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Use Best Way Add Comments to a Locked PDF File in Windows & Mac OS

  author
Published By Mohit Jha
Nimisha Ramesh
Approved By Nimisha Ramesh
Published On October 16th, 2023
Reading Time 5 Minutes Reading

In the digital age, sharing information quickly and efficiently is essential for effective collaboration. However, there are times when important documents, such as PDF files, are locked for security reasons, limiting our ability to provide feedback or make suggestions. But fear not! In this blog post, we will explore an innovative solution that allows you to add comments to a locked PDF document, enabling seamless collaboration and promoting productivity.

How Commenting Helps When Using PDF Files?

  1. Collaboration: Comments allow for effective collaboration among team members, facilitating feedback and exchange of ideas.
  2. Review and Approval: Comments help reviewers highlight concerns, request revisions, and ensure thorough document review.
  3. Clarity and Understanding: Comments provide additional context, explain complex concepts, and enhance document comprehension.
  4. Error Identification: Comments help identify and correct errors, including typos, grammar mistakes, or factual inaccuracies.
  5. Accountability and Traceability: Comments create an audit trail, tracking changes and ensuring compliance with regulations.
  6. Version Control: Comments contribute to managing document revisions and tracking changes over time.
  7. Archiving and Reference: Comments serve as valuable annotations for future reference, preserving discussions and insights.

The Challenge of Locked PDFs:

For sharing and saving data securely, PDF is the most common digital document format used. Accessed across multiple platforms and devices. It includes a special locking feature which can be used to lock and secure your crucia and sensitive content or maintain the integrity of the document. 

However, this security measure can create a hindrance when collaborating. This makes it difficult for multiple stakeholders to share and discuss data effectively. It’s good to ensure the security of your official data, but for another authorized member this becomes difficult to access the data.

Use Instant Technique to Smartly Enable Commenting in PDF Files

To guard against unauthorised access to their data, people apply security to PDF files. However, there are instances when the document needs to be changed, either by adding comments or markups. Therefore, it is necessary to employ a specialised application that can easily eliminate security.

A quick and dependable method for removing restrictions and enabling comments and markup in PDF files is Adobe PDF File Unlocker Tool . Additionally, security measures like copying, editing, extracting, signing, etc. can be quickly eliminated by software. Apart from this utility can also be used to unlock PDF for printing. Simply follow these easy steps to do that:

How Do I Add Comments to a Locked PDF Document?

By reducing security, a user can quickly enable comments  Here’s how to go about it:

  • Use the Add File(s)/Folder(s) option to begin adding the files after downloading and running the tool.

add comments to a locked PDF

  • Enter the password if the file is protected by one; otherwise, carry on to choose a location

type the password

  • Once you’ve selected the PDF file, click the Change button and decide whether to save or print it.

set destination, save or print PDF

  • After that, click the Unlock PDF button to start the process to add comments to a locked PDFile.

add comments to a locked PDF

Read More: Learn How to Add Text Watermark to PDF Documents

Add Comments to a Locked PDF Files After the Unlocking

Users can add comments, markups, and other annotations to PDF documents after commenting is enabled in those files. A user must take a few helpful actions to enable notes, comments, and markup tools in PDF; these tasks are as follows:

  1. Open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC first and then the PDF file after that.
  2. Navigate to the Tools menu. Once the Comment toolbar has opened, click Comment.
  3. In the PDF file, add the desired comments.

Insert Sticky Note

  • In the comment toolbar, choose the Sticky Note tool.
  • In the comment toolbar, type the text in the Sticky Note tool.
  • To copy and paste text from a PDF file into a note, select the appropriate tool.

Adding a text comment

  • From the Comment toolbar, choose the Add Text Comment option.
  • After that, click the page to position the cursor.
  • Now, enter the font, font size, and other text parameters into the Add Text Comment tools.

Common Questions Asked

Q1: Why can’t I add comments to a locked PDF files?

Ans: Because the PDF file owner has applied commenting or editing restrictions which don’t allow other users to modify the file. To add comments to locked PDF files, you should know the password or use the above-mentioned tool to unlock and add comments.

Q2: What are the best and most reliable solutions to turn off comment restrictions in PDF?

Ans: Well, the user has the choice to use Adobe Acrobat DC Pro to unlock their PDF files. Apart from that users can explore and use the discussed automated solution to Enable commenting in PDF files.

Q3: How to Comment on multiple PDF files which have restrictions?  

Ans: For commenting on multiple files, you can use the PDF File Unlocker tool by Freeviewer which can easily load multiple or large PDFs and can bulk unlock them.

Also Read: Useful Techniques to Add Signature to Secured PDF Files

Conclusion

While working with locked PDF files can present challenges, there are several effective methods to add comments to a locked PDF file to enhance collaboration. Unlocking the PDF, utilizing PDF annotation tools, leveraging collaborative platforms, using reliable commenting tools, or converting the document to an editable format are viable options depending on the specific requirements. 

By implementing these techniques to Enable commenting in pdf files, individuals can streamline their workflows, work on locked PDFs in a seamless and productive manner.

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