Some PDFs are made of layers that can be shown and hidden separately - "optional content", in the PDF's own terms. Sewing and knitting patterns put each size on its own layer so you can print only yours; architects' and engineers' drawings keep floors, furniture and dimensions apart; maps separate roads from labels; leaflets carry one layer per language. Adobe Reader can turn them on and off, but most browsers, phones and printers cannot: they show and print every layer at once, which on a pattern means a tangle of every size's lines.
This page lists a PDF's layers as the file arranges them, redraws the pages as you switch them, and saves the PDF with just the layers you chose. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and once you have used it, it keeps working offline.
- Why does my pattern print every size even though I chose one?
- Layers are a feature of the PDF that only some programs honour. Adobe Reader does, when you print from it with "Document" selected, but browsers, phones, and many print shops' machines ignore layers and print everything. A copy saved here with only your layers has the others taken out, so there is nothing left for them to print.
- Is anything else in the PDF changed?
- Only the hidden layers' drawing is removed; everything else on the page, including text and pictures not on a layer, stays exactly as it was. Settings such as line widths and colours that a hidden layer sets are kept, so what follows draws the same as it did with that layer off. Links and notes that belong to a hidden layer are removed with it.
- My PDF has no layers listed. Can I make some?
- Not here. Layers are made by the program that creates the PDF, such as Illustrator, InDesign, a CAD program or pattern-making software. A PDF without them is drawn as one piece.
- Is my PDF uploaded?
- No. The PDF is read, redrawn and saved by this browser tab on your own device; nothing is sent anywhere.