PDF Annotator for Windows

Used PDF Annotator for Windows?

Editors’ Review

Download.com staffFebruary 26, 2016

PDF Annotator is a powerful program that allows users to make a variety of different kinds of notes on PDF documents. The program's many features and intuitive interface make it a great choice. We wish we'd had it when we were in grad school!

The program's interface will be familiar to users of Microsoft Office products. Nearly all of PDF Annotator's features are accessed through the program's customizable toolbars. Although it may not be immediately obvious what all the little buttons do, a few minutes of playing around with the program makes most functions clear. The built-in Help file is well-written and thorough, giving users plenty of guidance on the program's less obvious features. And what a lot of features there are. Nearly anything you would do to a piece of paper can be done to a PDF using PDF Annotator. Highlight, underline, circle, and handwrite or type comments. If you can't draw a straight line with a mouse (and who can?), the program's autosmooth feature will straighten lines for you, keeping your document tidy. The program even has a stamp feature with arrows and other useful symbols, and users can create their own stamps from images on their computers. Users can keep their annotations editable or save them permanently to the document.

PDF Annotator has a 30-day trial period. It installs a desktop icon without asking but uninstalls without issues. We strongly recommend this program to all users looking for an easy but multifeatured way to annotate PDF documents.

What’s new in version 4.0.0.402

Version 4.0.0.402 has added new option for stamps and print annotations overview in higher resolution.

PDF Annotator for Windows

Used PDF Annotator for Windows?

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Full Specifications

GENERAL

Release: November 1, 2012

Latest update: February 26, 2016

Version: 4.0.0.402

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Platform: Windows

Operating System

Windows 10
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows 7

Additional Requirements: None

POPULARITY

Total Downloads: 86,720

Downloads Last Week: 3

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Last Updated

User Reviews

4.4/5

5 User Votes

Clumsy and buggy
2_iApril 19, 2013
Pros
Principal functionality Developer responsive (unlike the program)
Cons
Brings my netbook to a stall Corrupts files Closes unexpectedly Stores pen annotations as bitmaps
Summary
Bluebeam PDF Revu is vaastly superior. The only reason one might consider PDF Annotator, but even with the price it is a waste of money and time. Revu should be considered first.
Effective but could be more
Genghis7777July 31, 2012
Pros
Does everything its supposed to. Ideal for any Windows Tablet PC user. Very natural to use.
Cons
It is only a hop, skip and a jump away from being a fully fledged Adobe Acrobat replacement. Just needs a "scan to pdf" and an OCR capability to round it out.
Summary
My personal winner of "Best PDF Editing Tool"
turipzDecember 6, 2011
Pros
Excellent and market leading features, excellent value for money, excellent support and service by the vendor
Cons
Having used PDF Annotator extensively since 2007 - whatever issues I had with this application - I have written to their support about, and they have addressed them faster than I ever expected. I LOVE this application!
Summary
I have been using PDF Annotator for more than 4 years now - since early 2007, and have tried other PDF editing products like NitroPDF and others. I am a Compliance and Information Security professional, and I use PDF documents extensively. Three things I can say, which I stand behind 100%: 1. PDF Annotator has been one of the tools I use the most in both my work and personal life, as it allows me to write things, fill out various fields and even add my hand written signature in PDF documents sent to me (I have a pen based tablet which allows me to sign my name right in the PDF file, and I also use a saved JPEG of my signature and paste it where my signature is required if I don't want to use the pen). Having the ability to use PDF documents like I use MS-Word documents has been an extremely useful capability, and well-worth the price of the PDF Annotator application 2. Of all the products I have compared PDF Annotator to, installing trial version of commercial alternatives, and the products that are either free or "free" (if anyone installed enough such applications you will understand what I mean) - PDF Annotator has always proven to be the better choice - both in features as well as ease of use 3. And last - but definitely not least, when you are buying a product from a rather small provider / vendor (sorry Mr. Grahl, but I am comparing you to companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Etc...) - you want to know, and need to know what you should expect to get from that provider, how they will handle customer service and support, how reliable and trustworthy they are (you are giving them your hard-earned money, after all...), and how committed they are to the product they sold you. Again - having used PDF Annotator for more than 4 years, I have had situations when I needed support - for technical issues, or license questions (like losing my original license code) and others. I have the emails to prove this: Whenever I contacted Grahl Software for ANY issue - I always got answers within a day or less than that, always productive and effective answers (like re-sending my license code to me, or re-sending me an updated version download link), and always in the spirit of "we WILL solve your problem, or answer your question, we will NOT leave you hanging or frustrated". Being a professional in IT for about 17 years now - that is not something I can say about ANY OTHER VENDOR I have worked with before, in most cases. Even when I sent Grahl Software a "complaint" about some usability issue I did not like with the version I first used back in 2007 - something to do with the way their menus look and work, the next version that they released (which they do a fantastic job letting you know about, through their email notification service - probably the least irritating and intrusive one I have ever subscribed to...) just a few short weeks or so later - fixed that issue and completely resolved the problem I complained about. What other software company can you say that about?... Bottom line: I will put my personal email address (not my primary one, true - but still one that I can be reached through), to prove to anyone that wants that I am not just writing this review without being accountable for it, and to allow anyone with questions for a regular "real" user of this application (someone who just went online and bought this application like anyone else) to ask me whatever you want directly. All the best. Oren turipz@walla.com
It has all the features that I wanted.
saravanamuthusamyNovember 4, 2011
Pros
Very useful one.
Cons
I did not find any.
Summary
Does what it ought--well, &isn't too expensive.
tkb_talosDecember 26, 2010
Pros
Works well. Haven't experienced any crashes yet. The ability to markup PDFs is perfect for tablet PCs.
Cons
Doesn't have a text highlight feature.
Summary

Developer’s Description

By GRAHL Software Design

Annotate, edit, and comment PDF files.

PDF Annotator lets the user open any PDF file and add annotations, using the mouse or a Tablet PC pen, directly on the PDF file's pages. The annotated documents can then be saved directly back to PDF format. In this way, anyone can read or print the annotated PDF documents. Annotated documents can also be easily attached to emails. Insert additional pages, delete pages or create new, blank documents. Also supports Tablet PCs.