Annotating a PDF doesn’t have to be hard and it is one of the best ways to collaborate on a project that involves PDF documents. With the right tools, the process can be simple, even easy. In this guide, we are going to show you how to annotate a PDF in various ways. Each tool that we highlight here can help you annotate your PDF document in various ways including adding comments, highlights, shapes, and even stamps.
How to Annotate a PDF Without Adobe
When most people think of editing PDF documents, their go-to solution is often Adobe. But as good as Adobe is, there are other more effective and easier ways to annotate a PDF. One of these is Afirstsoft PDF Editor. This reliable and simple program provides a wide range of annotation solutions, including some that Adobe doesn’t have.
Before we learn how to annotate a PDF using Afirstsoft PDF Editor, let’s look at some of its main features;
- Afirstsoft PDF Editor provides a wide array of annotation options. With this tool, you can highlight, underline, and strikethrough the text on the PDF.
- It is also one of the best ways to add comments and sticky notes to any PDF, ideal for adding reminders and explanations to a PDF to enhance collaboration.
- As a PDF Editor, it also presents one of the best ways to add and remove text from any PDF. It also comes with an image editor that gives you just as much leeway to edit images as text.
- If the document you are working on contains sensitive information, then Afirstsoft PDF Editor has adequate security features to help you protect the data on the document including password protection.
- Afirstsoft is available for both Windows and Mac, ensuring that you can annotate your PDF documents on any device, across different operating systems.
How to Annotate a PDF Easily and Quickly with Afirstsoft PDF Editor
Here’s how to annotate a PDF document using Afirstsoft PDF Editor;
Step 1: Install the program on your computer first. Once it is on your PC or Mac, open the program.
Step 2: On the main window, click on the “Open” button to browse your computer for the PDF document that you want to annotate.
Step 3: To find the various annotation tools you will need, click on the “Comment” tab at the top. Then simply select the annotation tool and then select the text you want to annotate. For example, to highlight text, click on the “Highlight” tab and then select the text to highlight. A selection of additional tools will pop up to help you customize various aspects of the highlight feature including color.
Step 4: Remember to save the changes you make to the document before exporting or sharing it.
Two Other Popular Methods to Annotate a PDF Document
You can also use these two methods to quickly annotate a PDF document;
- Annotate a PDF with PDFescape
PDFescape is a PDF annotation tool that is completely accessible online. Follow these steps to use it to annotate your document.
Step 1: Go to PDFescape website to access the online version of PDFescape. From the options on this window, select “Upload PDF to PDFescape.”
Step 2: Click “Choose File” to browse for the PDF on your computer or simply drag and drop it into this window. Then click “Upload” to open the PDF.
Step 3: Click on the “Annotate” button from the options on the left and select an annotation tool to use. Select the text to annotate and the selected annotation will be applied.
- Annotate a PDF with Microsoft OneNote
You can also use Microsoft OneNote to annotate a PDF for free. Use these simple steps to take advantage of this simple solution.
Step 1: Open the OneNote application on your computer and then open the PDF document within the application. You can open a PDF in OneNote by clicking on “Insert > File Printout.” Opening the document as a Printout will make annotation much easier.
Step 2: Choose an annotation tool from the various options that OneNote offers including highlighter, text notes, or the freehand drawing tool.
Step 3: Once the annotation tool is selected, you can apply the annotation by simply selecting the text on the document.
Advantages and Benefits of Annotating a PDF using Afirstsoft PDF
There are several benefits to annotating a PDF with a tool like Afirstsoft PDF Editor. They include the following;
- Annotation allows for easy and seamless communication between team members enabling efficient collaboration on any project that utilizes PDFs.
- Adding various annotations like comments and notes can help you organize your documents more easily and keep track of everything, ideal for future reference.
- Annotation can also make it easier to review and edit the document later. You can use comments, highlights, and notes to point out the various sections of the document that need to be edited, thereby saving your team a lot of time.
- Certain annotations like stamps can also give a PDF a more polished appearance and highlight important sections.
- Afirstsoft’s PDF annotation features allow you to personalize annotations to suit various needs. For example, you can add different colored highlights to point to various problems with the document.
When you need to annotate a PDF document for any reason, Afirstsoft PDF Editor is the most ideal choice. It is easy to use, allowing you to edit and annotate PDFs in the shortest time possible and it offers a wide array of annotation tools. These tools make it the most appropriate PDF editing tool for collaboration with large teams as each person can add their opinions to the document in a way that suits their style.
