Is there an easy way to "launder" a PDF file so that it won't appear to have been generated from LaTeX?


(I have a good reason for wanting to do this: I just tried to post an article to the arXiv, but the arXiv software isn't processing my latex source correctly, so I have to circumvent the usual way the arXiv creates a PDF from a source file. I plan to give the arXiv the source file too; I just don't want to get into a long argument with any humans about what I'm doing and why.)


I know this is more of a stackexchange sort of question, but I couldn't find it addressed there, and it strikes me as the sort of issue that mathematicians may face more often than others.



Laundering PDF files
One solution that will always work is to physically print it and scan it back as a pdf. Alternatively, you can probably open it in Adobe or Preview (on a mac) and then use the print feature to "save as pdf." I did this latter solution once successfully to solve the exact sort of problem you are asking. I can't remember if it was for arxiv or a grant application, but I know it wasn't rendering correctly in their system, but did render correctly on mine, so I just gave them the "laundered" pdf because time was of the essence.


