Acrobat Reader X commenting & highlighting features

What features were secured?

By default, Reader does not allow a lot of features, so the appear to be locked, but just have not been enabled.

Also if you want to allow commenting in Reader you either have to use the review process or enable the commenting rights with Acrobat.

When I create a PDF from a webpage, I just click save as and assign a file name. When I open the file up in Reader X, it was my understanding that the commenting and highlighting tools would automatically be enabled. Instead these features are greyed out.

I believe that also on a video from Adobe Acrobat on Reader X it said, you could use the Reader X commenting and highlighting tools to make notes in PDF files. When I have tried using a couple of different pdf books (one on Excel 2010 Formulas, and one on Microsoft Office Specialist Study Guide) and both were marked secured. The commenting tool & highlighting tools were greyed out.

In Adobe's Kurt Foss video dated 12/3/10 on Acrobat X Collaborations & Commenting, is where I understood that the commenting and highlighting tools would work in all PDFs. In the video he says no special rights are required to use these tools in Reader X.

Did you check the 'Security' tab when you inspect the "Properties' of the open PDF?
"File => Properties" or " + D", then click on the 'Security' tab. Does the "Security Method;" display "No Security" and the "Commenting" display "Not Allowed"? Then you need to apply commenting rights to the PDF. From what I have seen, if the PDF is made by Acrobat, then commenting is allowed. If another program creates the PDF commenting is not allowed unless added by Acrobat.What product and version created the PDF?

Some confusion seems to be creeping in here...

For users with Adobe Reader X:

If an *unsecured* PDF file is opened in the standalone version of Adobe Reader X, then you have access to the Highlight and Sticky Note tools only. It doesn't matter one iota where the file came from, as long as it has no permissions security applied.

If the PDF is being views within a web browser using the Adobe Reader X plugin, commenting is not available unless the PDF is part of a browser-based review workflow. To apply comments to any other PDF file being displayed within a web browser, you must save a copy to your computer and open it with the standalone (desktop) version of Reader X.

If the PDF file is secured to prevent changes and commenting, then NO commenting tools in Reader X will work, and the two default tools will be disabled on the Comments Pane.

If the PDF file has been granted extended permissions via Adobe Acrobat, then not only will the two default commenting tools be available, but the complete set of markup and measurement tools will also appear, via the Comment and Tools panes in Reader X.



For users with Adobe Reader 9 or earlier:

Unless the PDF file has been granted extended permissions via Adobe Acrobat, NO commenting tools will be available.

Thank you gkasieril and UVSAR for your help. After listening to Kurt Foss's video I came away with the impreession that the commenting and highlighting tools were automatically available when using Reader X on a PDF.

I do have one more questions about using Reader X commenting and highlighting tools.

When I use Acrobat 9 Pro Ext to convert a webpage to a PDF from IE9, it goes through and creates the saved PDF, and then opens automatically in Arobat 9 Pro Ext. At this point in time, when I go to File, Properties, and then Security, it "shows that commenting is enabled." However, when I open up the PDF that was automatically saved in Reader X, the commenting and highlighting tools are greyed out. I have also tried a save as, and once again the commenting and highlighting tools are greyed out.

Why does Acrobat 9 Pro Ext show comments are enabled, and then changes it when you open the file up in Reader X.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Using Reader X I can comment on PDFs created with Acrobat 8 when viewed locally, not in a web browser, but if I open locally a PDF created with OpenOffice.org 3.2 Writer, I could not add annotations.Using Acrobat 8 Pro I add commenting rights, then commenting was possible in Reader X to the PDF. With OpenOffice.org 3.3 and 3.4 there is no problem adding comments with Reader X. So it appears some 3rd party programs can create PDFs on which Reader X can not add comments to.

Goerge, thank you for your continued help.

When I convert a webpage to a PDF, I am using the add-in that comes with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Ext to convert the webpage to a PDF - which is automatically saved to my desktop. Like I said, when the newly created file opens up in Acrobat 9 Pro Ext automatically after creating the file, it shows commenting rights are enabled. However, when I close the file out without doing anything, and open it in Reader X, the commenting rights are no longer enabled.

What I do not understand is, why does Acrobat 9 Pro Ext show commenting is allowed and Reader X says commenting is not allowed?

That is correct - as I said above the two default tools (highlight and sticky note) *are* available on any PDF file, assuming it's not secured (via permissions security, the presence of a form, or viewing in PDF/A mode), and is open in Adobe Reader X on the desktop rather than in the browser plugin.



