Sticky Notes Not Sticking

Report · Jan 27, 2023

I've been using Acrobat Reader for years and have been using the sticky note to mark pages in text that need my further attention. However, in the past week or so, whenever I mark a page with a sticky note, it disappears. It only "sticks" when I type a comment. Often times I don't need a comment and just need to further review the page and I noticed that all of those notes were gone and had to re-do an entire project for a client. Is there a setting I'm missing? What's going on? Thank you for any help!

Report · Jan 27, 2023

Sounds to me that you need a different type of marker. I suggest adding stamps on the pages that require further attention. The Standard Business stamp category has several built-in stamps that may be sufficient ("DRAFT," "FOR COMMENT," etc.). Using these stamps do not require additional text commentary, but it does help to add a reason why the stamp was used. The stamps can be sorted and filtered separately from other markup in the Comment pane, which aids in later resolution of the reasons the stamps were originally placed.

Report · Jan 27, 2023

That's a good option. Thank you for mentioning those! It's just that when I go back through the pdf, it's super convenient to have the sticky note already in place for those times when I need to add instructions. I'm also curious if this is happening to anyone else or if it's just me.

Report · Feb 28, 2023

I have had the same problem and am very frustrated with it as it has changed my entire dynamic for verifying data on a PDF. I use this function throughout my entire work day, every day. The amount of time it takes me to review and mark a document has tripled. I believe a recent Adobe update has changed the functionalitry of the sticky note process.

I use sticky notes to put check marks next to items I have verified on PDF reports. I select the sticky note and then click where I want it to be on the PDF. I could then click elsewhere on any page and another sticky note would be added. All of this could be completed without requiring me to enter any text in to the sticky note. I am now required to enter actual text in to the sticky note to make it "saves" and stays on the page.

I turned to using sticky notes because all the "stamps" are unweildy, take more steps to use, are much larger. See my attached example of how I use the sticky notes.

I absolutely need a solution for this. If there is any way to override this or if I should roll back my Adobe to a different version what version should I be using to regain this ability?

Report · Feb 28, 2023

After additional research I have discovered that the ability to place an empty sticky note was "fixed" by disabling the ability to do so.

See: 22.003.20310 Planned update, Jan 10, 2023

Disable creation of empty sticky notes
Earlier, when you select the sticky note annotation and click anywhere in the document, a sticky note is added instantly, even if you haven't entered any text. Multiple clicks result in multiple sticky notes being added to the document. In this release, Acrobat detects a blank sticky note added and removes it. Note:Acrobat deletes the empty sticky note in the current session and will not delete any empty sticky notes that were added earlier.

Is it possible that there is a way to override this?

Report · Mar 19, 2023

I'm in almost the same boat as you with these sticky notes. They worked just fine before without having to enter text and I had no idea something as major as this changed. All of a sudden my work documents didn't have the sticky notes on items that needed further review, which meant the editor didn't know to research certain errors in the document, and the final document went through to the customer with many errors. I wish we could at the very least get informed about major changes so that we can adjust our processes before a major screwup. I'm sure it is somewhere, but you had to do some research to even find that information, which doesn't seem fair.