Saved PDF deleted the text but left the highlights

Report · Mar 28, 2019

Hi,

I am using adobe acrobat reader DC. I saved a PDF (text) that I had been editing with highlights. When the PDF was saved all of the text disappeared, leaving blank white pages with my markups. This has happened multiple times. I would like to either recover the text of the PDF while maintaining the highlights, or somehow copy the highlights from the edited PDF onto a reverted copy of the PDF with text. I am not using the paid version of this app. Is this possible?

Report · Jul 16, 2019

Hey Emmac,

We apologize for the delay in response to your query. Are you still experiencing the same issue, or managed to find the resolution?

I saved a PDF (text) that I had been editing with highlights. When the PDF was saved all of the text disappeared, leaving blank white pages with my markups.

As explained above, I believe, this would have been behavior of one of the PDF only. Did you experience the same with any other file?

I would like to either recover the text of the PDF while maintaining the highlights, or somehow copy the highlights from the edited PDF onto a reverted copy of the PDF with text. I am not using the paid version of this app. Is this possible?

If you are working with desktop version of Adobe Reader, then changing the following preferences setting and see if that makes a difference in PDFs view-

Navigate to Reader>Edit>Preferences>Security (Enhanced)>disable "Protected Mode at Startup" and "Enhanced Security">OK>Reboot Reader

If possible, we would like to have a look into the PDF you are referring here.

"You can share the file with us via email. And you can send it to the email address that is shared via private message. Please do mention your forum thread in the subject"

Thanks,

Akanchha

Report · Sep 01, 2020

I have had the same problem. Go to save after highlighting and the text vanishes and the highlighting remains. I am unable to find a solution. I have spent 8 hours highlighting and now I am VERY stuck and annoyed. Can you please help?

Report · Jan 14, 2021

Hi,

I had the same problem...i spent qall day annotating and highlighting and all of a sudden the document was blanki except for highlights...i was unable to recover the document and now all of my edits are lost and I have to redo them. This is beyond frustrating-- im on OSX Big Sur 11.1

Report · Apr 11, 2021

I have got exactly the same problem and it has happened with various pdf documents when I wanted to save the pdf. I have saved a comment summary to not lose any work but it has been really frustrating.

I am using a Mac computer and I pay for the full usage of Acrobat Reader.

Report · Apr 11, 2021

"I pay for the full usage of Acrobat Reader. "

Acrobat Reader is free. What did you buy.

Report · Apr 11, 2021

Acrobat Pro DC is not. "Paid" was mentioned in direct response to the first post.

That said, what kind of response is the above from someone in the Adobe Community? It is entirely redundant.

Clearly, this is not the answer to the issue addressed.

Report · Apr 11, 2021

This is the forum for Acrobat Reader.

Report · Apr 11, 2021

If anyone works for Adobe, it would be proactive to point your users with queries in the right direction (even if this means another forum). The responses above are rather unhelpful. Clearly, users are experiencing similar issues whilst highlighting pdf documents. It takes a lot of time and it is very frustrating when work is lost.

I will reiterate. This is the issue at hand: "I am using [Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, Version 2021.001.20142]. I saved a PDF (text) that I had been editing with highlights. When the PDF was saved all of the text disappeared, leaving blank white pages with my markups. This has happened multiple times. I would like to [...] recover the text of the PDF while maintaining the highlights [...]."

Report · Apr 11, 2021

The Acrobat forum is here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/bd-p/acrobat

The reason it's important to know what application is being used is that Reader is technically incapable of doing that (removing the text of a PDF file), while Acrobat is. So the first step is to know exactly what application was used, hence the insistence on getting a correct answer.

PS. Only those with an "Adobe Employee" tag under their names are official Adobe employees. All the rest of the people posting here are users, just like you. Some of us have gained "ranks" based on our past contributions, but we don't speak for or represent Adobe in any official capacity.

Report · Apr 11, 2021

Thank you!

Report · Jan 27, 2023

Old post, but I had to solve a similar issue today - you can always import comments from other files.

Check https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/importing-exporting-comments.html

If you have both the original document with no comments and the document with your comments but no text, just open the original document and import the comments from the second document.

Just make sure you browse for Adobe PDF files when choosing the document you want to import comments from.

It works in Adobe Reader too.