What are PDF annotations?
Annotations are objects placed on top of a PDF page rather than written into it. When someone reviews a document, the highlights, notes and pen marks they add are usually stored this way. That is why they can be removed without touching the page's own text and images, and also why they're easy to forget about. The same mechanism is used for things that make a document work, such as clickable links and form fields.
This tool groups the annotation types it supports like this:
- Comments
- Sticky notes and text boxes, including replies and their pop-up windows.
- Highlights & markup
- Highlights, underlines, strikeouts and squiggly underlines.
- Drawings & shapes
- Freehand ink, rectangles, circles, lines, polygons and polylines.
- Stamps & carets
- Rubber stamps such as Approved or Draft, and insertion marks.
Why remove annotations before sharing?
Review markup shows how a document was worked on. A highlighted clause tells the other side which terms you focused on. A struck-out figure can show a number that changed. A stamp saying Draft or Internal looks out of place in a final copy. Many annotations also record the reviewer's name and the time they were made, and highlights can carry a note of their own. Removing them before you send a contract, report or application gives the recipient the document, not the review history.
What this tool keeps
Links and form controls, including signature fields, are never offered for removal. They're part of how the document works, and removing them could break navigation or a form someone still needs to fill in. File attachments, sounds and annotation types this version doesn't recognise are also kept and counted, so you know they're there. Document metadata, custom properties and XMP metadata are carried over unchanged, and so is the page content. To clear the values typed into form fields instead, use Clear PDF Form Fields.
Why drawings and stamps aren't selected by default
Comments and text highlights are almost always review leftovers, so they're selected when you open a file. Drawings and stamps are different: a circled figure in a diagram, an initialled mark or an Approved stamp can be something the recipient is meant to see. The tool shows how many of each it found and leaves the choice to you.
How to remove annotations from a PDF
- Drop the PDF onto the tool above, or choose it from your device.
- Review the groups it finds, with a count for each. Links and form controls are listed as preserved.
- Tick the groups you want to remove and select Remove Selected Annotations.
- The tool creates a new copy, re-opens it, counts every annotation type again and compares the result with the original before you download it.
How the result is checked
A success message appears only when the re-check agrees: every selected type is gone, and the number of links, form controls and other kept annotations is unchanged. The tool also confirms that the page count, the page content, the document metadata and XMP metadata match the original. If any of these differ, or part of the file couldn't be read, the result says “Cleaned with limitations” and lists what didn't match, instead of claiming the file is clean.
Only need to remove comments or highlights?
If you just want the sticky notes and text-box comments gone, and to see each comment's author and text before removing it, use Remove Comments From PDF. It keeps highlights and other markup. Only need to remove highlights? Use the focused Highlight Remover, which shows how many highlights each page has and keeps everything else.
Signed and archival PDFs
Removing annotations rebuilds the file, which invalidates any existing digital signature, so the tool asks you to confirm first when it detects a signature structure. PDF/A files keep their PDF/A identification, but because PDFSanitize doesn't validate PDF/A conformance, you're asked to confirm that too.
What annotation removal can't do
Some apps “flatten” markup, which turns highlights or stamps into part of the page itself. Flattened markup isn't an annotation any more, so this tool can't find or remove it. The same applies to names or notes typed into the page text. Password-protected PDFs aren't supported.
Check the whole document before you share it
Annotations are only one place where a PDF can hold information you didn't mean to send. The document's properties can name its author and the software used to create it. Run the cleaned copy through the PDF Privacy Checker for a broader look, and use the PDF Metadata Remover if you also want to remove the author, title and other document properties.