers do becomes ordinary content. The other layers stay switchable.
- Flatten — every layer is fixed in the state you chose: visible content becomes ordinary page content, hidden content is removed, and the file no longer has layers. The pages look the same in every reader, including those that don’t understand layers.
How hidden content is removed
Hidden content is removed the way PDF readers hide it: nothing it paints is kept, but the position and graphics changes inside it still apply, so the visible content that follows doesn’t move. Pictures, embedded drawings and comments that only hidden layers used are deleted from the file, and objects nothing refers to any more are dropped — that is why deleting a heavy layer such as an aerial photo makes the file much smaller, and why the removed content can’t be recovered from the new file.
Limitations
- Password-protected or encrypted PDFs can’t be changed here; remove the protection with Unlock PDF first.
- Saving changes the file, so digital signatures in it will show as invalid — keep the original if you need them.
- Only the default layer configuration is shown and changed. Other configurations in the file are kept (without the layers you delete).
- Layers that switch by zoom level or language are shown in the preview as they are set, not switched by zooming.
- Optional content inside tiling patterns and Type 3 font glyphs (rare) is left as it is. In rare files that write hidden and visible text as one piece of text, the visible part may shift slightly — check the saved copy.
- Renaming, reordering and adding layers are not supported.
- Very large drawings need plenty of memory; on a phone, close other tabs first.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, PDF Layer Manager (Optional Content) shows up to 3 pages of the saved PDF, those your layer changes show on first, as watermarked page images, with a summary of the layers kept, hidden or deleted. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The PDF is drawn with pdf.js and saved with pdf-lib in your browser; nothing is sent to MySmartCoPilot or anyone else.
What is the difference between hiding a layer and deleting it?
Keep the layers only changes what is shown when the file opens — anyone can switch a hidden layer back on in a reader with a layer panel. Delete the hidden layers and Flatten remove the hidden content from the file itself, so it can’t be shown again. To hide something that must never be seen, delete it.
Why is something still visible after I unticked its layer?
It isn’t on that layer: it may be ordinary page content, or on another layer, or shown by a combination of layers. Try unticking other layers, or Only layers on this page to see which layers the page uses. Some files also nest layers so that a sub-layer shows only while its parent is on.
Will the layers still work in Adobe Acrobat and other readers?
Yes. With Keep the layers and Delete the hidden layers, the file keeps standard optional content, which readers with a layer panel — Adobe Acrobat Reader, Foxit PDF Reader, Bluebeam Revu and Firefox, for example — list and switch. A flattened file has no layers and looks the same everywhere.
Does flattening turn my drawing into an image?
No. Flattening only removes the layer markers and the hidden content; lines stay vector lines and text stays searchable, selectable text. To turn pages into pictures, use Flatten PDF with “pages to images”.
My PDF says it has no layers. Why?
Layers are only in a PDF when the program that made it exports them — for example AutoCAD set to include layer information, the layered PDF export of QGIS or ArcGIS, or InDesign’s “Create Acrobat Layers”. A PDF made through a virtual printer usually has none. Form fields and comments are not layers; Flatten PDF handles those.