How to print PDF annotations, or they are not displayed when printing?

Key points of this article

PDF annotations can usually be printed. Whether the output can be printed depends on whether the annotations are included in the print settings and the type of annotations themselves.
If you want your annotations to appear on paper, first enable options related to annotations, annotations or marks in the print dialog box, and then confirm with print preview.
If you want the comments not to appear, you can turn off the corresponding option, or delete the comments in the copy first and then print the copy.
Compare the original document with the copy before printing to find missing annotations, obscured text and color changes.

Many people use highlights, underlines, sticky notes or text boxes to make comments when reading PDFs, but when they print, they find that there is nothing on the paper, or the comments block the text. At this time, people often ask: How to print PDF annotations? What if you don’t want it to appear on paper?

This article is written for readers who need to hand over annotated PDFs to others for review, keep paper files, or send them for printing. After reading, you will know whether comments can be printed, which step to set, how to output or hide comments, and how to check before printing. Most of the methods in this article are general practices and are suitable for common PDF readers and print dialog boxes; if you have the OmniDoc desktop client, you can also use its PDF editor to process content other than annotations, such as checking version differences.

Can PDF annotations be printed? One sentence conclusion

PDF annotations themselves are part of the page, and in most cases can be output to paper along with the page. But whether it can eject paper depends on three things: whether the print settings include annotations, what type of annotations are, and whether the printing method is to send it directly to the printer or generate another PDF first. The table below lists common situations and corresponding actions.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
I want highlights, underlines, and comment boxes to appear on the paper	Enable annotation-related options in the print settings and preview before printing.	Comments may not be output with the page by default and need to be checked manually.
Just want clean text	Print directly with the annotation option turned off and confirm in the preview that the annotation has disappeared	No changes to the original file, suitable for temporary printing
Comments must be deleted, but the original document must be retained	Save a copy and delete the annotations from the copy before printing.	Avoid accidentally deleting the comment records of the original file
For printing or archiving, a fixed paper effect is required	Print as a new PDF first, then use this new file to send for printing	Can confirm the final output page content and reduce printer differences
The original document was handwritten and then scanned.	Print scans directly without having to deal with annotations separately	Handwriting traces have become part of the image and are difficult to hide by annotation

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Before you start, please understand the following things first to avoid many detours.

Type of annotation. Highlights, underlines, strikethroughs, sticky notes, text boxes, shapes, and handwriting don't all behave the same when printed. Some will be output with the page, and some will only be displayed on the screen. If you're not sure, the more straightforward method is to print preview.
Whether the document is a digital version or a scanned copy. Annotations in digital PDFs are independent objects and can be switched on or off; handwritten annotations on scans have become images and cannot be hidden separately like annotations. The judgment method is very simple: try to select a text in the document. The text that can be selected is usually the digital version, and the text that cannot be selected is mostly the scanned copy.
PRINTING USE. For documents used for internal review, it is usually more useful to retain comments; for versions used for external release, printing, or submission, it is recommended to remove unnecessary marks to avoid readers mistakenly thinking that it is formal content.
Printers and Colors. Colored annotations may appear gray when printed in black and white, and fine lines may become blurred. If the annotation is used to mark key points, make sure in advance that it is still legible in grayscale.
Whether the original annotation record needs to be retained. If you need to check or trace it later, do not delete the comments in the original file directly. Try to save a copy first and then operate.

Steps to output or hide comments in the print dialog box

Different readers have different interface names, but the printing process is basically the same. Below is a set of general steps that you can adjust according to your own software.

Open the PDF file you want to print. Don’t rush to click print first. Make sure the file is the final version you want.
Find the print command and open the print dialog box. Pay attention to whether there is an entrance to "Preview" or "Print Preview". Look at the preview before deciding on the final settings.
Look for options related to annotations, annotations, or markups in the print settings. The names of these options vary. Common names include "Print Comments", "Print Comments", "Documents and Marks", etc. The ones with the words "Comments" or "Marks" in the name are what you are looking for.
If you want the comments to appear on the paper, check this option; if you want to hide the comments, leave it turned off.
Check page by page in the print preview to confirm whether the annotations appear or disappear as expected. Focus on the home page, pages with lots of annotations, and pages with tables of contents and tables.
If the preview result is not ideal, for example, comments block the text, or some comments need to be deleted, return to the previous step to make adjustments, or go to the next step to process the copy.
When you need to delete comments, first save a copy, delete the corresponding comments in the copy, and then print the copy. The original file remains unchanged and can be retrieved at any time later.
Confirm that everything is correct before printing. If you want to send it for printing or archiving, it is recommended to print it as a new PDF file first, and then save this file as the final version, so that the page content can be fixed.

