Commenting PDF Files

Commenting allows you to review a PDF document and add your annotations, comments and other text and graphical information regarding its content. Comments may address certain parts of the document that require changes, or be used as a part of collaborative work on the document to tell other authors your thoughts and opinions. Commenting tools do not alter the original content of the PDF document, and comments are not displayed in the printed document.

In Master PDF Editor you have a number of commenting tools:

• Sticky notes
• Attach a file as a comment
• Highlight, strikeout or underline text
• Drawing tools
• Measurement tools
• Typewriter
• Stamps

You can also view comments and export and import them.

Sticky Notes

Sticky notes are comments displayed over the original content of the document. You can use them to suggest changes in the PDF document, ask clarifying questions to the author of the document or if you’re the author explain or comment your content to collaborators.

Adding a sticky note

To add a sticky note to the document, click the Add Sticky Note button  on the toolbar, use the Comments > Add Sticky Note menu command or press Ctrl+6.

The mouse cursor changes to the crosshair. Click in the work area of the program where you want to add a sticky note to.

Then, type the text of this sticky note. You can do this directly in the balloon window, or use the right-side Object Inspector panel.

Now, when a user points to the sticky note symbol in the document, a tooltip containing your comment appears:

The Object Inspector panel allows you to adjust how the sticky note looks. You can change the following settings:

• Author – set the author of this comment
• Subject – a brief title of the note
• Text – a comment to some specific fragment or element of the PDF file
• Type – choose the type of the icon displayed. Using different icons for different types of comments simplifies reviewing and makes it easier for the author to understand your annotations.

 

• Color – set the color of the sticky note icon
• Opacity – set the opacity level of the sticky note icon.
• Status – this allows you and your collaborators to track the status of the comment. You can choose one of four statuses and switch between them:
  • Accepted – means the sticky note is accepted and the suggested changes will possibly be made by the author
  • Cancelled – means the sticky note is not actual anymore for some reason
  • Completed – means the issues this sticky note addresses is fixed
  • Rejected – means the suggested changes were rejected or the issue the sticky note addresses cannot be fixed
• Locked – means the sticky note can only changed by its author.

Editing a sticky note

To modify a sticky note, follow these steps:

1. Switch to the Hand tool mode using the Hand tool button  on the toolbar or the Tools > Hand Tool menu or by pressing Alt+6.
2. Bring up the Object Inspector panel by clicking its button in the right panel or by pressing Ctrl+F11.
3. Click the sticky note you want to edit.

This will display the parameters of the selected sticky note in the Object Inspector, so you could edit them.

To adjust the balloon tooltip, double-click the sticky note.

Here, you can quickly modify the text of the comment, or move the balloon tooltip to another place by dragging it with the mouse. To resize the balloon, drag the bottom right corner of the tooltip.

The Options link allows you to quickly manage the status of the sticky note, reply to it or delete it.

You can also right-click the sticky note icon to bring up the same menu.

Deleting a sticky note

To delete a sticky note, select the Hand Tool  as described in the beginning of this text, then do one of the following:

• Right-click the sticky note and select Delete in the context menu
• Click the sticky note, then press Del on the keyboard

Highlight, strikeout or underline text

These tools allow you to make corrections to the PDF document such as striking out wrong parts, highlighting important parts or underlining parts you want to emphasize. Unlike text editing tools, commenting tools do not alter the actual content of the document. So, for example, stricken out text looks like that only for the purposes of reviewing.

Highlighting the text

To highlight the text, click the Highlight Text button  on the toolbar, or select the tool using the down arrow:

Then, select the text you want to highlight:

This will make the selected text highlighted.

Striking out the text

To strikeout some text in the PDF document, click the Strikeout Text button  on the toolbar, or select the tool using the down arrow.

Then, select the text you want to strikeout. This will make the selected text strikeout.

Underscoring the text

To underscore some text in the document, click the Underscore Text toolbar button  or select it in the dropdown menu.

Then, select the text you want to underscore. This will make the selected text underscored.

Editing highlighted, underscored or strikeout text properties

To edit properties of the highlighted, underscored or strikeout text, select the Hand Tool using the corresponding toolbar button  or the Tools menu (Alt+6). Then, click the text you want to modify.

Specifically, you can adjust color and opacity of the highlight background, line width, and specify a comment that is shown when a user points the text with the mouse:

Drawing tools

Drawing tools allow you to add graphical elements to the PDF document to drive attention to specific parts of the document, to display relationships between different parts of the content, or to mark places where you want the author to insert new content or modify the existing one.

To learn more about drawing tools, please refer to the Drawing Tools section.

Measurement tools

Measurement tools are designed to measure distances, areas and perimeters of PDF objects in the document. With these tools you can also measure parts of the document before print.

To learn more about measurement tools, please refer to the Measurement Tools section.

Typewriter

The Typewriter tool is a quick way to add some comment text to a PDF document without much editing.

Using typewriter

To select the Typewriter tool, click the Typewriter button  on the toolbar or use the Comments > Typewriter menu.

Then, click where you want to add the text comment.

You can adjust the parameters of the typewriter using the Object Inspector panel. Specifically, you can modify the following properties:

• Text format including font name, font style, font size and alignment;
• Background color;
• Border color;
• Line style of the border;
• Line width.

Editing typewriter text

To edit a previously added typewriter object, select the Hand Tool using the corresponding toolbar button or select it in the Tools menu (Alt+6). Then, click the typewriter object to select it. Now, in the Object Inspector panel you can edit parameters of the object:

To modify the text of the typewriter, change colors or font, double-click the typewriter object.

Stamps

Stamps are graphical objects that can be placed in the document to quickly identify certain states of reviewing: approved, completed, reviewed, accepted and so on.

You can read more about stamps in the Stamps section.

Viewing comments

To easily view comments in the PDF document you can use the Comment List and apply the Comment filtering.

Comment list

To display the Comment List do one of the following:

• Use the Comments > Comment View > Show Comment List menu command
• Use the Comment View toolbar button  and select the Show Comment List command
• Click the Object TreeView button on the left panel

This will open the comment list where you can quickly review all comments made and navigate through them.

Click a comment in the comment list to go to that comment in the document and select it.

Filtering comments

You can filter out unnecessary comments using the Comment View tool.

Click the Comment View toolbar button  or select the Comments > Comment View menu. Then you can apply a filter by type of a comment:

…by reviewer:

…or by status:

The filter applies both to comments shown in the document and comments shown in the Comment List.

To cancel all filters, select Show All Comments. To filter out every comment, select Hide All Comments.

Exporting and importing comments

Export of comments data allows you to export comments to the document and send only these data to your collaborators instead of transferring the full PDF document. This function copies comments and records them to a separate FDF file.

To export comments, choose Comments > Export Comments Data… in the menu. This will pop up a Save As… window, where you can change the comments file name and save it. By default, the name of the comments data file looks like this: (source document name)_comments.fdf.

Example: Мy document_comments.fdf

When importing comments data previously exported and saved to an FDF file, the comments data are added to the PDF document.

To import comments from an FDF file to the document choose Comments > Import Comments Data… in the menu. Browse for a comments data file in the pop up window and press the Open button.

The positions and content of the comments will be identical to the PDF file they were exported from.