Abstract: A stalled sheet folding and flattening apparatus for reducing a sheet, stalled between a withdrawable and a fixed component of a cut sheet handling system of a sheet handling machine, into a shape and size suitably enabling reliable removal of the stalled sheet through even a relatively narrow gap between the withdrawable and fixed components of the sheet handling system. The stalled sheet folding and flattening apparatus includes a fixed component of the sheet handling system connected to a frame of the machine and having a first section of a sheet path; a withdrawable component of the sheet handling system mounted to the frame, and having a sheet flattening side defining a relatively narrow gap between a fixed surface within the machine and the withdrawable component, and including a second section of the sheet path adjoining the first section of the sheet path; and a sheet folding device mounted to the fixed component.