Remove the comment time stamp in a PDF document

[FreeeAgent]

Does anyone know what's the best way to remove the comment time stamp from a document?

thanks

[George_Johnson · Accepted solution]

Do you mean that you want to remove the timestamp of a particular comment? If so, there are two timestamps associated with a comment, the creation date and the modified date. The modified date is what's shown in the comments list in Acrobat/Reader and can be altered by a script, but the creation date will still be present though unseen and unmodifiable directly with a script. It's possible to export the comments to a data file (FDF/XFDF), edit the file to remove/replace any timestamp info, and re-import the comments into a copy of the file that doesn't have comments. So the best approach really depends on what it is you're trying to accomplish.

[neslymbello]

Hi, George. It does not work for me. I downloaded the .fdf file, but I could not modify the timestamp info. 

[Bobby4242]

To remove timestamp info on the comments, one quick way is:

Select all the comments in the Comment panel.  Right click, choose PROPERTIES > GENERAL > AUTHOR. Type (or retype) your name there. Then when you click OK, the "modified" timestamps, which is what's visible on all the comments, update to the current time. So the dat & time are still there, but at least they are all set to the same time.

[brytroyer]

Does this work for Macs?  When I select a comment and right click, I do not see "Properties". 

[qwerty62]

I'm using Acrobat DC Pro on a Mac, and I got it to work. Select all the comments, then right-click on the three dots in the upper right corner of one ot the comments (NOT the three dots above the comments, next to the filter and search options). Properties will show up in the menu; select the General button then delete the author name and hit OK. Erases all the commenter names and sets all the comment times to the current time.

[averyc141414]

I used the suggestion by qwerty62 and it worked. Most helpful. Thanks!

[denisewoodallksu]

When in in the world will adobe just make a simple comment summary that is TEXT ONLY. I don't want authors names because I'm the only author, I don't want lines, or time stamps or anything. Just one text document with my comments ONLY.  It's been 10 years I've been waiting for that function. and in the year 2017 you still don't have it.  It's for the love of all that is holy, just make a simple way to export my text to a text document  with only my typed text.  I'm a graduate student and this is very common for professors to want a log or summary of your findings from a pdf. I have my comments attached to the pages in the doc. I just need to turn that log in in a way that I can string it together into complete sentences, paragraphs and an essay format.    I cannot be alone on this because I see this question asked a lot and even the current comment summary leaves in all that crap. Just need to merely select my text and copy paste text. seems like the simplest thing. please help!!!

[try67]

I've developed a script that does exactly that, with students in mind. You can contact me privately (try6767 at gmail.com) if you're interested in purchasing it.

[Ev21924566n3iv]

The methods described by other commenters wont work if you are uploading it to drive/if the viewer is reading it off google drive. I found that the method on this article works in removing the timestamp entirely.

[Lottie5FA3]

What a bunch of craziness.  This should be a check box in properties, not messing with the code.  Thank you for at least creating a solution to this simple problem. 

[Jarod288259678wiz]

Really. Why is it so hard to think you might want to keep all this information private from everyone? Can Adobe not have a simple tool to scrub author names and/or dates and times from comments?