If the web page you are converting contains an HTML form, the Acrobat plugin will create PDF form fields in the converted file. As commenting or alteration of _any_ non-extended PDF form is prohibited in Reader, the default comment tools will be disabled for those particular converted pages (Acrobat can comment on documents containing form fields, so when the file is opened in Acrobat you won't see any restrictions). There won't be any visible document message bar (DMB) as the form thus created does not have a recognized submit button, but the presence of the text fields activates effective permissions security on the file in Adobe Reader. This is intended behavior.

For example if you convert this page with a form it will be read-only in Adobe Reader X, and commentable in Acrobat. You'll see you can type into the text field on the right.If you convert this page without a form the commenting tools in both Acrobat and Reader X will be available as normal.As a side note, Internet Explorer 9 Beta is not a supported host browser for Acrobat - Adobe does not support third-party software until it reaches release status. We're still evaluating the compatibility of Acrobat X with IE9; currently the Acrobat X Family system specs only support the release edition of Internet Explorer 8, and there is some instability with IE9/32 that results in error messages during conversion.

Thank you UVSAR for your additional information on my question.

As a possible workaround, I have found that when I converted this page to a PDF; and when it immediately openes up in Acrobat 9 Pro Ext, if I go to the Advanced menu, and Extend features in Reader, and then save it, the commenting and highlighting features are then available.

I have Adobe X.

I use ScanSnap S300 to create Adobe X PDFs. How do I change the default save to allow typewriter function. As it is now, I need to save using ScanSnap default, then re-save the doucument using >Save As >Reader extended PDF >enable adding text...I don't want to go thru the two steps. I want all documents I PDF from any source to allow "typewriter" the first time.

Please advise.

Not possible. Applying Reader extensions is something you have to explicitly choose to do via the Save As menu.

i m tring to open more than one pdf continuously on web using ie 8 and adobe reader x,
but it opens only one pdf and get cancelled automatically, hence second pdf is not going to be open...

UVSAR - (or anyone who knows)

I understand what you explained - commenting tools are available in standalone Reader, but not plugin Reader. I, however, use Zotero to organize lots of research literature (mostly pdf documents). Zotero is a browser plugin. Normally I would use zotero to find the document I want to read, and it opens my local copy of the document in the browser. I would really like a way to access the commenting tools from within the browser. Is there any workaround?

I sort of answered my own question, so I'll post it here for the benefit of all. If you cannot force plugin Reader to let you comment, then you can at least force Zotero to open pdfs in desktop Reader. Here's how (from Zotero forums):

There's a hidden pref, extensions.zotero.launchNonNativeFiles, to always open attachments that aren't handled natively by Firefox via the OS. This lets you still open PDFs clicked on from web pages with the Acrobat plugin. Type about:config into the Firefox URL bar to find the pref and set it to TRUE. (credit for answer goes to Dan Stillman)

I am using Acrobat 9.4.4 Pro. Ex.

I was sent a drawing set as individual files, printed to pdf from AutoCAD.

I combined them in Acrobat to a single file, and enabled commenting.

My colleague is using Adobe Reader X (10.0.1). When he opens the file he gets a warning "This document enabled extended features in adobe reader. The document has been changed since it was created and use of extended features is no longer available".

I can open the file in Reader 9.4.2 and mark them up fine...

I have tried several times to no avail? s this a bug or is there something I am missing?

@TIMBIM:

The message is a catch-all indication that between the moment you saved your file with a Reader extension and the moment your colleague opened the PDF, something in it has changed. RE applies a hash to the file, so any change other than those permitted by the extension will invalidate the file - embedding or unembedding a font, optimizing content, changing PDF version, metadata, etc. It can also happen if the clock on the client machine is earlier than the time embedded in the hash.

If you run a comparison between the invalid PDF and a working copy it might indicate what's changed, provided the change is content-related. Also worth sending your colleague a couple of test files with RE applied to see if it's an issue with that specific PDF or something general like a clock offset.

Thanks for your reply UVSAR.

Both these machines have their clocks set by our WAN server. I will investigate to see if this is the problem as it is the only one of your suggestions that are possible.

The odd thing, is that I can open a file with an RE in reader 9 that he can't in reader X, even 'older' files. Even after my colleagues machine throws me the message, my machine can open it in Reader 9.

I will re-post after Monday after checking clocks :-)

I have found that this is not the case! I have also found that my colleague had his date set to 16th April, so it was the time stamp that was the issue! Thanks for the solution! Problem Solved.