Annotate and comment on PDF files for free on Windows March 7, 2008
Posted by James D Hartland in Computer, Feedback, PDF, Software.trackback
Someone asked me today about a solution for annotating PDF files, that way people could annotate her scripts with feedback. I did a quick google of the subject and came across what seems to her the perfect solution for her.
PDF Xchange will allow you to put comments on a PDF and have them be visible when viewing the PDF with any other application.
Since this is a great thing to be able to do when sending PDFs of scripts I thought I would blog it here so other people can use it as well.
This is a windows app but there are also similar apps for Mac and Linux, just google the subject and I’m sure you will find something. Point being, it is possible to annotate PDF files if you have the right software installed.
Of course, since Celtx is free to download and allows for online script collaboration as well as a built in note making tool, that might be another option to consider.
PS. If anyone actually uses the bloated and slow Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDFs you are doing yourself a disservice. Foxit reader is the PDF app of choice for those in the know. So now you know. (Although PDF Xchange will also act as a default PDF viewing app if you want it to, although I’d be surprised if its as good as Foxit for viewing large PDFs.)
Thanks for posting this, very useful
Foxit has been pretty buggy for me when viewing a pdf with comments. I like for regular pdfs, but I get a little tired of the freeze-ups.
Another option is http://a.nnotate.com which lets you annotate PDFs (and word docs) in the browser – no plugins needed, you just upload the document, highlight the phrase and write a note, then email a link. There’s a free version for occasional use. The big advantage over desktop applications is that several people can comment on the same copy in the browser, and reply to each others notes for clarification / feedback.
There are a few online ways to annotate pdfs and other kinda of documents. The ones I’ve tried have been really sluggish though, if things have improved though then this is definitely another alternative.
its very useful to me, thanks a lot
mac so x can do that with preview. its built in.
Thanks, exactly what I needed. I was looking quiet a long time for an app under Windows that enables me to annotate scientific papers and stuff like that. I was annoyed that those features are only available in commercial “Pro” versions of other programs or leave those ugly, unremovable “edited with…” marks, like FoxIt or others do.
Well, in PDF-XChange, some sofisticated features are still “unfree” like bookmarks etc., but the basic annotation features are awesome.
If you are lucky and able to use a Linux system, I strongly recommend Okular (KDE/Qt) which has ALL features and is entirely free!