Comment

Foxit PDF Editor provides feature-rich annotation tools to help you comment on PDF files.

• Set the Annotation Author Name
• Access the Annotation Tools
• Add a Text Markup
• Add Text Comment
• Add a Note Comment
• Highlight an Area
• Add a Stamp
• Add a Drawing Markup
• Measure an Object
• Add an Image Annotation
• Undo and Redo the Last Action
• Work on Comments
• Import and Export Comments
• Summarize Comments

Set the Annotation Author Name

To help other readers recognize your annotations, you can follow the steps below to set your annotation identity.

• Tap Discover on the main interface.
• Tap Settings.
• Tap Annotation Author.
• Input a name, and tap Done (iOS) or OK (Android).

Access the Annotation Tools

The feature-rich annotation tools include Text Markup tools, Drawing Markup tools, Stamp tools, Measure tool, and Image Annotation tool. On the document pane, tap Drawing on the toolbar at the top to find all the Drawing Markup tools, and tap Comment on the toolbar at the top to find the Text Markup tools, Stamp tools, Measure tool, and Image Annotation tool. On the Comment or Drawing toolbar, swipe left or right to find more tools if your mobile device is in portrait mode. When you select an annotation tool, it will be kept as selected so that you can add the same annotation continuously. To deselect an annotation tool, tap it on the Comment or Drawing toolbar.      

Foxit PDF Editor offers preset property settings for each comment tool. To change the properties (color, opacity, line width, icon type, etc.) of a comment tool, select the tool first, and then tap the property icon (like ) on the Comment or Drawing toolbar. Please note that the appearance of a comment tool displayed on the toolbar may vary after you change its property settings.

Normally, when adding comments, you can scroll the document or turn pages with one finger. To scroll and turn pages while using the Pencil, Highlighter, or Eraser tool, please use the swipe gesture with two fingers. If you have your Apple Pencil connected, you can use the Apple Pencil to add comments, and use your finger to scroll and turn pages.

Add a Text Markup

Highlight Text

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap on the Comment toolbar.
• Long press and drag over text to highlight the selected text.
• (Optional) Tap the highlighted text, and move the drag points to include more or less text, if necessary.

Add an Underline, Squiggly Underline, or Strikeout

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Choose the Underline tool , Squiggly Underline tool , or Strikeout tool  as desired on the Comment toolbar.
• Long press and drag over text to add an underline, squiggly underline, or strikeout to the selected text.
• (Optional) Tap the marked text, and move the drag points to include more or less text, if necessary.

Insert or Replace Text

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Choose the Insert tool , or Replacetool  as desired.
• To insert text, long press on the existing letter to specify the insertion point.
  To replace text, long press and drag over text to select the text that you want to replace.
• Input the text in the pop-up window, and tap OK.

Add Text Comment

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Choose one of the tools as desired:
  
  Typewriter: Add a text comment without any text box.
  Callout: Add a text comment in a callout text box.
  Textbox: Add a text comment in a text box.
• Tap the area on the document where you want to add the comment.
• Input the text as desired.

Add a Note Comment

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tapon the Comment toolbar.
• Tap on the document where you want to add the note comment.
• Input the comment in the pop-up window.
• Tap OK.

Highlight an Area

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap  on the Comment toolbar.
• Long press and drag over the area to highlight the selected area.
• (Optional) Tap the highlighted area, and move the drag points to include more or less area, if necessary.

Add a Stamp

The Stamp tools in Foxit PDF Editor enable you to apply an image or text stamp in a PDF file to indicate the document status or identity. You can choose from a list of predefined stamps or create custom stamps. 

Stamp a PDF

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap  on the Comment toolbar.
• Tap  to open the Stamp panel, and select a desired stamp from the list.

  Tip: Foxit PDF Editor provides three groups of preset stamps. You can tap the Standard Stamps icon , Sign Here icon , or Dynamic Stamps icon  in the Stamp panel to switch to the corresponding category for preset stamps. If you have created custom stamps, tap the Custom Stamps icon  to find your custom stamps.

