Working with the Comments List in Acrobat

Each comment added to an Adobe® PDF document in is stored in the Comments List, which is one of the panels displayed in Adobe Acrobat® 8 by default. Click the Comments icon in the Navigation pane of the program window to open it. Unlike the other panels that open to the left of the Document pane, the Comments List is displayed horizontally below the document (Figure 1).

(+) view larger
Figure 1: Comments List displays horizontally below the Document pane.

Requirements

To complete this article, you will need the following software:

Adobe Acrobat 8

• Try
• Buy (Professional)
• Buy (Standard)

Prerequisite knowledge:

Basic knowledge of working with the commenting tools in Acrobat

Working with the Comments List

The plus sign (+) to the left of a page number indicates that the page contains comments. Click a comment in the list. If the comment is located on the portion of the document that is displayed in the Document pane, it is highlighted.

Comments are organized in levels within the Comments List.

Here are some tips for viewing comments:

• A multipage document lists comments based on page number. Click a page’s plus icon (+) to open the page and display the comments.
• The comment type is shown as an icon on the Comments List; comments added in a shared review show a little lock at the lower left of the icon.
• Click the (+) to the left of a comment such as the one shown by Jess Kennedy in Figure 1 to open its contents. Read details such as the type of comment, author, and date it was applied.
• Clicking plus signs can get tiresome. To quickly open all the pages and all the comments, click Expand All on the Comments List toolbar. Click Collapse All on the Comments List toolbar to close them again.
• Use the Next arrows on the Comments List toolbar to show the previous or next comments (click Up and Down arrow buttons respectively).

Working on a long document can involve dozens or even hundreds of comments. That’s a lot of information to keep track of.

Here are a few tips for working with comments:

• Reply to a comment rather than adding one of your own, such as the DB and MsD comments in the figure. First, click the comment to select it in the Comments List and then click the Reply button on the toolbar. Type the reply in the text field. Acrobat places the Reply icon before your text.
• Delete comments you don’t want to maintain. Click the comment to select it and then simply click the Delete icon on the Comments List toolbar.
• Double-click a comment in the Comments List to open its display on the Document pane, like the one shown in the figure. You see the details of the original comment, as well as any replies that overlay the comment’s note box.

Make a note of that

You can click anywhere on a comment’s listing in the Comments List to display a text field used to add a note to an existing comment. It isn’t the same as adding a reply because it originates with the person creating the original comment.

Sometimes you need to add information to a comment, such as explaining why you want to make a change in the document. Such notes appear in a tooltip when the pointer moves over the comment on the document page.

Check that

One of the simplest methods of organizing your work is to add checkmarks to selected comments. Click the comment to select it, and then click the Checkmark tool, or right-click (Control-click) the comment in the Comments List or on the document and choose Mark with Checkmark from the shortcut menu. Checkmarks aren’t shared with other people as part of a review; you use them to organize your own work. For example, add checkmarks as you finish a correction.

Where to go from here

For more information about commenting in Acrobat 8, check out these other great tutorials:

• Exporting comments to a Word document (Windows) from Acrobat 8, by Donna Baker
• Organizing comments in Acrobat 8, by Donna Baker
• Tracking a review in Acrobat 8, by Donna Baker

About the authors