Delete all comments on a PDF at once

[elaineb78331729]

I would like to add comments on a PDF for team use and proofing.

When the PDF is final, I would like the option to delete all comments on all pages and save as a final version for client, without the client seeing any of the comments.

[Karl Heinz Kremer · Accepted solution]

Not with one click but with just a few clicks: When you look at the list of comments, go to the last one and select it, then scroll up to the first one, hold down the shift key and select the first comment. This should select all comments. You can now delete them by right-clicking on one and selecting "Delete" from the menu. This should also work by selecting the first comment first, holding down the shift key and selecting the last comment, but I've had better luck with the process I described first.

You can also use the "PDF Optimizer" by saving the document as an optimized PDF (only possible in Acrobat Pro). Then from the different options you can select, make sure that only "Discard User Data>Discard all comments, form and multimedia" is selected  (otherwise, more information may be removed from your document).

[mistshade]

Thank you sir!

[Rashmi5FFC]

Yes this helped! Thank you!

[Allison5E8E]

Bless you! 

[Jaap33638822r6fm]

thank you

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

And to reduce this process by a click, select any of the comments in the Comments panel, use Select All (Control +A / Command +A), and then click delete, or even the Delete Key on your keyboard.

Easier than writing a script!

[Ronda28972878zsaq]

Select All doesn't work. You have to select the range using the shift key.

[Kelly25792572x0tv]

Any reason this function might not work? My document is new and unlocked.

[carpediembaby]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! 

[try67]

It can also be done using a single click by creating a script that does it, assigning it to a toolbar button and then adding that button to the toolbar.

[kelseyb2535]

How can I create the script?

[try67]

That is a bit more complicated, especially the part where it adds a new menu item. It also requires installing the script file into a specific folder on the local machine.

[Document Geek]

Why not use the script as a custom command and add it to the Quick Tools?

[try67]

Sure, that's possible too... The basic code is not that complicated:

this.syncAnnotScan();
var annots = this.getAnnots();
if (annots!=null) {
    for (var i=annots.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
        annots.destroy();
    }
}

[kelseyb2535]

Thank you!

[elaineb78331729]

I really like this solution - thank you. I'm just looking into making the button stay on the toolbar for all of my documents now.

Thank you

[Matt Porteous]

This does not work on the ipad app only desktop is there a trick to make it work on ipad app?

[ls_rbls]

You can add  the action button with the script in your PDF.

It works in my mobile app but I use Android.

You need to do this using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC in your desktop, but don't create an action, create an action button and run it directly from within the document in your mobile app.

[ls_rbls]

If interested, here is an interesting document that was shared in another thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-reader/pdf-fillable-problem-with-mobile-devices/m-p/11055125?... 

[glimmbo]

This code doesn't seem right, I think you'd need to still delete one by one:

this.syncAnnotScan();
var annots = this.getAnnots();
if (annots!=null) {
    for (var i=annots.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
        var annot = annots[i]
        annot.destroy();
    }

}

[try67]

Are you basing that on anything, or it's just a hunch? Because this code will delete all the comments in the file, possibly unless they are set as read-only or locked.

[ls_rbls]

Hi, 

++Adding to this discussion, I was also trying to help another user recently who  wasn't able to delete any of the comments with annotations in his PDF.

As I was trying all the suggestions offered in this thread with no success, I noticed that in the PDF that  he shared with me for review the comments weren't trated as comments fields per se.

The comments would work allowing a user to add more annotations to each comment field  and then save the file normally with the changes.

However, if the user of the form wanted to delete the comments the delete options would appear greyed out It would simply not allow to use any delete method on them. I suspect that the PDF file that he was using was probably a refried PDF that was saved as a postscript file or to another file format and then converted back to PDF.

So as a work around solution, you will be able, however, to get rid of all of these comments if you go to Edit, and select "Edit Text & Images".

When you do this, you will noticie that if you right-click on each  comment it will be treated as a note and not as a comment field per se. So If you right-click on the annotation it will popup a context menu with two options "Open Sticky Note" or "Delete Sticky Note".

If you ever run into this type of issue, choosing "Delete Sticky Note" resolves this particular problem. 

[MRamsey1283]

I have been racking my brain and scouring support channels, trying to find a solution for this. Thank you for sharing this information. This helped a ton!

[ls_rbls]

You're welcome