• Tap on the document where you want to add the stamp.
• (Optional) Tap the stamp to select it, and adjust it as needed:
  • To resize the stamp, drag any of the handles on the border. The stamp will be resized proportionally.
  • To rotate the stamp, drag the handle on the center of the stamp.
  • To move the stamp, directly drag it to the desired place.  

 

Create a Custom Stamp

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap  on the Comment toolbar.
• Tap  to open the Stamp panel.
• Tap  to open the Custom Stamps pane.
• Do one of the following:
  • To create a text stamp, tap  at the bottom of the Custom Stamps pane. In the pop-up Add Text Stamp dialog box, specify the stamp text, stamp color, dynamic information (Author, Date, Time) shown in the stamp, and tap Done.
  • To create a stamp from image, tap  at the bottom of the Custom Stamps pane, and choose From Camera or From Album to take a photo or select an image from your album respectively. After selecting the image, drag the slider in the Opacity window to adjust the opacity, if necessary. And tap Done.

Add a Drawing Markup

Drawing tools help you make comments with drawings in line, rectangle, oval, arrow, polyline, polygon, cloud, and free-form figures.

Add a Line, Rectangle, Oval, or Arrow

• Tap Drawing on the main toolbar at the top.
• Choose the Line tool , Rectangle tool , Oval tool , or Arrow toolon the Drawing toolbar.
• Long press and drag over on the document to add the markup.

Add a Polyline, Polygon, or Cloud

• Tap Drawing on the main toolbar at the top.
• Choose the Polyline tool , Polygon tool , or Cloud tool  on the Drawing toolbar.
• Tap on each point on the document pane to create segments.
• When you finish all the segments, deselect the corresponding tool to complete the drawing.

Add a Free-from Shape

Foxit PDF Editor provides two different Pencil tools for you to add freehand drawing markups in a PDF file.

• Tap Drawing on the main toolbar at the top.
• Choose the Pencil tool  or Highlighter tool  as desired on the Drawing toolbar.
  Tip: For quick access to the Pencil tool, long press on the blank area on the document pane, and choose Pencil from the pop-up menu.
• Tap the property icon (like ) to choose the brushwork style (for the Pencil tool only) and line color, thickness, and opacity as desired. Foxit PDF Editor will save the properties you specified for the Pencil tool automatically for future use.
• (Android only) If you only want to draw with a stylus, instead of using fingers, slide the STYLUS-ONLY toggle to on in the property setting window. (Tip: The “STYLUS-ONLY” option is available for the Pencil, Highlighter, and Eraser tools, and is applied to the Pencil/Highlighter/Eraser tools simultaneously. That means, if you enable using the stylus only for the Pencil tool, the same setting will automatically be enabled for the Highlighter and Eraser tools as well.)
• Draw on the document to add shapes as desired.

To erase the free-form shape during drawing:

• Tapon the Drawing toolbar.
• (Optional) Tap the property icon  to specify the eraser properties.
  • The Whole option allows you to erase all the drawings that are added in the same session with the same properties as the erased shape in the current page, while the Partial option helps you erase part of the shape pixel by pixel.
  • To adjust the diameter of the eraser, directly drag the THICKNESS slider in the Properties dialog box.
  • (Android only) If you only want to erase the drawing with a stylus, instead of using fingers, slide the STYLUS-ONLY toggle to on. (Tip: The “STYLUS-ONLY” option is available for the Pencil, Highlighter, and Eraser tools, and is applied to the Pencil/Highlighter/Eraser tools simultaneously. That means, if you enable using the stylus only for the Pencil tool, the same setting will automatically be enabled for the Highlighter and Eraser tools as well.)    
• Drag over the shape that you want to erase.
  

Tip: For users who are using an Apple Pencil (2nd generation), when you have selected the Pencil tool in Foxit PDF Editor, you can double-tap near the tip of your Apple Pencil to quickly switch to the Eraser tool, and vice versa.