Check each item after completion

After you get the paper copies, it is recommended to check them one by one according to the table below. These inspections are simple, but they can prevent problems from being discovered after handing it over.

Check items	How to see	What should you do if there's a problem?
Whether annotations appear	Compare with the original file to see if the highlights, comment boxes, or notes you need to keep are all on paper	Go back to the print settings, enable the annotation option, and print a new copy
Whether comments appear redundantly	Check for draft marks or temporary notes that shouldn't be kept	Save a copy as and delete any extra comments before printing
Whether the annotation obscures the main text	View page by page whether text edges, tables, and charts are covered	Adjust the annotation position or delete the corresponding comment, and re-export if necessary
Whether the color changes	If printing in black and white, check whether the color highlights turn gray and remain recognizable	Instead use color-independent marking methods such as bold, underline, or border lines
Check whether the number and order of pages are correct	Compare with the original file page count to check for missing or duplicate pages	Check the print range and page selection, then reprint
Whether the version is correct	Compare the paper documents with the final electronic version to confirm consistency	If you are using a desktop client, you can use the PDF editor's comparison feature to verify differences between the two files

If the document contains text recognized by machine translation or OCR, please double-check important content before printing, as recognition and translation results may have omissions or errors.

📊 Core Comparison

Many people hesitate between "keeping comments" versus "deleting comments," but both approaches have their own applicable scenarios. The table below compares three common methods together.

Method	Suitable scenarios	Advantages and costs
Retain annotations for printing	Scenarios where marking is needed, such as internal reviews, meeting discussions, and teaching corrections	Complete information; The paper may appear cluttered, and color markings may look worse in black and white printing
Hide annotation printing	Scenarios requiring a clean layout, such as public release, formal submission, and printing and archiving	The layout should be tidy; Readers cannot see the original revision suggestions and need to confirm before printing whether these contents are truly unnecessary
Print as a new PDF first, then send it for printing	Documents with high paper quality requirements and long-term preservation	Fixed output results; This requires an extra step and requires keeping the original files as a basis

🎯 Which method suits you?

If you are a student or researcher and need to print out annotated papers for your reading, simply enable the annotation option and pay attention to color issues when printing in grayscale.
If you are a professional professional, submit contracts or proposals with modification suggestions to colleagues for review. It is recommended to keep annotations and check before printing whether the comments cover key clauses.
If you are submitting documents to clients, organizations, or printing companies, you should first remove unnecessary annotations, save a copy, print it as a new PDF, and then use it as the final version.
If you only have a scanned copy and annotations are embedded with images, don't spend time searching for hidden options in print settings—just print the scanned copy and check its clarity.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. If the annotations don't show when printing PDFs, is the file corrupted?

In most cases, it's not that the file is corrupted, but that the comment option in the print settings isn't enabled, or the reader defaults to not outputting comments. Open the print preview first, then check if the options are checked; this usually solves the problem.

2. What should I do if the highlighter print turns out very light in color?

This is often related to the printer's color patterns or toner, and it can also be caused by grayscale printing. You can try color printing, or adjust the color and intensity in the print settings; If you can only print in black and white, it is recommended to use underline, bold, or boxed marking methods instead.

3. Can handwritten annotations on scanned PDFs be hidden separately?

Generally not. Handwritten annotations have already integrated with the page image and cannot be switched through print settings like digital annotations. If it must be removed, only the original, clean version can be used to rescan or print.

4. Can the original file be restored after deleting a comment?

It depends on whether you saved a copy before deletion. The safer approach is to keep the original file untouched and perform deletion operations on the copy. This way, even if you delete a mistake, you can go back to the original file and start over.

📝 Summary

PDF annotations are usually printable; the key is to decide whether to output annotations in the print settings and confirm the final result through print preview and copy operations. How to print PDF annotations? The answer is in the annotation options in the print dialog box; If you want annotations not to appear, turn off the option or process the copy first. Performing a check-by-item before printing makes paper parts more reliable.

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