Remove Annotations
Delete every comment, highlight, stamp, link and form-field widget from a PDF in your browser. Then run Linearize PDF to clear leftover comment data.
Upload PDF File
About This Tool
Remove Annotations deletes every annotation on every page of a PDF: comments, sticky notes, highlights, stamps, drawings, links and the widgets of form fields. It cannot keep some types and remove others. Readers no longer show the comments, but their text and author names remain in the saved file's bytes until you run a further step.
There is one option, Remove all annotations, and it starts ticked. Unticking it makes no difference: in this version the tool always removes each page's whole annotation list. Losing the links means a contents page and cross-references stop being clickable. Losing the form widgets means fillable fields vanish from the page and cannot be filled, although the field data stays in the file. If the filled-in answers must remain visible, run Flatten PDF first so they become part of the page.
Deleting the annotation list only unlinks the comments. Their objects, including the comment text and the reviewer's name, are still written into the file, where a tool that reads raw PDF data can find them. When comments were confidential, run the result through Linearize PDF, which rewrites the file without unreferenced objects and in our test removed a deleted comment's author name, or through Rasterize PDF if only the page appearance should remain.
Saving rewrites the whole file, so a digital signature in it will no longer verify. Remove a password first with Decrypt PDF. The output is named with _no_annotations. The work is done in your browser, with no upload.
How to Use
Add a PDF
Drop one PDF on the upload area or click to browse.
Leave the option as it is
Remove all annotations is ticked. Every annotation is removed whether or not it stays ticked.
Remove and download
Click Remove Annotations, then save the _no_annotations.pdf file.
Clear the leftovers
If the comments were confidential, run the file through Linearize PDF. Open the result and check that nothing you needed, such as a form, has gone.
Use Cases
Issue a clean copy after review
Send out the final version of a reviewed document without the reviewers' highlights and notes.
Remove reviewer names
Delete comments that carry colleagues' names, then linearise the file so the names are gone from its bytes as well.
Clear markup from a received file
Take off highlights and sticky notes someone else added before the document is filed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I remove only the comments and keep the links?
No. Removing selected types is not implemented, and the tool always deletes every annotation on every page, links and form-field widgets included. Use a full PDF editor to delete comments one by one.
Are deleted comments completely gone?
Not from the file itself. They disappear from view, but their objects, with the comment text and author name, stay in the saved bytes. Run the result through Linearize PDF, which rewrites the file without unused objects, or Rasterize PDF if only the visible page should remain.
What happens to a fillable form?
The field widgets are removed, so the fillable boxes and the answers shown in them disappear from the page, while the field data remains in the file. Use Flatten PDF before this tool if the answers should stay visible.
Will links still work?
No. Web links and links to other pages in the document are annotations too, so they are deleted along with the comments.
Does it affect a digital signature?
Yes. The file is rewritten when it is saved, so an existing signature will no longer verify, and the signature field's visible box is removed with the other annotations.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The PDF is processed in your browser tab and nothing is sent to a server.