Review a PDF

When you receive an email invitation to a PDF review, the invitation typically includes the PDF as an attachment or provides a URL to the PDF. Alternatively, you may receive a Form Data Format (FDF) attachment. When opened, an FDF file configures your review settings and opens the PDF in a web browser.

PDFs in a review have special features, including commenting tools and a document message bar with instructions. Use the commenting tools to add comments to the PDF and then submit them, either by publishing comments to a comment server where others can see them, or by sending comments as an email attachment to the review initiator.

Note: If you receive a PDF that doesn’t include special features, add your comments using tools from the Comment & Markup toolbar, save the PDF, and then send it back. (See Commenting and markup tools overview.)

To review the PDF later, reopen it from the Review Tracker to ensure that your comments are added to the tracked copy of the PDF, and that the initiator receives your comments. If you don’t send or publish your comments right away, save the PDF before you close it to avoid losing your comments. Until the initiator receives your comments, they appear only in your local copy of the PDF and aren’t visible to other reviewers.

If you review a PDF using a version earlier than Acrobat 8.0 or Reader 8.0, some features may not be available.

Join a review

  1. In your email application, open the PDF by double-clicking the attachment (PDF or FDF) or URL.
  2. Do one or more of the following, if prompted:

    • Click Connect in the Join Shared Review dialog box.

    • Click OK in the Welcome To Shared Review window. This window tells you who’s invited to the review and if they’ve made any comments, and it tells where the comment server is located.

    • Type your login name and password for the comment server. If you don’t have access to the comment server, click Work Offline, or click Save And Work Offline in the Comment & Markup toolbar.

    • Type your name, email address, company name, and job title, if prompted.

  3. Save the file to a location that you can find easily, such as the desktop.
  4. Add comments to the PDF using tools from the Comment & Markup toolbar. If you need to delete a comment, select it and press Delete. (You can delete only comments that you made.)
  5. Do all of the following that apply:

    • If you’re notified that new comments from other reviewers are available, click the message. New comments appear in the PDF.

    • If you want to find out if new comments are available from other reviewers, click the Check For New Comments button .

  6. Submit your comments by doing one of the following:

    • Click Publish Comments in the document message bar.

    • Click Send Comments or Send And Receive Comments in the Comment & Markup toolbar.

    • Choose Comments > Send Comments To Review Initiator.

    When you send comments, a PDF containing your comments is sent as an email attachment to the review initiator. When you publish comments, your comments are saved to the comment server.

Options in the document message bar

The options that are available in the document message bar depend on how the initiator set up the review and whether you can access the comment server. Similar options may also appear in the Comment & Markup toolbar.

For information about the different types of reviews, see Choosing a review type .

Check For New Comments

Prompts Acrobat to synchronize comments between the comment server and the local hard drive. If you don’t click this button, Acrobat checks for new comments at the intervals specified in the Reviewing preferences. This button is available only when new comments are published to the server in a shared review.



Merge Comments

Copies the comments in the open PDF to your copy. This option is available only for PDFs you receive from reviewers in email-based reviews.



Publish Comments

Uploads your new comments to the comment server. This option is available only in shared reviews.



Send Comments

Creates an email addressed to the review initiator that contains the commented PDF as an attachment. This option is always available in email-based reviews, and it appears in shared reviews only after an attempt to connecting to the comment server has failed.



Status

Displays the connected state of the comment server. If clicked, a menu with additional options appears. Review Tracker opens the Review Tracker. Save As Archive Copy saves a copy of the PDF that is no longer connected to the review. Work Offline saves a copy of the PDF that is temporarily disconnected from the review. Reconnect To Server appears only in the PDF you created by choosing Work Offline.



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