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Learn painting basics
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Modify colors
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- Preview transparency flattening before printing or exporting
- Transparency flattening in Illustrator
- Transparency flattener options
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Preview transparency flattening before printing or exporting
Last updated on
Oct 25, 2026
Learn how to preview the effects of transparency flattening on your artwork before printing or exporting.
Use the Flattener Preview panel to identify objects that will be rasterized, outlined, or otherwise affected during transparency flattening before output. This preview helps you avoid unwanted effects when exporting or printing artwork that contains transparency to formats that don't support live transparency.
Note
Use Overprint Preview for spot colors, overprints, or blending modes.
Before you begin
- Open artwork that contains transparency.
- Confirm you are printing or exporting to formats that don't support live transparency.
Explore the Flattener Preview panel to see how transparency affects your output.
Preview transparency flattening
Choose which objects to preview from Highlight, such as Transparent Objects, Rasterized Complex Regions, All Affected Objects, Expanded Patterns, Outlined Strokes, or Outlined Text.
Choose a flattener preset. To customize individual settings, select Show Options from the panel menu.
Choose an option from the Overprints menu if your artwork uses overprints.
Select Refresh to update the preview.
Review the highlighted areas. Select the preview to zoom in, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (macOS) to zoom out, and hold the Spacebar while dragging to pan.
Choose Quick Preview for faster updates or Detailed Preview for a more complete analysis from the panel menu.
Adjust the flattener preset to reduce unwanted rasterization or outlining.
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