A full PDF review workspace — thumbnails, canvas, and a properties/review panel side by side, with highlights, shapes, sticky notes, callouts, stamps, numbering, and in-workspace signing, all on top of the page.
When to use this
Use this to review a document, mark it up for someone else, collect feedback with a resolve-tracked comment trail, or sign and date a page — without changing the underlying content the way Redact & Edit PDF or Write on PDF do.
Step-by-step workflow
1Upload your PDF Every page renders as a thumbnail on the left and full-size on the canvas in the middle, so you can jump between pages and mark them up directly.
2Pick a tool Highlight, Underline, Strikethrough, Draw, Text, Sticky Note, Callout, Shape (rectangle/circle/arrow/line/cloud/polygon), Image, Numbering, Stamp, or Signature — each with its own color, style, or preset options in the toolbar.
3Select, arrange, and organize Multi-select with a marquee or shift-click, then align, distribute, duplicate, lock, hide, or reorder (bring forward/send back) from the Properties panel — or use keyboard shortcuts for undo, delete, and nudging.
4Track feedback in the Review tab A dashboard totals every annotation by type and flags unresolved comments; click any row to jump straight to it on the page, and mark notes, callouts, and signatures resolved as you address them.
5Export exactly what you need Apply Annotations produces the full annotated PDF; "Other exports" adds Comments only (just your notes/callouts), and a Review Summary as either PDF or Word for sharing feedback separately from the marked-up file.
Tips for best results
✓Pin your most-used tools to the front of the toolbar with the ☆ star — it persists across sessions.
✓The Numbering tool auto-increments (1, 2, 3…) as you place markers, with a one-click restart if you need to renumber a section.
✓The Stamp Library has ready-made presets (APPROVED, URGENT, etc.) plus support for uploading your own image as a custom stamp.
✓Signatures and initials can be typed, drawn, or uploaded from a photo — uploaded signatures are automatically isolated from their background.
✓"Insert Date" drops a pre-filled, editable date label in one click — no need to type it out with the Text tool.
✓The Review Summary dashboard and its PDF/Word exports share the exact same counts and comment text, so what you see on screen is what gets shared.
✓Every export still flattens the page into an image — the tradeoff that keeps 13+ annotation types looking pixel-identical to what you drew, at the cost of losing selectable text on the annotated PDF (Comments-only and Review Summary exports are unaffected, since they aren't rasterized page copies).
Common mistakes to avoid
⚠Expecting the exported Annotated PDF to keep annotations as separate, removable "layers" — they're flattened into the page image, so undo/redo only works before you export.
⚠Confusing this with Redact & Edit PDF — that tool permanently blacks out or corrects content; this one adds visible marks and comments on top without hiding anything.
⚠Not checking the Review tab's unresolved count before sending a document on — it's the fastest way to confirm every comment has actually been addressed.
⚠Forgetting hidden objects still count toward the document — "Hide" keeps an annotation out of the export and off the canvas, but it stays visible (greyed out) in the Review tab for a full audit trail.
