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Before you begin
We're rolling out a new, more intuitive product experience. If the screen shown here doesn’t match your product interface, select help for your current experience.
Add comments to PDF files with highlights, sticky notes, a freehand drawing tool, and mark-up tools.
You can now use quick actions in a floating toolbar to add comments while viewing a PDF. The following quick actions are available for commenting based on your selection in a PDF:
In Acrobat Reader, complete commenting tools are available only in PDFs with commenting enabled.
You can use annotation and drawing markup tools to add comments. Comments are notes and drawings that communicate ideas or provide feedback for PDFs. You can type a text message using the Add text comment tool. Alternatively, you can use a drawing tool to add a line, circle, or other shape and then type a message in the associated pop-up note. Text-editing tools let you add editing marks to indicate changes that you want in the source document.
In Acrobat Pro, you can add tags to your comments so that readers with motion or vision limitations can read them using assistive technologies.
Annotations and markup tools don’t appear by default, except when you open a PDF in a managed review workflow.
Choose the Comments icon on the right pane to see the added comments.
The drawing markup tools are grouped under the Draw freehand tool in the floating quick tools menu on the left.
From the quick tools menu on the left, select the desired annotation to add to the PDF.
After you make an initial comment, the tool changes back to the Select tool so that you can move, resize, or edit your comment. (The Pencil and Highlight Text tools stay selected.)
You can add multiple comments without reselecting the tool.
In the Comment tools, select the tool you want to use (but don’t use it yet).
Select the Use the same tool until it's unselected icon .
In Acrobat Reader, complete commenting tools are available only in PDFs that have commenting enabled. PDFs in a review workflow typically include commenting rights.
The most common type of comment is the Add a comment that resembles a sticky note. The comment appears as a note icon on the page and a pop-up note for your text message. You can Add a comment anywhere on the page or in the document area.
Select the Add a comment tool from the quick tools menu, and select where you want to place the note.
Type text in the pop-up note. You can also use the Select tool to copy and paste text from a PDF into the note.
If you close the pop-up note, your text remains.
Select or double-click the note icon.
(Optional) To change the comment properties, right-click the sticky note icon or from the options menu of the comment, select Properties. Modify the Sticky Note Properties as desired and select OK.
Use the Commenting panel in the Preferences dialog box to change the font size, default pop-up behavior, and other settings for creating and viewing comments
Select the text, and then right-click and copy text.
Open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat. Locate and select the comment icon you want to delete.
Select Delete
from the contextual menu.Use the Add text comment tool to type text anywhere on the PDF page.
From the Quick action toolbar menu, select Add a comment > Add text Comment.
Select the location on the page where you want to add the comment.
(Optional) To change the text formatting, double-click the added text comment, select the text, and then select the font, text alignment, and other text formatting you want.
You can now enhance your reviews on shared PDFs in Acrobat by adding reaction emojis to comments, making the reviews more interactive. To add reactions:
Open a shared PDF and select the Comments panel.
Select the emoticon icon next to the comment you want to react to. A dialog box appears.
Select an emoticon from the dialog box or use the search bar to find and select your desired reaction.
When you add a comment in a PDF file, by default your login name is used as author name for the comment. To change the author name, see change author name for comments.
In Acrobat Reader , drawing tools are available only in PDFs that have commenting enabled. PDFs in a review workflow typically include commenting rights.
When selecting a drawing tool, consider the effect you want.
From the Quick action toolbar, select the Draw freehand tool and then select the desired drawing markup tool:
The Cloud tool and Polygon tool create closed shapes with multiple segments. The Connected lines tool creates open shapes with multiple segments.
The Draw tool creates free-form drawings, and the Erase a drawing tool removes the drawing markups.
To specify the line width, color, and other properties before you draw, select the desired tool, and press Ctrl+E to open the properties toolbar. Set the desired options in the Properties toolbar.
To create a cloud or polygon shape, click to create the start point, move the pointer, and click to create each segment. To finish drawing the shape, click the start point, or right-click and choose Complete from the menu. Double-click to end a polygon line.
To draw a line, arrow, or rectangle, either drag across the area where you want the markup to appear, or click twice: once to create the start point and once to create the end point.
To draw a square or circle, or to draw a line that’s horizontal, vertical, or at a 45° angle, press Shift while you draw.
To draw free-form lines using the Draw tool, drag where you want to begin drawing. You can release the mouse button, move the pointer to a new location, and continue drawing. To erase parts of the drawing, select the Erase a drawing tool and drag across the areas of the drawing that you want to remove.
To add a note to the markup, select the markup and then select Add note in the quick action pop-up menu.
