Wondering how to flatten in Cricut Design Space? Here is everything you need to know about using Flatten to make your Cricut print without cutting, and troubleshooting some of the most common problems with using the Cricut Flatten tool.
Create or open a project in Cricut Design Space with with a multi-layered label that you want to flatten into a printable image.
Select the word "flour" and move it on top of the label.
Select all of the layers.
Click Flatten to combine all of the layers into a single printable image.
Click the green Make It button to see the Prepare screen. The label appears as a single Print then Cut image on one mat, and the material size is automatically set to 8.5×11 printer paper.
How to Unflatten
Create or open a project in Cricut Design Space containing a flattened image.
Select the image and click Unflatten.
Select one of the unflattened layers and click the Fill dropdown menu. Change the Fill from "Print" to "No Fill".
Click the small colored square next to the Linetype dropdown menu to change the material color if you wish.
Repeat until all unflattened layers are "Cut" layers in the correct colors.
Notes
Using Flatten in Cricut Design Space is pretty simple, but there are a few rules you have to follow.
You must be working with at least one shape or layer. You can't flatten nothing; the Flatten button will be greyed out if no layers are selected.
You can Flatten a single layer or multiple layers. Flatten converts an image from a Cut image to a Print image, leaving just an exterior cut line around the outside edge. If you flatten a single layer, it will just turn that layer into a printable image. If you flatten multiple layers, it will combine all of those layers into a single printable image.
Flattened layers are no longer editable. Flatten combines everything (all selected layers, shapes, images, text, etc.) into a single Print then Cut layer, so make sure that your text is correct, everything is in the right position, and the colors are the way you want them BEFORE clicking Flatten. After flattening you can work with the single flattened image like any other single image, but you will be unable to edit any of the "components" of the image.
Flatten works even if the images are Grouped, Welded, Attached, or multi-layered/hidden. Flatten only deals with the visible images, so when you click Flatten, the final Flattened image will look exactly like it does on the Canvas screen. Anything that was hidden will still not be visible; anything that was layered/grouped/welded/attached will still look exactly the way it did before, just with no cut lines around the interior shapes.
The Flatten button becomes an Unflatten button if you select an already flattened image. When you select layers that aren't flattened, the Flatten button is activated at the bottom of the Layers panel. But if you select something you've already flattened or a pre-flattened Printable Image from the Cricut library, the Flatten button becomes a Unflatten button so you can easily undo the action if you wish. (Even after saving your project!)
Unflattening an image IS NOT the exact opposite of Flattening. Unflatten separates out the layers so they are individually editable, and it restores the original configuration of the layers in the Layers panel (i.e. hidden, grouped, attached, multi-layered etc.) It also restores the Cut lines for each layer, but the layers are all still printable images (meaning they all still have a "Print" Fill along with the restored "Cut" Linetype.) Basically it takes a single flattened Print then Cut image and Unflattens it into multiple Print then Cut layers. If you want to truly "Undo" the Flatten command, you also have to change the fill of each layer back to "No Fill" so that the images go all the way back to just Cut images instead of Print then Cut images.
Flatten works on overlapping OR separate images. Flatten just flattens everything down into a single Print then Cut image. If your shapes are overlapping, they become a multi-colored printable image. If your shapes are separate, they just become separate printable images.
Flattening text is the same as Flattening images. The Flatten tool only cares about the visible shapes on the Canvas. It doesn't matter if the layer contains text, shapes, images, photos, or whatever else; Flatten will flatten it all down into one single Print then Cut image.
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