Remove Annotations

New

Delete comments, highlights and markup.

Runs in your browser

Runs in your browser — your file never leaves your device.

Drop your PDF here, or browseOne PDF · annotations listed and removed locally in your browser

About this tool

See which comments, highlights, drawings, stamps, attachments, links and form fields a PDF has, and save a copy without the kinds you pick. In your browser.

This tool processes files entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded to a server.

More details

Annotations are what reviewers and PDF apps add on top of a page: sticky notes and their replies, highlights, freehand ink, stamps, attached files, links and form fields. Remove Annotations opens a PDF, lists what it carries by kind with a count for each — comments and notes, highlights and text markup, drawings and shapes, stamps, file attachments, links, form fields, unapplied redaction marks and other annotations — and saves a copy without the kinds you tick. The page text and images under them are not touched.

It runs in your browser with pdf-lib, so the PDF you pick is not uploaded. The file gate refuses PDFs over 100 MB, and encrypted PDFs are turned away with a note to unlock them first. Removed means removed from the file, not hidden: an annotation's text, the appearance a reader draws for it, its pop-up window and the replies to it are deleted, and so is a file attached only through a removed attachment pin. The one exception is something a kept part of the file still uses, such as a picture a kept page also draws; it stays so that page still shows. Signature fields are never removed, whatever you tick, but the copy is a rewritten file, so a digital signature in the original no longer verifies in it.

It is not Flatten PDF. Flatten PDF draws a filled form's answers into the page and then removes the fields, and leaves comments as they are. Remove Annotations draws nothing: a removed form field takes its value with it. To keep a form's answers and delete everything else, flatten the form first, then remove the comments here.

When to use it

Sending a clean copy after review
A contract or report comes back covered in reviewers' notes and highlights. Remove the comments and markup and send the clean copy, keeping the marked-up original for your records.
Taking reviewers' names out of a file
Comments usually carry their author's name, and highlights, drawings and stamps can carry one too; the text of each note stays in the file even where a reader hides it. Removing the comments and the markup deletes both, along with the replies under them.
Dropping attached files before sharing
A PDF can carry other files pinned to its pages. Remove the attachments and the copy no longer contains those files, unless another part of the PDF also holds one, such as its own attachment list, which the result tells you.
A blank form from a filled one
Remove only Form fields to get a copy with no fillable fields other than signature fields, and none of the values typed into them. Fillable fields are deleted with their values, so the form can no longer be filled in, and nothing they showed is drawn onto the page. To keep the answers as page content, use Flatten PDF instead. Signature fields are always kept.

What this tool can do

Annotation kinds: Nine kinds of annotation: comments and notes, highlights and text markup, drawings and shapes, stamps, file attachments, links, form fields, unapplied redaction marks, and other annotations.

How it works

1Open the PDF
Drop the PDF on the box or browse for it; it takes one file at a time, up to 100 MB. Its annotations are read on your device and listed under “Annotations to remove”, each kind with its count and a line saying what removing it does.
2Choose the kinds to remove
Tick or untick each kind. Comments and notes, highlights and text markup, drawings and shapes, stamps and file attachments start ticked; links, form fields, unapplied redaction marks and other annotations start unticked. Under “By page”, each page something goes from lists how many annotations go, by kind. A reply goes with the annotation it answers, whatever its kind, and is counted.
3Remove and download
The button says how many annotations will go; press it. When it finishes, the result, titled “Annotations removed”, lists each kind with how many were removed and how many kept, counted from the saved copy. Press “Download PDF” to save it with -annotations-removed added to its name.

Common questions

Is my PDF uploaded to remove its annotations?

No. The file is read, changed and saved in your browser tab. The page loads from pdf.xyz, but the PDF you pick is not sent to us.

Are the annotations really gone, or just hidden?

Gone from the saved file. Each removed annotation is deleted with its text, its author's name, the appearance a reader draws for it, its pop-up window and any replies, and a file attached only through a removed pin is deleted too. A file another part of the PDF also holds, such as its own attachment list, is not, and the result says how many such files are still in the copy. Something a kept part of the file still uses, such as a picture a kept page also draws, stays so that page still shows; if that is a removed annotation itself, it is taken off its page and the result says it is still in the file.

How is this different from Flatten PDF?

Flatten PDF works on form fields only: it draws each field's answer into the page and then removes the field, and it leaves comments, highlights and other annotations as they are. Remove Annotations deletes the kinds you tick and draws nothing in their place, so a removed form field's answer is gone. Flatten first if you want to keep the answers.

What does it not remove?

Signature fields, ever. Marks that are part of the page itself rather than annotations, such as a scanned handwritten note or a highlight an app drew into the page, are page content and stay; use Redact PDF or Edit PDF for those. Pending redaction marks are discarded. Nothing under them was ever removed; use Redact PDF to remove content. In a tagged PDF, the structure tree's pointer to a removed annotation is taken out, and a structure entry left empty loses its alternate text; one that still holds page content keeps its text, which describes that content.

Can I remove one comment or one link instead of a whole kind?

Not here: it removes every annotation of each kind you tick, on every page. To delete a single link, open the PDF in Edit PDF, where links already in the file are outlined and can be deleted one by one.

Does Remove Annotations work offline?

Not fully. The page and its processing engine load over the network, and parts of the engine are fetched the first time a step needs them. The processing itself runs on your device.

How large can my file be?

Up to 100 MB per file.