Done!
Next step
Highlight, underline and strike out text, drop sticky notes, add text boxes with callout arrows and draw with a pen - right in your browser. Everything is saved as real PDF comments that open in Acrobat, Chrome and any reader, and you can export them all as text. Need to change the page itself? Try Edit PDF.
No PDF handy? Try the sample article - it is short, and it is about remembering what you read.
| Tool | Best for | Saved as |
|---|---|---|
| Highlight | Key sentences and quotes | Highlight comment |
| Underline, Strike, Squiggly | Proofreading - words to check, cut or fix | Text markup comment |
| Area | Scans, pictures and tables | Highlight comment |
| Note | Questions and longer feedback | Sticky note with pop-up |
| Text box | Comments that are always visible, with an optional arrow | Free text comment |
| Pen, Box, Ellipse, Arrow | Circling, pointing and quick sketches | Ink and shape comments |
Proofreading a contract or a thesis? Strike out the old word and leave a note with the new one - reviewers can accept or reply to each comment in their own reader.
Many online tools paint your marks onto the page as a picture. Annotate PDF saves them as proper PDF annotations, the same kind Acrobat creates.
That means they show up in the Comments list of any reader, keep your author name and date, and can still be edited or removed later. Want them locked in instead? Switch on Flatten annotations into the page before you save.
Sending the file on? Shrink it with Compress PDF, or add a signature with Sign PDF.
Open your PDF above - Highlight is already picked. Drag across the words and they light up as soon as you let go. Pick another colour in the side panel, or switch to Underline, Strike or Squiggly the same way.
On a phone, long-press to select the text, then tap the button that appears at the bottom.
Use Note to drop a sticky note anywhere and type your comment, or Text box for a comment that is always visible - drag its blue dot to turn it into a callout arrow. Any highlight can carry a comment too: select it and fill in Comment.
Yes. They are saved as standard PDF annotations, each with its own appearance, so they look the same in Acrobat, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Preview and phone readers. In Acrobat they appear in the Comments list, where people can reply to them, change them or delete them.
It draws your marks into the page itself, so they can no longer be moved or removed and look identical everywhere - handy for printing or sending a final copy. It is off by default. Sticky notes stay as comments either way, so their text is not lost.
The page is probably a scan - a picture of text with no real letters behind it. Use Area to highlight a region by dragging a box, or make the text selectable first with OCR PDF and come back.
Yes. The Comments panel lists every note and highlight with its page number, and Export TXT saves them as a plain text summary - including the words you highlighted - ready to paste into an email or report.
No. Your PDF is opened, annotated and saved inside your browser and never leaves your device. Your author name is remembered only in this browser.
Annotations sit on top of the page. To add or cover text, images and shapes in the page itself, use Edit PDF. To hide private details for good, use Redact PDF.