How to delete PDF comments, delete unnecessary comments

Key points of this article

First determine whether the annotation is an independent object or has been merged into the page. The deletion methods of the two are different.
Save a copy before deleting, and keep the unannotated version of the original file. You can still go back if you delete it wrongly.
Just turning off the display does not mean deleting it. You still need to confirm whether the comment is really removed before sending it to others.
Blacking out will permanently cover the content below, which is suitable for removing sensitive information, but not suitable for scenarios where you just want to clean up comments.
After deleting, check the text, page number and missing comments page by page, and then confirm that the document is correct

How to delete PDF comments is a problem that many people encounter before receiving other people's revision comments, organizing their own reading notes, or preparing to send the file to others. Highlights, underlines, sticky notes, and handwritten marks are mixed together. Some of them I want to keep, and some of them have to be removed. Turning off the display directly does not make the file cleaner.

This article is for people who need to clean up PDF comments. After reading, you can determine which category the annotation in your hand belongs to, know which method to use to delete it, and confirm that the page content has not been accidentally damaged after deletion. The operations in this article take the OmniDoc desktop client as an example, and also explain the general idea that does not rely on specific software.

How to delete PDF comments? One sentence conclusion

First determine whether the annotation can be selected individually. If you can select it, just delete it one by one; if you can't select it and click it to change it to the page content, you need to use other methods.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
Highlights, underlines, sticky notes, text boxes and other annotations that can be individually clicked	After selecting, press the Delete key to clear items one by one.	This type of annotation is an independent object and will not affect the original text of the page after deletion.
Comments have been merged into the page. Only text or graphics can be selected after clicking.	Find the original unannotated file and reprocess it; if there is no original, you can only keep the status quo.	The merged tags have become page content and cannot be deleted as comments.
I just want to remove a certain piece of sensitive information and cover it together with the comments.	Overlay using the blackout feature	Blacking out will remove the content below, which is suitable for confidentiality scenarios, but cannot be restored.
Handwriting or seal on the scanned document	Priority will be given to originals without annotations; if there are no originals, please explain the situation and we do not promise to completely remove them.	The handwriting on the scanned document is part of the image, and text recognition does not mean removing the handwriting.

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Confirm whether the original file is still there. If there is no backup after deletion, recovery can only rely on the original. It is safer to find the original unannotated version first than to make repeated changes to a changed document.
Save a copy before proceeding. When the copy is deleted, the annotations of the original file are retained. In case of accidental deletion or misjudgment, you can start over.
Determine whether the annotation contains information you do not want to take out. Comments usually include the author's name and modification time. This information should also be considered before the document is sent to others or uploaded to a public platform.
Confirm if the file has password or editing restrictions set. Files with permission restrictions may not be editable. You need to obtain permissions or the original file first. Do not try to bypass restrictions.
Clear the purpose: Do you want to clear the comments, or do you just want to not read them temporarily. Different purposes require different selection methods. The comparison table below can help you differentiate.

Steps to delete comments in OmniDoc desktop client

Open download.omnidoc.top to download and install the OmniDoc desktop client, then open it.
Open the PDF to be processed in the software and save it as a new file, leaving the original file unchanged.
View page by page to find all comments, distinguish between highlights, notes, hand-drawn and other types. If there is a list of comments while reading, you can check them one by one according to the list.
Select the comment you want to delete, make sure the comment itself and not the text is selected, and then press the Delete key on the keyboard.
If a comment does not hit the mark, note the page number and location where it is located, indicating that it may have been merged into the page, and use other methods in the table in the previous section to process it.
After each deletion, confirm on the page that the original text and layout have not been affected to avoid accidentally deleting the text.
After all processing is completed, save the result as a new file name to easily distinguish it from the original file.

The specific entrance and buttons are subject to your current version of the interface. If you encounter a comment that cannot be selected, do not delete the page content. It is more appropriate to follow the method in Section 1.

Check each item after completion

Check items	How to see	What to do if there is a problem
Whether to remove all comments	Turn from the first page to the last page while viewing the annotation list (if any)	If you missed something, go back to the corresponding page and delete it again.
Is the text complete?	Check whether several paragraphs of text, tables and pictures are still there against the original text	Undo when deleted by mistake, or start over from a copy
Page count and page number	Turn to the last page and confirm that the page number is consistent with the original document	If the number of pages decreases, check whether the entire page has been deleted by mistake.
Is sensitive content blocked?	Copy the text near the masked area and confirm that the masked content cannot be pasted.	If the blackening is incomplete, repaint it and check again.
Whether the original file is retained	Verify that the original is still the annotated version and the copy is a new document	If the original has been overwritten, find a backup as soon as possible

📊 Core comparison

Deleting comments, hiding comments, blackening and re-exporting all seem to make the page cleaner, but the effects are different:

practice	Whether to remove the comment object	Applicable scenarios	Things to note
Delete comment	yes	Comments are no longer needed and I want to keep clean files	Generally, it cannot be restored after deletion. Please keep a copy first.
Hide comments (only show off)	no	Read the original text temporarily without affecting the file itself	The file still contains comments, which may be seen by others when sent to them.
blacken	No, overwrite and remove the content below	Remove sensitive information such as ID number and contract amount	Blacked out content cannot be restored, and the comments themselves may remain.
Reprocess with original	Yes (equivalent to version without annotation)	There are unannotated original files	Previous modifications on the original need to be redone

🎯 Which method is suitable for you?

Just want to organize my reading notes: Delete unnecessary highlights and notes directly, and keep the ones you want.
To send the file to colleagues or clients: Delete all comments first, and then check page by page whether the author name and time information are still in the file.
If there are sensitive numbers or names in the document: blacken them out and make sure there are no omissions.
Just temporarily view the original text: Just hide the comments without touching the file itself.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Can deleted PDF comments be recovered?

If the original file has been saved and overwritten after deletion, it is usually impossible to recover from the same file. It is recommended to save a copy each time and keep the original, so that you can retrieve it even if you delete it by mistake.

2. Why are some annotations not selected?

Such comments are usually incorporated into the page content and become part of the page. They are no longer independent objects and need to be sourced or otherwise processed.

3. Will the number of pages change after deleting comments?

Simply deleting comments will not change the page count. If the number of pages is less, it means that the entire page may have been deleted by mistake. Reconfirm after canceling.

4. How to delete the handwritten annotations on the scanned PDF?

The handwriting on the scan is part of the image. Text recognition (OCR) can extract text, but it cannot remove handwriting as annotations. The safe approach is to find originals without annotations.

5. After deleting the comment, can I safely send it to others?

uncertain. Comments may have author and time information, and file attributes or other hidden content may be preserved. Before sending, try to check page by page and confirm that no sensitive information is missing.

📝 Summary

How to delete PDF annotations? The key is to first determine whether the annotations are independent objects or have been merged into the page, and then choose the corresponding method. Keep a copy before deleting, and check the text and page number page by page after deletion. This way you can clean it up without damaging the original text.

Open OmniDoc and use the PDF editor to work with your document