Annotating PDFs is an essential skill for anyone who works with digital documents. Whether you're reviewing a contract, reading a report, or giving feedback on a presentation, an all-around PDF annotator allows you to draw freely, mark up content, highlight key points, and leave detailed comments efficiently.
In this article, we will explore various ways, specific steps, and the best tools to annotate a PDF. You’ll learn how to write, highlight, draw, add text or comment, even remove annotations or import/export your notes for better collaboration. Let's dive in!
How to Write on a PDF
Writing on a PDF is one of the most common ways to annotate a document. Whether you’re adding text to clarify points or marking up existing content, a PDF annotator can make this process simple and effective:
-
Add new text: Modify the font, size, color, opacity, and position to fit your needs.
-
Use comment tools: Add comments or sticky notes with different styles and colors to provide feedback or ask questions.
For detailed instructions, check out our full guide on how to write on a PDF. This guide will help you get started with text annotation, no matter your level of experience.
How to Highlight a PDF
Highlighting text is a great way to emphasize important points in a document, which can help you organize your thoughts and draw attention to the most crucial information. With a good PDF highlighter, you can:
-
Highlight text with colors: Choose from a variety of colors and adjust the opacity to match your preferences.
-
Use line tools with lines: Add straight lines, wave lines, or strikethroughs to highlight sections or mark deletions.
Want to master these tools? Our detailed article on How to Highlight a PDF will walk you through the best tools and detailed steps to highlight your PDFs.
How to Draw on a PDF
What if you want to write a mathematical formula or draw a graph in the margin of the page? The drawing tools in PDF editing software let you do it all:
-
Freehand drawing: Use the freehand tool to draw any shape or line you need.
-
Insert shapes: Add predefined shapes like squares, circles, straight lines, or arrows for clearer illustrations.
If you want more detailed steps, check out our comprehensive guide on How to Use Free Hand Drawing and How to Insert Shapes in PDF. Additionally, you can use stamps — select from built-in stamp templates or create your own custom stamp for documents that require approval or feedback.
How to Remove Annotations from PDF
Sometimes, mistakes happen or annotations are no longer needed. Being able to easily remove or edit your annotations is crucial for maintaining clean, professional-looking documents. You may need to:
-
Remove specific annotations: Delete individual comments, highlights, or drawings.
-
Clear the specific area: Use an eraser tool with an adjustable size range to erase annotations in a specific area.
-
Clear all annotations: If you want to start fresh, you can remove all annotations at once.
To learn more about how to remove highlights and other annotations, check out our detailed guide on How to Remove Annotations from a PDF.
How to Import/Export Annotations from PDF
If you’re working on collaborative projects, being able to import and export annotations is a game-changer — you can share your annotations with others, or add annotations from others to your PDF, making teamwork much more efficient:
-
Export annotations: Save your comments and highlights in the XFDF format for easy sharing.
-
Import annotations: Bring in annotations from external sources to review and incorporate into your document.
To get step-by-step instructions on importing and exporting annotations, check out our guide on How to Import/Export Annotations in PDF.
Conclusion
An all-around PDF annotator, such as PDF Reader Pro, is essential for anyone looking to streamline their document review and collaboration workflows. By using the powerful features in PDF Reader Pro, you can annotate your PDFs with any features we mentioned above.
Ready to try these features? Download PDF Reader Pro now and start annotating your PDFs like a pro!
Free Download 
Free Download 
Support Chat 
PDF Reader Pro