Measure an Object

Foxit PDF Editor allows you to measure the distance between two points in a PDF file. The steps are as follows:

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap  on the Comment toolbar.
• Tap  to specify the scale ratio, line color, line thickness, and opacity, if necessary.
• Long press and drag over from the start point to the endpoint. The measurement results can be previewed in real-time during the measurement.

Add an Image Annotation

• Tap Comment on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap  on the Comment toolbar.
• Tap on the place where you want to add an image annotation.
• Select one of the following options from the pop-up menu:
  • From Document: Select an image file that is imported in Foxit PDF Editor or saved on your Android device.
  • From Album: Select an image file from your album.
  • From Camera: Take a photo using the camera.
• (Optional) To change the properties of the image annotation, do the following:
  • Tap on the image annotation, and choose Appearance.
  • Tap an option in the Property window to rotate the image annotation or change its opacity.  

Undo and Redo the Last Action

• Tap  to undo the last action.
• Tap  to redo the last action.

Tip: On phones, before choosing the Undo or Redo tool, you first need to tap  on the toolbar at the top to access the Undo & Redo toolset.

Wok on Comments

View All Comments

Foxit PDF Editor lists all comments in the Comments pane, from which you can filter comments to quickly find the ones you need.

Open and Close Comments Pane

• On the document pane, do the following:
  • On tablets, tap on the toolbar at the top.
  • On phones, tapon the toolbar at the bottom.
• In the navigation panel, tap  to open the Comments pane.
• To close the Comments pane, tap anywhere outside the Comments pane (on tablets) or tap Close (on phones).

Filter Comments

Foxit PDF Editor allows users to filter comments by comment type.

• In the Comments pane, tap Filter, and choose one or more comment types from the Filter Comments list. When you tap Close, Foxit PDF Editor will filter and display the comments that match the filtering criteria in the Comments pane.
• To show all comments after filtering, unselect the comment types in the Filter Comments list.

Select Multiple Comments

Foxit PDF Editor allows users to select multiple comments on the same page for easier group processing.

• On the document pane, choose Comment or Drawing on the main toolbar at the top.
• Tap  on the Comment or Drawing toolbar.
• Drag a rectangle on the document pane to select the comments inside the rectangle.
• A pop-up menu will be displayed above the selected comments. You can select the corresponding option to flatten or delete the selected comments by batch. For drawing markups and measurement markups, you can also find the Group option in the pop-up menu. Tap Group to group the selected drawing markups, and then you can move them to the desired place or add reply messages (for drawing markups only) to them like working on a single markup. To ungroup the markups, tap it, and choose Ungroup from the pop-up menu.

Add Notes to Comments

You can add notes to Text Markups, Drawing Markups, Sticky Notes, File Attachments (pinned in the document as comments), and Stamps. The notes will be displayed when you open the details of comments on the document pane or view comments in the Comments pane. To add notes to comments, please choose one of the methods below.

On the document pane

• Tap the comment that you want to add a note to.
  Tip: For sticky notes, please tap and hold on the sticky note icon to open the pop-up menu.  
• Tap Open in the pop-up menu.
• In the pop-up window, tap the blank area under the comment creation time to activate the note input field, then input your notes, and tap OK.
• Tap Done (iOS) or Close (Android).

Tips:

• For text markups added with the Highlight, Underline, Squiggly Underline, or Strikeout tool, you can add the text you have marked to the pop-up notes automatically by choosing Discover > Settings and sliding the Copy selected text into Highlight, Squiggly Underline, Underline, and Strikeout comment pop-ups toggle to On.
• For file attachments pinned in the document as comments, tapping them on the document pane will open them in Foxit PDF Editor. Therefore, you need to go to the Comments pane if you want to add notes to them.

In the Comments pane

• Open the Comments pane, and find the comment that you want to add a note to.
• Tap  beside the comment, and choose Note.
• Input your notes in the note input field, and tap OK.

