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Merging and flattening artwork


    Merging and flattening are similar in that they let you consolidate paths, groups, and sublayers. With merging, you can select which items you want to consolidate; with flattening, all visible items in the artwork are consolidated in a single, parent layer. With either option, the stacking order of the artwork remains the same.

To merge artwork into a single layer or group:

  1. Select the items that you want to merge in the Layers palette.
  2. Choose Merge Selected from the Layers palette menu. Items will be merged into the layer or group that you selected last.

To flatten artwork:

  1. Select the layer into which you want to consolidate the artwork. You cannot flatten artwork into a layer that is hidden, locked, or is a template.
  2. Choose Flatten Artwork from the Layers palette menu.
  3. If a hidden layer contains artwork, you are asked whether to make the artwork visible so that it can be flattened into the layer, or whether to delete the artwork and the hidden layer.