In this day and age, receiving paper documents to review and edit is a rarity, especially in a professional environment. Document sharing is now mostly done electronically, and a secure way of sending a file is by converting it to PDF first.
But how do you review and edit a digital file you’ve just received? The easiest way is to use a PDF application such as the COMMENT feature in Soda PDF that offers state-of-the-art PDF markup tools.
Basic markup
Basic markup refers to the most commonly used tools within the COMMENT feature: highlight, underline, and strikethrough.
The highlighting and underlining features are normally used when you want an important passage or quote to stand out from your PDF file.
For example, if you’re going over a report your boss has just sent you, it might be a good idea to highlight or underline sections that you think require attention or that you might want to circle back to once you’re done reading.
The strikethrough tool is another nifty tool that is mostly used to remove certain passages from a file while still leaving traces of it behind. Let’s say you are reviewing a contract that was sent to you, but you notice something that you don’t think should be included.
Simply use the strikethrough tool, which will make it easier for other readers to understand that you wish to remove that specific passage from the document.
You can even adjust the color of the highlight, underline, and strikethrough tools that you will use to annotate your document. Simply click on the color icon that appears in the toolbar above your document once you’ve selected one of these aforementioned tools:
Adding Sticky Notes
The best way to annotate a file is by adding your personal comments to it, just like you would a paper document. Instead of using actual post-it notes, you can use virtual ones.
Soda PDF has a built-in Sticky Note tool that is very easy to use. You can basically add a sticky note and include your comments anywhere on your file.
Simply click on the Sticky Note tool, then click anywhere within your document that you’d like the note to appear:
You can then type in your comment to the note, which will remain as a conversation icon wherever you’ve placed the note:
If this Sticky Note gets too cumbersome, you can temporarily hide the notes so they don’t distract you while you continue reviewing the document.
Using a pencil
The pencil tool is pretty straightforward. Use it just like you would use a real pencil.
You can write anywhere on your document – all you need is a fairly steady hand. But don’t worry, it’s really not that hard. It just takes some getting used to and you’ll be a pro in no time.
You also have a wide array of colors to choose from, so if you want to handwrite a note and you want to make sure it stands out, you can select a flashy color.
Adding Shapes
When you’re reviewing a paper document, you often draw arrows to point out certain passages. Why should the way you edit physical documents be any different than electronic documents?
In Soda PDF 14, you have two kinds of options for shapes:
Line
Oval
Our PDF software is equipped with lots of shapes and arrows you can add to your pages. You can choose from double-arrows, block arrows, stars, ovals, rectangles, and much more!
Simply click on the shape you want to draw, whether it be one from the Line tool options or the Oval tool options:
Choose the line that you want to draw, then click on the area of the document you want the line to begin and click again to end the line.
You can also customize the color of your line, or any shape, with the toolbar that appears just under the Line tool icon.
Here’s what each Line tool will look like:
Oval tool shapes:
Finally, you can move any shape much like you can with any element within your PDF.
Click on the Edit Mode and then select the shape you’d like to move:
A purple box will appear in the space that you are moving the element to. To finish the move, simply click, and then the shape will be placed in the new area you’ve selected.
Using stamps
Sure, using real stamps can be fun. Who hasn’t played around with one at one time or another? But let’s be honest, they’re not very popular nowadays – stamps are an archaic way of approving documents.
To use the Stamp tool within the COMMENT feature, simply click on the icon:
But what if you could add a stamp of approval (or disapproval, or whatever you wanted) digitally? The good news is, you can!
The Stamp tool menu will appear under the icon. You can then select from Business stamps included within Soda PDF such as:
Want to create your own custom stamp? You can! Simply click on Custom, then click on the add button. You will then see the following screen in which you can browse your computer for an image or file that you want to use as your stamp:
You can name the stamp and even select the page, if applicable.
Dynamic stamps can also be created using Soda PDF. These can be customized for color and text within the stamp.
No matter which stamp you choose to use, here’s what your stamp will look like on your document:
In Edit mode, right click on the stamp you’ve just added, then select Properties to adjust the color, opacity and other elements of the stamp.
In short, you can use a premade stamp, or you can create a personalized stamp to suit your needs.
