This post is for other teacher authors, or anyone who sells PDFs online. So first off let's talk about what flattening is. Basically, it makes each page a solid image, instead of layers of moveable pieces. This keeps your work from being altered or stolen. A lot of clip and font artists require this in their terms of use. I will be honest, I thought that simply saving my creations as a PDF protected them and all of the components I used. With lots of online research, reading seller forums, and blog posts I realized I needed to find a way to secure my teaching products.
These were the most common methods I found.
Method one: Adobe Pro. While I hear this product is amazing. I couldn't justify spending the large amount of money, simply for the one feature I needed: to flatten and secure my PDFs.
Method two: Saving each page as an image (JPEG or PNG) then reinserting EACH PAGE individually into a new PowerPoint document. I love that this method is free, but some of my products are hundreds of pages long. I needed something that was quick and effective. I don't want to spend hours after my product is created to make it secure. Can't there just be a button I can press that automatically flattens and secures my entire product?
Good news!!! I found the one click solution!
Bearwood Labs Flat Pack on TpT was the answer I was looking for. I was literally able to download the file, read the instructions and flatten and secure a product in less than 5 minutes. Now that it is installed into PowerPoint I just use that tab to save, flatten, and secure in one simple click. Are you as amazed as I am?! I read through the reviews on TpT just to make sure it wasn't too good to be true. The reviews were all fantastic. They raved about the simplicity, effectiveness, and how their images stayed crisp using this product.
Another perk to this product is if you are creating editable PDFs it allows you to select parts of the page to allow edits. I have not tried this feature, but I am really excited that it leaves me the option to use it in future creations.
I was concerned with keeping my products clear and crisp. If this is you, just simply adjust the image quality setting in preferences to "maximum". I could barely tell the difference between my regular PDF and the secure PDF when I used the maximum setting.
There are tutorials and videos provided to give assistance as needed. The creator of the Flat Pack is also willing to answer any individual questions through email. So far, it has been self explanatory for the purpose I needed it for. But I am happy to know that if a question arises in the future, there is great customer support available.
This product only works with PC right now, and you need to have PowerPoint installed.
This product only works with PC right now, and you need to have PowerPoint installed.
Bearwood Labs creates other products to help TpT sellers. For example: if I want to provide links to related products in my product description. There is a free link generator on the website, that is super easy to use. You can check out the website by clicking this link. https://bearwoodlabs.com/
* I received this product for free in exchange for my honest review after testing it.
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