I keep seeing the word annotation in PDF apps and I’m not sure if it means comments, highlights, or something else. I’m reviewing a scanned lease on my phone and just want a simple explanation before I start marking it up.
had the same thing last month looking at a lease. tbh annotation just means extra marks you add on a pdf like highlights, comments or drawings. it sits on top so the original scan doesn’t change. on my phone i just tap in the usual viewer to add them.
A PDF annotation is anything added on top of the original page, such as a comment, highlight, drawing, or stamp. Tip: save a copy before marking up the lease. Avoid uploading it to an unfamiliar app since leases contain personal information.
Annotation just means any markup sitting on top of the PDF, so comments, highlights, sticky notes, underlines, even stamps. The original scanned text underneath never changes, you’re just adding a layer on top.
- Use whatever annotation tool your phone’s default PDF viewer has, Apple’s Preview/Markup or Google’s built in viewer both do highlights and notes fine for a lease.
- Don’t flatten or merge annotations into the file until you’re totally done, keep them editable in case you spot a mistake later.
Also keep a backup copy of the original scan before you start, scanned leases are a pain to get again if you muck it up.