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Participant
August 21, 2025
Question

Shared PDFs disappear - lose comments

  • August 21, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 131 views

When I share PDFs via email where do those files go? Is another version of the file created? And if so, where do I access it? My process:
Open PDF in Acrobat

Share with colleague via email (through Acrobat) with a message that is posted as a comment

Close the file.

Open the file on my hard drive.

There are no comments. 

 

Where did the file I just shared with my colleague go? Assuming a cloud version has now been created... but where is it? Why can't there just be one file? I'm so confused! 

1 reply

AnandSri
Legend
August 21, 2025

Hello @Laura250897853svv!

 

I hope you are doing well. Thanks for reaching out, and we're sorry for the trouble you had.

 

When you share a PDF via email using Acrobat's Share feature, the file is uploaded to Adobe Document Cloud, and your colleague receives a link to that cloud-hosted version. Any message you include during sharing is added as a comment to that cloud version—not to your local file.

When you reopen the file from your hard drive, it's just the original version—no comments or sharing history are embedded in it.

 

To find the shared version:
Open Adobe Acrobat.
Go to Home > Shared > Shared by You.
Click the document to view comments and sharing activity.

 

Use "Send for Review" (Shared Review) via Acrobat

Go to Tools → Review & Approve → Send for Review (shared review).

This initiates a cloud-based review where all comments are stored and synced online.

Where to Access: You can view and manage the document (with all comments) via:

Acrobat Desktop: Home → Shared by You

Acrobat Web Interface: Document Cloud shared review link.

 

To preserve comments:
If you want a single version of the file with all comments:

Open the shared version from Document Cloud.
Download it using Acrobat desktop (not from the browser or email link).
This ensures comments are embedded in the downloaded file.

 

A few helpful Adobe resources: Share a document via link, Viewing PDFs, and viewing preferences.

 

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

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