I’m about to send a draft policy [document=brief] to Advisor [person=Malik] who promised line‑by‑line edits. I want to…
Open your PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.
Click the Comment button in the toolbar to display the commenting tools.
Select the annotation tool you want to use, such as Note, Highlight, Text Box, or Draw.
Click on the PDF page where you want to add your comment or annotation.
Type your comment or draw your annotation as needed.
Click away from the annotation or press Escape to save your comment or annotation.
You can use multiple annotation types in one session, such as highlighting text and adding sticky notes for detailed feedback.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
Highlighting text is used to make specific words or sentences stand out, usually to show importance or draw attention to them. It works directly on the text layer. Drawing markup, like circles or arrows, lets you add shapes or lines anywhere on the page, often to point to specific areas or elements that are not text. Both are types of annotations, but they serve slightly different visual purposes for feedback.
Comments and annotations are saved as a separate layer in your PDF. If you do not sanitize the document, these review notes remain recoverable data. This means others could see your internal feedback or changes, even if you think the document is final. Sanitizing removes this hidden data to protect privacy and prevent unintended information leaks.
When you are reviewing a document with a team, reaction emojis on shared reviews let you quickly show your feelings about a comment. Instead of typing a full response, you can add a 'thumbs up' or 'heart' to agree or show support. This makes team feedback faster and more visual, helping everyone understand reactions at a glance without adding more text comments.