Proposing text changes on a PDF without editing it
Mark proposed edits as comments in PDF by Zaweba: Replace selected text adds a strikeout and caret, and Insert text puts a caret where words should go.
Reviewing someone else's document is different from editing your own. You want to show exactly what should change, but leave the decision, and the actual edit, to the author. Word processors do this with tracked changes. In a PDF, the equivalent is a pair of comment tools that mark proposed edits.
PDF by Zaweba offers Replace selected text, which marks the words with a strikeout plus a caret for the new wording, and Insert text at a point, which places a caret where something should be added. Both are comments, so the original text stays untouched.
Replacing words
Select the words that should change and choose Replace selected text. The selection is struck through and a caret marks where the replacement goes. Type the new wording into the comment, and the author sees both what to remove and what to put in its place.
This is clearer than a strikethrough plus a separate sticky note. The two parts belong to one comment, so they cannot drift apart or be read separately.
Inserting words
Click at the point where something is missing and choose Insert text. A caret appears there, and you type what should be added. It suits a missing word, a forgotten comma or a sentence that needs adding to a paragraph.
Why propose rather than edit
PDF by Zaweba can edit the text of real-text PDFs directly, so you might wonder why you would mark changes instead. The answer is ownership. When you review a contract, an article or a colleague's report, the author needs to see and accept your suggestions. A direct edit hides what changed; a proposed change shows it.
Proposed changes also leave a record. In the Comments panel each proposal can be accepted or rejected with a status, replied to and filtered, and review history shows who decided what and when.
How authors use the proposals
An author opens the Comments panel, sorts by page and works through each proposal. For each one, they decide, make the edit if accepted (in their source document or by editing the PDF text), and set the comment's status. Filtering by status then shows what is still open.
If the PDF is later revised and re-sent, comments can be moved onto the new version with Comment > Migrate comments, each following its words. That makes it easy to check whether each proposal was taken up.
Getting clear proposals
Select precisely. A replacement that strikes through a whole sentence when one word should change makes the author compare long passages. Select just the words that change.
Keep each proposal to one change. Several proposals are easier to accept or reject one by one than a single proposal that rewrites a paragraph.
Explain when the reason is not obvious. A proposal to change "shall" to "may" in a contract deserves a short reply giving the reason, so the author is not left guessing.
Plain strikethrough suggests deletion without a replacement, and a squiggly underline queries something without proposing an answer. Sticky notes carry longer remarks. Proposed changes sit between them, giving a precise edit the author can act on.
At the end of a review, export the comments as XFDF or FDF to send them without the whole PDF, or make a summary PDF that lists every proposal.
Things to watch for
Proposals do not change the text. If the author expects an edited file, make it clear that you have only marked changes.
Overlapping proposals cause confusion. If two reviewers propose different replacements for the same words, discuss it in replies rather than adding a third.
Used carefully, proposed changes give a PDF review the clarity of tracked changes, without needing the original file or any other program.