(Optional) Click the close button in the pop-up note. A note icon appears to the right of the markup to indicate the presence of text in the pop-up note.
To delete a drawing markup, select it and press Delete.
Also, you can edit PDFs with comments online. Our online PDF editor lets you easily add text, sticky notes, highlights, drawings, and more to PDFs.
From the Quick action toolbar, select the Draw freehand tool.
Select the Line tool .
Drag across the area where you want the line to appear.
You can group two or more markups so that your comments function as a single comment. You might group markups temporarily to move them to a new location or to modify their properties rather than editing each one individually. Grouping also helps to distinguish your markups from other reviewers’ markups in a document review.
You cannot group text edit markups.
Right-click within the selection, and choose Group.
Right-click the grouped selection, and choose Ungroup.
In Acrobat Reader, commenting tools are available only in PDFs that have commenting enabled. PDFs in a review workflow typically include commenting rights.
You can use the Add text comment tool to create a box that contains text. You can position it anywhere on the page and adjust it to any size. A text box remains visible on the document page; it doesn’t close like a pop-up note.
Text font and size are based on the system's default settings.
You can add comments to Japanese, Chinese, and Korean text with the Text Box tool, but you must have the Asian-language resource files installed. Text boxes allow for horizontal text only.
You can use the Text callout tool to create a callout text box. Callout text boxes are handy when you want to single out—but not obscure—a particular area of a document. Callout text boxes have three parts: a text box, a knee line, and an end-point line. You can resize each part by dragging a handle. The knee line can be resized in one direction only; horizontal knee lines can be resized horizontally only; vertical knee lines can be resized vertically only. The text box expands vertically as you type so that all text remains visible.
You can move the text box itself or together with the end-point line. The text box moves around a stationary anchor point—the arrow on the end-point line—created when you first click in the PDF. You can modify the color and appearance of the text box and add arrows or leaders to the end-point line.
From the Quick action toolbar, select Add a comment > Add text comment.
Select a location in the PDF where you want to add the text.
Enter the text. The text wraps automatically when it reaches the right edge of the box.
Select the Set or change properties for the selected text icon in the quick tools menu to change the text color, alignment, and font attributes for the text.
To make further changes to the text box:
Using the Select tool, select an edge of the text box and then drag a corner to resize it. Right-click the text box to open the Text Box Properties and change the border and fill options.
Double-click the text box to edit the text or change the text attributes. Drag across the text to select it, then select options from the quick tools menu.
To delete the text box, select it and then press Delete.
You can also paste a block of text by selecting and copying the text in any application, selecting the Hand tool in Acrobat, and choosing Edit > Paste.
From the quick tools menu, select Draw freehand > Text callout.
Select once to set the location of the end point, and select again to set the location of the text box.
(Optional) Select Set or change properties for the selected text icon in the quick tools menu, and then select the text's color, alignment, and font attributes.
Enter the text. Text wraps automatically when it reaches the right edge of the box.
To resize the callout, select it and drag any of the handles that appear.
To move the text box, click inside the box and drag it.
To move the entire callout, click either the end-point line or an edge of the text box, and drag it.
To change the color, opacity, or line characteristics, right-click and choose Properties, and then select the options you want.
In Acrobat Reader, commenting tools are available only in PDFs that have commenting enabled. PDFs in a review workflow typically include commenting rights.
Use the Attach file tool to embed a file at a selected location in a PDF, so that the reader can open it for viewing. By adding attachments as a comment, you can reference longer documents that can’t easily be pasted into a pop-up note or text box. If you move the PDF to a new location, the embedded file automatically goes with it. To view an attachment, the reader must have an application installed that can open the attachment.
Be sure to use the Attach file option from the Add Comments tool when attaching files for a document review. Document-level file attachments that you attach using the Attach file tool from the Edit > More menu aren’t tracked with other comments in a review workflow and may cause your attached comments to be lost.
From the quick tools menu, select Add a comment > Attach file.
Select the file that you want to attach, and then click Open. If you’re attaching a PDF, you can highlight areas of interest in the file using comments.
In the File Attachment Properties dialog box, select the settings for the file icon that appears in the PDF and select OK.
The comment attachment also appears in the Attachments tab (in the right navigation pane) with a page number indicating its location.
To delete the attachment, right-click the attached comment icon, and choose Delete.
Commenting preferences affect both the appearance of and the way you view annotations and markups in PDFs.
A reviewer can place comments anywhere within the document frame. As a result, sometimes you need to scroll or zoom out to see comments that are located off the page.
In the Preferences dialog box under Categories, select Commenting.