Reply to Comments

You can reply to comments including Text Markups, Drawing Markups, Sticky Notes, Stamps, and Measurement Markups. The reply messages will be displayed when you open the details of comments on the document pane or view comments in the Comments pane. To reply to comments, please choose one of the methods below.

On the document pane

• Tap the comment that you want to reply to.
  Tip: For sticky notes, please tap and hold on the sticky note icon to open the pop-up menu.
• Tap Reply in the pop-up menu.
• Input your reply messages in the reply field, and tap OK.
• Tap Done (iOS) or Close (Android).

In the Comments pane

• Open the Comments pane, and find the comment that you want to reply to.
• Tap  beside the comment, and choose Reply.
• Input your reply messages in the reply field, and tap OK.

Change the Appearance of an Existing Comment

• For text markups/drawing markups/measurement markups/image comments/new text comments, tap the comment first, and then choose Appearance from the pop-up menu.
• For note comments: tap and hold on the comment first, and then choose Appearance from the pop-up menu.

Tips:

• Stamps are preset by Foxit PDF Editor. You cannot change the appearance of stamps.
• On Android, Foxit PDF Editor only applies the current appearance settings to your selected comment by default. On iOS, Foxit PDF Editor will remember the current settings and apply them to the new comments of the same type. To set your current appearance settings as default on Android, please tap Discover on the main interface > Settings, and slide the Remember Last Annotation Panel toggle to on.

Resize a Comment

For a Drawing Markup, Stamp, Typewriter, Measurement Markup, Image Comment, and Textbox comment, you can tap the comment and then drag any of the handles to resize it. When you resize the text box of a typewriter and textbox comment, the text will be reflowed automatically within the adjusted comment box boundaries.

Move a Comment

• For drawing markups, measurement markups, image comments, and new text comments, tap the comment, and then drag it to the desired place.
• For note comments, tap and hold on the comment first, and then drag it to the desired place.

Delete a Comment

• For drawing markups, measurement markups, image comments, and text comments, tap the comment, and then choose Delete from the pop-up menu.
• For note comments, tap and hold on the comment first, and then choose Delete from the pop-up menu.
• You can also do any of the following to delete comments in the Comments pane.
  • Find the comment that you want to delete, tap  beside it, and choose Delete.
  • If you need to delete multiple comments at a time, tap Edit in the Comments pane. Then select the comments that you want to delete (or tap Select all to select all the comments), and tap. Tap Done to complete your operation and exit the comment editing mode.  

Flatten a Comment

You can flatten comments to make the comments a part of the page content and prevent further editing.

To flatten comments, choose one of the methods below:

• On the document pane, tap the comment to open the pop-up menu. (Tip: For note comments, you need to tap and hold on the comment to open the pop-up menu). Then choose Flatten from the pop-up menu, and confirm your operation.
• On the Comment pane, tap  beside the comment that you want to flatten. Then choose Flatten, and confirm your operation.

Read out the Marked Text

For text that is marked with Highlight, Underline, Strikeout, or Area Highlight tool, you will find the Speak button on the pop-up menu, which allows you to read out the marked text. For more information about reading out PDF files, please refer to “Read out PDF File”.

Import and Export Comments

To import comments:

• On the document pane, tap  on the toolbar at the top.
• Tap Comments & Fields, and choose Import Comments.
• Select the file (.fdf file), and tap Done.

To export comments:

• On the document pane, tap  on the toolbar at the top.
• Tap Comments & Fields, and choose one of the following options:
  • To export all the comments, choose Export Comments.
  • To export the highlighted text only, choose Export Highlighted Text.
• Select the folder to which you want to save the exported annotation file, and then tap Done.
• Input the file name, and then tap OK.

Summarize Comments

• On the document pane, tap  on the toolbar at the top.
• Tap Comments & Fields, and choose Summarize Comments.
• Choose an option:
  • Documents and Comments: Summarize the comments together with the document content.
  • Comments Only: Summarize the comments only.
• Select the folder in which you want to save the exported file, and tap Done.
• Input the file name, and tap OK.