RemovalOptionsRemoveSignatureAppearances Property

Whether to remove or flatten signature appearances

A signature in a PDF consist of two parts:

• (a) The invisible digital signature in the PDF.
• (b) The visual appearance that was attributed to the signature.

Part (a) can be used by a viewing application, to verify that the PDF has not changed since it has been signed and report this to the user.

During optimizing, the PDF is altered and hence its digital signature (a) is broken and must be removed.

• Flatten: (a) is removed and (b) is drawn as non-editable graphic onto the page. Within the context of signatures this is called "flattening".
• Remove: (a) and (b) are removed.

Default: Flatten in all profiles.