How to list all the comments in a PDF

Every comment in a PDF is listed in the Comments panel of PDF by Zaweba, with replies, status and checkmark beside each. You can search, filter by kind, author or status, and sort by page, author, date, kind or colour. For a list on paper, the app can make a summary PDF of the comments. It's free and works offline on Windows.

On a document that has been round several reviewers, this is the difference between hunting page by page and seeing the whole picture.

Opening the Comments panel

Open the document and show the Comments panel. Each comment appears as a row, whether it's a highlight, a sticky note, a stamp, a drawing or a proposed text change. Replies sit with the comment they answer, and the status and checkmark show what has been dealt with.

Click a comment in the list to go to it on the page. That alone makes a long review far quicker.

Finding the ones that matter

Search finds comments by their words. Filters narrow the list: by kind (only sticky notes, say), by author (only one reviewer's), or by status (only those not yet accepted). Sorting by page reads the comments in document order; by author groups each person's remarks; by date shows the most recent; by colour separates a reviewer who uses one colour for questions and another for corrections.

Comment, Review history shows who set which status and when, which helps when you need to know whether a point was agreed or just closed.

Working through the list

From the panel you can reply, set a status, tick a checkmark, change a comment's text or colour, copy, lock or delete. A sensible way to work through a review is to sort by page, read each comment, reply where needed, set a status, and tick it off. Then filter to unticked ones to see what is left.

Comment pop-ups help too. Double-click any comment on the page to open its note beside it with author, date, words and replies.

Making a summary or sharing them

A summary PDF of the comments gives a readable record of everything said, useful for meeting notes or for anyone who wants the list without the document.

To share the comments themselves, export all or only the chosen ones as XFDF or FDF. The other person imports that file into their copy of the document. The app can also import the comments of another PDF, so remarks from several copies of the same file can be brought together into one.

Once a review is closed, you can show or hide comments, or flatten them into the pages if they should become part of the document.

Habits for tidy reviews

Ask each reviewer to set the name that appears on their comments before they start. A list of comments all called Author is no use when you're trying to see who said what.

Lock comments that record decisions, so they aren't changed by mistake.

PDF by Zaweba keeps reviews on your own computer, so drafts that aren't ready for the world stay where they are.