How to make added text annotations in PDF opened by Preview permanent WITHOUT print to PDF?

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Level 1

9 points

How to make added text annotations in PDF opened by Preview permanent WITHOUT print to PDF?

I can't seem to find a way within the same PDF opened by Preview to make text annotations permanent. If i add a signature, and I close the pdf and open it again, yes, then it's permanent: I can't select and remove the signature anymore. But if I add a text, close the pdf, and open it, I can still select that text and modify/remove it.

Is there any way to make the text permanent without having to print to PDF?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 14.5

Posted on Sep 17, 2024 7:25 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,136 points

Sep 17, 2024 7:48 AM in response to sepandee

For security reasons, signature annotations are flattened in a saved PDF while other markup annotations are not.

If you want to prevent editing of those other markup annotations, then your only option is to flatten them via Print > PDF > Save as PDF. Exporting to PDF does not flatten these markups and they remain editable in future PDF access.

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