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NIH requires submission of PDF attachments as part of both the application process and post award activities in the eRA Commons, such as Request for Additional Materials (RAM), Just-in-Time (JIT), and Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). Many of these attachments must be flattened before submission to avoid errors.
What is flattening, you ask? Paper is already flat, you may think. But an electronic PDF file can actually be made up of multiple ‘layers’ such as a watermark, images, regular text, electronic signatures, and maybe even some fillable form fields.
Flattening files keeps them from being inadvertently edited, reduces the file size, and helps ensure that what you submit is what agency staff members see.
If you aren’t familiar with how to flatten a PDF file, a new resource — Flattening PDFs for Application Submission and Commons Uploads — walks you through the process on both a Windows PC and a Mac.
Curious about why certified signatures are required on Other Support for RPPRs when the certification is lost in the flattening process. FYI, one must flatten the PDFs to combine them into the required single PDF for upload. Albeit this only applies when there is more than one Key Personnel in the report, but it is often the case.