Start an email-based review

When you start an email-based review, you send out a tracked copy of the PDF, enabling you to easily merge comments that you receive. (Form fields in a PDF aren’t fillable during the review.)

Start the review

Before you start an email-based review, make sure that your email application is configured to work with Acrobat. (See Select an email application for reviews.)

  1. Start the email-based review wizard by using any of these methods:

    • Click the Review & Comment button in the Task toolbar and choose Attach For Email Review.

    • Choose Comments > Attach For Email Review.

    • You can also start an email-based review directly from other applications that use PDFMaker, such as Microsoft Word. Choose Adobe PDF > Convert To Adobe PDF And Send For Review, or click the Convert To Adobe PDF And Send For Review button.

  2. If you’re prompted to enter information in the Identity Setup dialog box, do so.

  3. Specify a PDF if it isn’t already open, and then click Next. The PDF that you specify becomes the master file. You’ll merge comments you receive from reviewers into this file.

  4. Specify reviewers by typing their email addresses, or by clicking Address Book and selecting email addresses from a Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook address book. Insert a semicolon or return between each address.

  5. To specify that persons other than yourself receive the review comments, click Customize Review Options and type the email addresses of those individuals in the Request That Reviewers Return Their Comments To box. Click OK.

    The option to enable commenting for Reader users is selected, by default.

  6. Click Next to preview the email invitation, and then click Send Invitation. If your email application doesn’t let you send email automatically for security reasons, answer any alert messages that this application might return, and send the message.

    A copy of the PDF is sent to the reviewers as an attachment. When reviewers open this file attachment, Acrobat presents commenting tools and a PDF that provides instructions.

Merge comments

After you receive comments from reviewers, you can merge the comments into the master PDF so that they’re in one location.

  1. After a reviewer sends you comments, open the attached file in your email application. If the email application can’t find the original version of the PDF, it prompts you to browse for it.
    Note: If you didn’t initiate the review and you receive comments that you want to forward to the initiator, merge these comments to your copy of the PDF and then send them (see Send comments in email). If you’ve already sent your comments, the initiator will receive only new comments. Merged comments retain the original author name.
  2. If you initiated the review, the Merge Comments dialog box appears. Select one of the following options:
    Option Description
    Yes

    Opens the master copy of the PDF and merges all comments into it. After comments are merged, save the master PDF.

    No, Open This Copy Only

    Opens the reviewer’s copy of the PDF with comments. If you select this option, you can still merge comments by choosing Comments > Merge Comments Onto Master PDF.
    Cancel

    Closes the reviewer’s PDF that contains comments.

    You can hide comments that you don’t want to merge by using the Sort menu in the Comments List. Save and reopen the PDF, and then select Yes in the Merge PDF dialog box.