Font, Font Size
In Windows, you can determine the font and the size of text in pop-up notes. In Mac OS, you can select only Large, Medium, or Small settings for the font. This setting applies to all new and existing comments.
Pop-up Opacity
Determines the opacity of comment pop-up notes in values from 1 to 100. When a pop-up note is open but not selected, an opacity value of 100 makes the note opaque, while lower values make it more transparent.
Enable Text Indicators And Tooltips
Shows a tool tip when you place the pointer over a comment that includes a pop-up note. The tool tip contains the author name, comment status, and two lines of the text. Selected by default.
Print Notes And Pop-ups
Specifies that pop-up notes associated with comments, and icons for note, audio, and file attachments print exactly as they appear on the page.
Instead of selecting this option, you can print comment text in various layouts by choosing File > Print, and click Summarize Comments. For more details, refer the document to print comments.
Show Lines Connecting Comment Markups To Their Pop-ups On Mouse Rollover
When you place the pointer over a comment markup (such as a highlight or a note icon), the shaded connector line appears. Selected by default.
Ensure That Pop-ups Are Visible As The Document Is Scrolled
As you scroll a PDF, the pop-up notes on a given page shift to stay in view within the document pane. Selected by default.
Automatically Open Comment Pop-ups For Comments Other Than Notes
A pop-up note appears when you create a comment using a drawing tool, the Stamp tool, or the Pencil tool.
Hide Comment Pop-ups When Comments List Is Open
Helps reduce screen clutter when a page includes many comments. Selected by default.
Automatically Open Pop-ups On Mouse Rollover
When you place the pointer over a comment of any type, including drawing markups and stamps, the pop-up note opens.
Always Use Log-in Name For Author Name
Determines which name appears in the pop-up note you create. If this option is selected, the Login Name in the Identity panel of the Preferences dialog box is used. If this option isn’t selected, the default name you specify for Author in a comment properties dialog box is used. Selected by default.
Create New Pop-ups Aligned To The Edge Of The Document
Aligns pop-up notes with the right side of the document window, regardless of where the comment markup (such as a note icon or highlighting comment) is added. If this option is deselected, the pop-up note appears next to the comment markup. Selected by default.
Allow nested reply to sticky notes (requires restart)
Allows reply to Sticky Notes with a single-thread experience. If this option is selected, each annotation appears like a conversation and all replies appear like a single-thread experience.
Enable Text Selection For Highlight, Strikethrough and Underline
Allows you to select and copy text for highlight, strike-through, and underline comments
Enable Comment Type Text And Icon In Comments List (requires restart)
Shows you the type of added comment and icon in the comments list.
Show Checkbox In Comment Note
Displays the checkbox consistenty for all comments.
Copy Encircled Text Into Drawing Comment Pop-Ups
Copies text that you circle using the drawing tools in the pop-up note associated with the drawing markup.
Copy Selected Text Into Highlight, Cross-Out, And Underline Comment Pop-ups
Copies selected text to the pop-up note associated with text editing comments, such as those created by the Highlight Text tool.
In Acrobat Reader, complete commenting tools are available only in PDFs that have commenting enabled. PDFs in a review workflow typically include commenting rights.
You can change the color and appearance of comments or markups before or after you create them. You can set the new look as the default appearance for that tool.
To change how your name appears in comments, open the Preferences window, select Commenting, and then deselect Always Use Log-in Name For Author Name.
For the selected tool, you can use the Color Picker and Text Properties icons availabe on the Comment tools.
Alternatively, you can choose Properties from the right-click context menu, and then select appropriate options.
After you create a comment, right-click the comment or its icon and then choose Properties from the righ-click context menu.
In the Properties dialog box, do any of the following, and then click OK:
Click the Appearance tab to change such options as the color and type of icon used. The type of comment selected determines which options are available.
Click the General tab to change the name of the author and subject of the comment.
Click the Review History tab to see the history of changes people have made to the status of a comment during a review.
Select Locked at the bottom of the Properties dialog box to prevent the comment from being edited or deleted.
Select Make Properties Default at the bottom of the Properties dialog box to apply these properties to all subsequent comments of this type.
After you create a comment, right-click the comment and choose Properties.
Set the properties as desired, and select OK.
Right-click the comment and choose Make Current Properties Default.
All comments you create using this tool display the properties you set. Existing comments aren’t affected, nor is the appearance of text in pop-up notes.
Use @mentions to get attention of any reviewer.
When you use @mention in your personal commenting notes in a PDF file, the review mode gets enabled. Reviewers will receive an invitation email with a link to the shared file.
In the comment text, click the @ symbol.
A popup menu will appear with a list of reviewers. Choose the reviewer you want to mention.