An Annotated PDF Click to see a larger image

.PDF files are a standard file format where the .pdf document always looks the same regardless of the computer it is viewed on, even Windows PCs. This makes .pfd files ideal for sharing documents.

You can create a .pdf file from any document that you can print. In the Print dialog, click the PDF button and choose Save as PDF...

If you are sharing the .pdf file, you might find it useful to Mark up (see Marking Up tip) or Annotate certain parts of the text. Preview offers several tools for annotating: Add Oval, Add Rectangle, Add Note, and Add Link.

To add an oval or rectangle, choose Tools / Annotate / Add Oval (or Rectangle) from the Menu Bar. Then click and drag on the document where you want the oval or rectangle to go.

To add a note, choose Tools / Annotate / Add Note from the Menu Bar. Click in the document where you want the note marker to be. A yellow "sticky" will open to the left of the document and you can type your note there. NOTE: Note annotations somewhat break the rule that .pdf files always look the same no matter what computer they are viewed on. Different .pdf viewing applications handle notes annotations in slightly different ways.

Adding links to PDF files is an entire tip in itself so I won't go into them here.

To move, resize or delete an annotation object, double click it and it will get a grey border around it. You can then drag to move, grab the grey box in the lower right corner to resize, or press Delete to delete the annotation.

Don't forget to Save your .pdf file to save your annotations.

NOTE: Preview in Tiger has annotation objects as well but they work slightly differently. From these instructions and with a little experimentation, you can work with them just fine.

Related Items: Preview | Mark Up | Annotate | .pdf