Placing PDFs in InDesign

[ByteBowser]

How can I place a PDF in InDesign with all Acrobat DC edits and markups intact?

[BobLevine]

You can’t.

[ByteBowser]

Well, you can do it by saving the pdf as an image file and then placing it, but that's a brute force rasterized method. I was looking for a more elegant vector graphic solution. C'mon Adobe, get it done. Come up with something useful in an update, for a change!

[Derek Cross]

This forum is supported by none-Adobe staff volunteers – if you have a feature request post it here: InDesign Feature Requests

[Document Geek]

The process I describe above is a vector solution. Flattening the comments is entirely than "flattening" a transparent vector file.

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

To expand on Bob's response…

If you actually edit the contents of a PDF file using the edit tools, those changes in a PDF file (after the PDF file is saved) are indeed reflected in a PDF file placed into an InDesign document.

Anything that is a PDF annotation, including text markup annotations, comments, measurements, etc. are not reflected in the PDF content placed into an InDesign document.

As others in this thread have pointed out, if you “flatten” the annotations into the PDF page contents (not to be confused with transparency flattening), such markup and comments will appear in PDF placed into an InDesign document.

          - Dov

[Document Geek]

You can flatten the markups using a script, and then they will show up in InDesign, but they will no longer be true "comments" viewable in the Comment pine in Acrobat. Here is a script that will let you flatten the comments: Add a Flatten Document Menu Item to Acrobat

[Jongware]

Kelly, "The link will take you to my Acrobat.com account" doesn't do that anymore. Is the script downloadable from somewhere else?

[Document Geek]

Here is the script:

event.target.flattenPages();

I make it a custom command and add it to my Quick Tolls at the top.

[Luke_Jennings]

There is an Acrobat preflight that moves annotations into the page contents and works for drawn comments, but not sticky notes.

[JonathanArias]

i take screenshots of the comments and make a nice layout with the .pdf on the side of the screenshot of the comments... but its a bit of work.