In ID control or right click on the PDF graphic. Pull down to Object Layer options. Hide and show layers as needed.

JohnAD77 wrote:

 

 

 

On this particular occurrence i want to delete the "Figure" layer without affecting any content in PDF

I'm a little confused. If you delete the layer you affect the content.

In his previous post I believe Peter was referring to Acrobat and if so that's a good solution. If you control or right click on the layer in Acrobat, you have the option of changing the default state to "Off". Save the PDF. Now the layer is hidden and won't print, but since it's not deleted you haven't lost it forever.

But that's referring to the InDesign layers, right?

I meant layer options for a placed PDF. Similar to layer control for placed PSD files. If you hide the PDF layer using Object Layer options it won't show up when you export.

I did that and it worked but the file size remained large. To completely remove the unwanted layers from the file, you then have to follow up with a Save As.  So in summary the steps are:  1. Hide all unwanted layers. 2. If getting rid of all layers, right-click a layer in the layers panel and choose Flatten Image. 3. File > Save as...  I'm guessing an alternate method is needed for getting rid of some layers and not others, perhaps involving Merge Layers.

I was able to hide the layers I didn't want, flatten the PDF layers, and have it discard the unwanted layers. FWIW, I had to do this because I had no access to source files, and our Heidelberg RIP software does not honor the "hide" and "never prints" layer options in Acrobat. In other words, we burned a lot of bad plates. I didn't know there were hidden layers at first, and the person burning the plates didn't see the extra content (.25 pt lines intended as a dieline) in the low-rez preview of the plates.

Adobe, just add a "Delete Layer" button already, eh? ;-)

We are using Acrobat X pro and there seems to be no ability to remove layers from a pdf and save-as with only selected layers. We are working with a large (45 mb) file with many many layers. Tunring the layers off is not an optimum solution. We want to be able to delete layers and save-as, in order to create a smaller file that is more managable. Adobe, you should add this function: delete layer!!

Thanks cj2161! You saved my day and my sanity!

I have a pdf with about 40 layers. It's a map that I'm altering/working on. It's very detailed and has all the features I need but unfortunately it also has a lot of features I don't need -- like foot paths, electrical lines, fences and whatnot, all on different layers. I was planning on exporting the pdf into Illustrator and simply delete the unwanted layers there. But that didn't work, the 40 layers always merged into one in the process and I couldn't find a way around the problem. The obvious solution was to the delete the layers in the pdf but strangely there is no delete function. And even if you render the unwanted layers invisible, turn them off (whatever that means) and tick "will not export if invisible" they still get exported. But your roundabout method of emptying unwanted layers and merging them with one of the wanted ones actually works. I don't think I'd have been able to solve this riddle on my own accord.

The original file was autocad but I´ve never worked with autocad. So the pdf was simply a means to get this map into Illustator which I know how to use (more or less). Again, thanks for your help!

A recent post bumped this up, I say thanks again to cj6121 as well, a very good method, albeit necessarily tortuous.

Very disappointing that there is no button to delete a layer in Acrobat 10 Pro. Such an obvious feature, I would have thought.

Yes! Yes! Yes! This is how I feel TaxMAnCA. And we have to submit a FEATURE request to correct their design flaw!

What is the difference between normal coffee and special coffee? When you order special coffee the cup is washed and coffee served!!

-Vijjy