How to Add Comments to a PDF for Free

Adding comments to a PDF is a perfect way to suggest changes and highlight errors without altering the original text.

Learn how to use PDFgear’s free tools to add comments and sticky notes to PDF documents while reading, effortlessly.

How to Add Comments to a PDF Online for Free

PDFgear online PDF annotator is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to instantly add comments to a PDF within a web browser.

Aside from adding comments, PDFgear also allows you to highlight text, draw on PDFs, and insert shapes.

PDFgear is free and safe. It requires no registration (never asking for emails), and there’s no watermark.

Video Tutorial

Step 1. Go to the PDFgear online PDF annotator and click the Select PDF File button to open the PDF.

Step 2. Once the PDF file is loaded, go to the upper menubar and click on the Add Comments button. Then click on the PDF page to insert the comment box.

Step 3. Double-click on the inserted comment box, and the Comment Panel will pop up on the right side where you can type your comment and click POST to apply it to the PDF.

Step 4. To markup text in the PDF, you can select PDF text, and right-click on it to highlight, underline, or strikethrough it.

Step 5. Apart from that, there are also other practical PDF markup features. For example, you can click on Draw Ink to use free drawing to share your visual feedback.

You can also insert shapes, text boxes, and stamps into the PDF.

Step 6. Click the Comment Panel button in the upper-right corner to check and edit all inserted comments. The Comments list also include other markups like textboxes.

Step 7. When you’ve added all necessary comments, click the upper-right Download file button to download the commented PDF file.

Add Comments to a PDF on Windows Using Free Software

When it comes to lengthy PDF documents, a desktop PDF reader offers significant advantages over online PDF viewers, such as stability, advanced annotation tools, offline access, and better privacy.

PDFgear software for Windows is the best choice for PC users. Just like the online service, is also free to use, so hesitate no more and give it a go!

Step 1. Download PDFgear, install it, and launch it on your PC. Click the Open File button to open the PDF file.

Step 2. Once the PDF file is loaded, go to the Comment section, and click on Note. Click on the PDF page to insert the note and type your comment into where that says Add text here.

Step 3. To mark up text in the PDF, click on the Highlight, Underline, or Strikethrough tool from the upper menubar, and select text with your cursor to apply it.

The Area Highlight feature allows you to highlight images and areas in PDF.

Step 4. As you can see, you can also insert shapes like Line, Rectangle, and Oval into the PDF. You can also click Ink to insert free drawings.

Step 5. To manage all existing comments in the PDF, click on the Comments label on the left side and you’ll see the list of all the comments.

Step 6. When you’re done working, click the upper-left Save as button to save a copy of the commented PDF.

Add Comments to a PDF Using Free Mac App

PDFgear also has a free and dedicated app that allows you to add comments to a PDF on a Mac device.

PDFgear for Mac offers a variety of PDF comment and markup features, and it sports a sleek and intuitive interface that even beginners can easily get the hang of.

Now get PDFgear app from the Mac App Store for free!

Step 1. Download, install, and fire up PDFgear for Mac. Click the Open File button to open the PDF file in PDFgear.

Step 2. In the Home section, tap on the small Comments button in the Notes tools, click on the PDF to insert the comment box, and type in your comment text.

Step 3. In the Shapes toolbox, you can add rectangle, oval, line shapes and free drawings to the PDF.

Step 4. Go to the Markup toolbox and select text markup options like highlight, underline, and strikethrough, then select PDF text to apply it.

Step 5. To manage your comments, click on the Comments label on the left side, and you can edit and delete your comments at will.

Step 6. To save the PDF with comments, go to the upper-left corner and click File > Save as.

Add Comments to a PDF on Mobile Using Free App

If you’ve just received a PDF on your mobile phone, you don’t necessarily need to open up your computer to start working with it.

PDFgear’s free mobile app allows you to read and annotate PDF documents easily on the go. It allows you to add comments/sticky notes to the PDF, insert shapes, highlight text, etc.

Now get PDFgear mobile app! It’s free to use and available on iOS and Android.

Step 1. Open the PDFgear app on your mobile phone, and tap the lower-right Plus icon to add the PDF to the Files list.

Then tap on the PDF in the Files list to open it in PDFgear.

Step 2. Tap the Edit button above to go to the PDF editing mode.

Step 3. Then you’ll be led to the default PDF editing mode: Annotation.

Scroll a bit to the right on the upper menubar, tap on the Note button, and tap on the PDF page to insert it.

Step 4. Tap on the note icon on the PDF page, and a sticky note window will pop up. Type the text, and tap Post to add the comment, or tap the upper-right Delete button to remove the note.

Step 5. Apart from the note, you can also find other annotation features such as free drawing, highlighting, textboxes, etc.

For example, tap on the Shapes button above and choose a preferred shape and color, and tap on the PDF to insert it.

Step 6. To check and edit all inserted comments, tap the lower-right Bookmark icon 📑, and tap on A button to check the inserted annotations, which include all your comments.

Step 7. Lastly, tap the upper-right triple dots icon ⋯ and select Save a Copy to save the PDF with comments.

FAQs

Is it possible to view all comments in a PDF using PDFgear?

Yes, in PDFgear online PDF annotator, click the Comments Panel button on the right to display all comments, and you can select any comment to view details and jump to its location in the PDF.

How can I ensure that the recipient of a PDF sees the comments?

When saving the PDF after adding comments, make sure you do not flatten the document, as this will render comments as part of the content, making them less noticeable.

Instead, save it normally and inform the recipient that comments have been added.

Are comments added to a PDF always permanent?

No, comments are typically added as an overlay and can be edited or deleted by anyone who has commenting access to the document.

If you need to make comments permanent, you can “flatten” the PDF, which merges the comments with the document content, making them uneditable.