Getting started: The basics of commenting using Acrobat X

Getting started: The basics of commenting using Acrobat X

Janet Frick – October 11, 2010

In this video we will explore the new, streamlined commenting processes of Acrobat X.

Comments are notes that rest on top of a PDF file to indicate changes, suggestions or approvals.

In addition to the favored sticky notes, you can use many drawing and text markup tools, as well as attach documents and sounds to convey your message.I can right click anywhere on this document to add a sticky note.The Sticky Note is the preferred Adobe Acrobat method of communicating or marking up changes on a PDF file.

Notice the center of the note is transparent now, so you can see through to help the viewer know where the change is being made.When you first open Adobe Acrobat X, you see the new, clean, organized interface.

You can now easily locate the commonly used Commenting tools.

The Add Sticky Note tool and the Highlight tool are now accessed from the new Quicktools area.By dragging this tool over the text, you draw attention with a yellow mark.

Most people never use the sticky note that lies beneath the highlight.In Acrobat X, you can review these comments easily through the new Comments Task Pane.

The new Comment Pane categorizes comments by Annotations, Drawing Markups, Reviews and Comment Lists.

The location of the new panels keeps them out of the way of the document, yet makes it easy to find commenting tools and comments.As you can see, the comments are presented and you can see the author, location, time stamp, and type of Commenting tool used.The panel provides sorting and filtering of comments for easier searches.Notice how the animated highlight helps identify the location as I click within the first comment.I can export this selected comment to Word or Autocad or a data file.I can also type in the new Find Comments field to locate and filter a specific comment.As I remove the type I can see the rest of the comments.As I toggle through these comments, the sticky location is highlighted, and I can also select the checkmark to follow my review progress.On the document page, I can still hover over a comment to reveal content as I did in previous versions.

I can even add comments within a video.Another new feature of Acrobat X is the easy ability to change my font preference for notes.I can go to the Commenting Preferences within my Comments List and I can change the font, behavior and appearance of comments.If I want to continue adding comments with the Annotations and Drawing Markups tools, I can make both panels stay open by changing the panel display.The new icons are simplified and the tools use color to more easily identify the type of change.

Deleted text is red, and insertions and additions are blue.I'm just going to select some text here and press Delete - and you can see there's my deleted text.I can sort my comments by type, page, author, date and checkmark status - I'll go ahead and do it by Type...I'm going to go to the stamp tool, which has its own menu that allows you to select the installed stamps, or you can create your custom stamps.Drawing Markups sit on top of the PDF file like comments.

If I want to relocate some of my favorite Commenting tools, I can add them to my Quick Tools.

I can click on a tool, right-click and choose Add to Quick Tools.Right-clicking is another method of uncovering some of my favorite commenting options - here you can see the status and properties.You can also right-click on notes to get to their properties, or press Ctrl-E.Notice if I click on my notes, you can see there's a yellow highlight - if I click on the document page it's deselected - gray means it's not selected.While editing in Acrobat X, I can switch to other tools.

With my tools out of the way, I can easily change tools and return to my commenting tools because Acrobat X remembers my organization of my tools.My comments can be sorted, printed, imported, and exported.With the Acrobat X release, the ability to add text edits, markups and notes to correct a PDF file is organized within the new Comments Pane.

You can add your favorite tools to the Quick Tools bar, and toggle through your comments to review notes and changes with the Comments List pane.

Acrobat X gives you an easier way to communicate your changes!