Duplicate layer across multiple pages?

Watermarks are the way to go (and the only way to go, unless you want to write a JavaScript action). Add your watermark layer as usual, then the quickest way to make a completely flattened copy of the file is to Save As..., pick "Optimized PDF" from the file type, and choose "Acrobat 4" from the compatibility list. PDF1.3 doesn't support layers, so the watermark is burnt into the page along with anything else. If you need to retain a higher version PDF because of your content, then it's possible to convert the watermark layer into a "real" layer so it can be flattened, but it's not as trivial to do.

Thanks for the rsponse, UVSAR, it's an interesting workaround I'll bear in mind.

Unfortunately, the pdf I'm compiling includes many scanned-in documents, which is apparently why I'm getting the "An error was encountered while processing images" and the "An error was encountered while optimizing content streams" glitches on attempting optimisation.
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?id=22337
so It looks like any optimisation route is blocked.

So I think I'll have to manually import as layer and flatten individually across many hundreds of pages, which is a bit of a drag, but I'll live. :-)

Thanks again.

v9proExt

suggest experiment with these bare basics:
1- apply the graphic (color graphic okay) as icon-only button and duplicate to all pages
1a- this also works for watermarks
2- export pages to TIFF (file> export> image> TIFF); individual pages are created (tip: on preferences > convert from PDF > TIFF > color compression: ZIP [not JPEG])
3- combine the TIFF to PDF (tip: on preferences > convert to PDF > TIFF > color compression: ZIP [not JPEG])
4- you will be able to optimize the resulting file (experiment to meet particular rqmts)

Thanks rbogie (once again, I think)

I was going to add in my last post that the docs were OCR'd, but managed to lose the text by navigating away from the replying page, and then I forgot to include the fact when rewriting it.

If I had then I guess I wouldn't have received your ingenious and worth-remembering, but in this instance I believe impractical (since it loses the ocr layer), suggestion...

I don't want to use acrobat to re-ocr the pages, as I've found it isn't as clever as another prog (IRIS - and that prog itself comes up with some weird concoctions).

I'm assuming I haven't missed anything here.

Thank you anyway, I do appreciate your intentions.

there is a way to merge the original OCR layer (embedded on a PDF using Acrobat's or any other OCR generator) with page images that have been modified (watermarked, etc.) and flattened by means of the 'export to TIFF' method described in my previous post. the merge procedure is complex, but with programmatic tools it can be applied on a large (or small) scale. if you have a large scale project, let me know.

Once again (again), thanks rbogie.

Large scale? I estimate between 500-1500 pages out of a pdf of a good few thousand pages (which may be peanuts to some but it's a bunch of coconuts to me). This is (I hope) a one-off project, with not much chance of a repetition.

The thing is, apart from one main 'universal' image to be dropped on top of those selected pages, as it were, I'm going to need to make further, individualised pdfs to import as additional layers, tailored to specific pages. So I'm rather reconciled to wading my way through the lot, reviewing each on a page-by-page basis.

Since importing the one 'universal' image will only take a few moments for each of many pages (in comparison with tailoring the other elements), I don't know if it would warrant your time to do a program script, which may have limited appeal to other people. Though since this topic has been viewed almost 200x, maybe there is some interest...

Another factor is the copious highlighting and commenting in the current form of the pdf. I assume their locations would continue to match the page image, but it's just One More Thing.

Anyway, thanks again for your persistence! I will of course be glad to read any follow-up.