Managing a review in the PDF by Zaweba comments panel
List every comment with its replies, status and checkmark, then search, filter by kind, author or status and sort by page, date or colour.
A document reviewed by four people can easily end up with a hundred comments. Scrolling the pages and hunting for each one is slow, and it is easy to miss a reply tucked away on page 37. The Comments panel in PDF by Zaweba turns all those marks into a list you can work through.
It lists every comment with its replies, status and checkmark. You can search, filter by kind, author or status, and sort by page, author, date, kind or colour. From the panel you can reply, set a status, tick a checkmark, change a comment's text or colour, copy, lock and delete.
Seeing the whole review
Open the panel and every highlight, note, stamp, shape and drawing is there in one place. Clicking a comment takes you to it on the page, so the list doubles as a way to move round the document.
Replies are shown with the comment they answer, so a conversation about one sentence stays together rather than scattered.
Finding what matters
Search finds comments by their words. Looking for every remark about "budget" or every note that mentions a name takes seconds.
Filtering narrows the list. Filter by author to see only what the legal team said, by kind to see only strikethroughs, or by status to see only what is still open.
Sorting changes the order. By page is natural for working through a document from front to back. By author groups each reviewer's remarks. By date shows the latest first. By colour helps when colours mean something, such as red for problems and green for approved.
Working through comments
Status is the key to a tidy review. Mark each comment as you deal with it, for example accepted or rejected, and filter to see only the ones without a status. When that list is empty, the review is done.
Checkmarks are a personal tick, useful as a to-do marker as you go through the list, separate from the formal status.
Replies keep discussion on the document. Instead of an email saying "about your comment on page 12", reply in the panel, and the answer stays beside the question.
Lock a comment to stop it being changed by accident, and delete those that are no longer needed.
How the panel fits with the rest
The panel is the hub for every commenting tool. Comment properties, with a properties bar under the list, change colour, opacity and other settings. Review history shows who set which status and when. Pop-ups show a comment's note beside it on the page.
When the review is finished, the export and summary tools take over. Export comments as XFDF or FDF to share them without the whole PDF, or make a summary PDF to circulate.
Routines for reviewers and authors
Set your name first, so your comments carry it. Comment as you read, then open the panel and sort by page to check you have not left half-finished notes.
Sort by page and work from the start. Reply where you need to, set a status on each comment, and filter to the unresolved ones at the end. A clear status on every comment shows reviewers exactly what happened to their points.
Deleting instead of deciding
Deleting comments instead of setting a status is the commonest. A deleted comment leaves no record; a rejected one shows that it was considered.
Another is leaving comments without an author name. In a shared review, anonymous comments cause confusion.
Kept tidy, the Comments panel makes even a large review in PDF by Zaweba manageable, with every point visible and nothing lost.
