InDesign Share for Review - FAQ

[Sheena Kaul]

Using Share for Review in InDesign’s June 2020 release, you can share your designs for online review, and manage feedback right within the app. Stakeholders can open the shared document in a browser to provide feedback. Share for Review streamlines and simplifies the review process for both designers and their stakeholders.  

The following FAQs provide clarity on common questions around Share for Review:  

Share the document for review - FAQ

View reviewer comments - FAQ 

Review the document - FAQ

Best practices

How is Share for Review different from the ‘Integrated comment and review’ feature in InDesign CS5? How does it compare to the Import PDF Comments (IPC) feature?  

Adobe is investing in features and services that make creative collaboration easier and more enjoyable.  

With Share for Review, our aspiration is to make reviewing and editing InDesign creative more seamless, and address the following limitations in CS Review: 

• Requirement for a flash plugin to use this feature 
• Lack of support for key features such as email notifications 
• User challenges with feature discoverability 

Compared to Import PDF Comments (IPC), Share for Review reduces time by eliminating the need to create and share PDFs and collate the resulting feedback. We will be working to enhance the reviewing features and capabilities in Share for Review, which will soon help this tool surpass the experience of IPC, from end to end.   

Does Share for Review include text commenting capabilities? 

This first version of the feature allows you to provide feedback through the sticky note and pencil tools. We will continue to improve the experience, and we will soon incorporate more text commenting capabilities, including text highlight, text strikethrough, and the ability to accept text comments in a single click. 

Is this feature being introduced into InCopy?  

It is not. Instead, we’ll be making significant updates to InCopy by taking it to the Web to provide better collaboration capabilities. Stay tuned!    

What text capabilities do I have as a reviewer?  

As a reviewer, you will be able to highlight text, strikethrough text, and replace text corresponding to your comment. 

Let us know of any challenges, or questions you have for us around Share for Review and we’ll be happy to assist you. 

[Sheena Kaul]

Hi there,

Yes, you create a web link to your document and can invite people to review it and provide feedback. Additionally, if you want you can send the link yourself to the reviewer. 

Please see Share the document for review - FAQ for more details.

Regards,

Sheena

[NeilPetrunia]

I tried sharing a file for review, and set it to private. My user who I shared the file with was asked for a password, which I did not set when I shared the file. Why are they being asked for a password that has not been set?

[VMAC Tech]

As the author I really enjoy this feature however feedback from the engineering team has been mixed. 

• There needs to be a "Track Changes" features so that when the author addresses something that has been commented on, the person who made the comment can see the before and after versions. 
• One engineer advised that the line weight was so large he was unable to see what he had marked up. 
• For people who do not wish to create Adobe ID's, allow a "guest" a way to return to the document and see/edit their comments. 

[Sheena Kaul]

Hi there, 

Thanks for all the feedback. Please make sure you upvote for these features on the UserVoice so the product team can look into it. 

Also, try creating a public link and send that to the reviewers and that should not ask for any Adobe ID. 

Regards,

Sheena

[albertoscjr]

Hi. My Adobe Indesign always crashes when I try to update the link Share to Review. Can you solve this issue?

[Sheena Kaul]

Hi there,

Are you still facing this issue? Please confirm the version of InDesign on your machine?

Are you on a Win or MAC? Is the app crashing when sharing this specific document or does this happen while working with other documents as well?

Regards,

Sheena

[mabelfac@gmail.com]

Hello, i'm having trouble with pinning my comments, i've tried it all and it just doens't pin on my link for review, i can add coments but they stay in the general feed.

[theadz02]

Same problem here. Reviewers comments are not pinning to the document on the web view and show as unmapped comments. They appear to be mapped OK in InDesign in the review panel, but it is quite frustrating for the document reviewers on the web view. Is this able to be fixed ASAP please?

[Sheena Kaul]

Hi there,

Try to add the pin first and then write the comment. This will link the comment to the pin. 

Let me know if that helps.

Regards,

Sheena

[theadz02]

Done that and it doesn't work. I add the pin, and then it shows up as an unmapped comment. My reviewers are on a Windows machine, and I am on a Mac using Safari. 

[Sheena Kaul]

That's strange. 

Not sure if different browsers can cause this issue. 

Just cross-checking, does this happen with all the documents that you share or is this happening with only this document?

[theadz02]

Good point, having looked at my other documents, it does just appear to be this one

[Sheena Kaul]

Well then that's the cause here. 

Try saving the document again and then check or try exporting as PDF if that changes anything. 

Else we'll have to take a look at the document to figure out the issue. 

[theadz02]

Thanks for your help, I have uploaded a new version to the Share for Review portal, and I have the same issues with the comments not mapping

[theadz02]

I think I have found the problem. I had some graphics that extended off the page, beyond the edges of the pasteboard. I editted them, so they were fully on the pasteboard and the comments feature works fine on send for review. Might be worth testing your end to see if that is the case. 

[theadz02]

Although, when I update the link again, it appears to bring back the issue I was having. 

[KingPasta]

Update: Start a new document with InDesign 2020, or copy your content over from a 2019 document to a 2020 document using copy > paste in place. (you'll get varying results using the move pages feature).

I'm also having this problem. I think I've linked the problem to opening old 2019 or older indesign files in 2020 and then using the share and review feature. A new 2020 document works fine. However, after moving my pages from my 2019 document to a fresh 2020 document, its a mixed bag of results. The annotation tools worked on some pages and not others. They don't work altogether now. I'm wondering if there are problems with elements from a 2019 or older file that causes the problem. Starting fresh might be the solution. Hope this helps!

[theadz02]

YES! The document I am having an issue with is an update to a document I worked on last year in a previous version of InDesign! 

[RLS & Associates]

This didn't work for my large document.

[jb20241532]

I have been testing this out with coworkers. Last week went well, but this week is not. Anybody else getting unmapped comments (i.e., comments not getting associated with where one put the pin)?

[KingPasta]

Yes - I've been testing this today.

I believe its if you open an old InDesign document (2019 or older) in the new InDesign 2020 then try and use the new share and review feature.

I've tried moving my pages from the 2019 document over to a new 2020 document and have mixed results. I've just tried moving each page contents via copy and paste in place for each page (26 pages!!!) and can report it works!

Solution: Start a new Adobe 2020 document, or copy > paste in place from an old document to a new 2020 document

[fabricel26565211]

I think this shows the extent of the testing that has been conducted on the feature before it was publicly released...

[theadz02]

So many problems with it this week, exactly the same issue here

[courtney546]

Same issue here... but I started with a 2020 doc... Some of the commenters do not have InDesign though? But even those that do, it is showing the same deal. It appears when the pin or outline but then disappears when they submit their comment. HOWEVER I did just notice the pins and outlines appear within my InDesign when I have the grid lines and background appearing. When I am in the preview mode "w" it all disappears (and it doesn't help that they still see it disappear on their end...) 

[_jgibbster]

I've been having the same issue with an old 2019 file. Someone in another thread suggested converting to an IDML and saving as a 2020 but that workaround hasn't worked. I opened a new 2020 doc, tested that the comments could pin (they did) and then pasted one spread of the 2019 document in and the comments now failed to pin. Whatever the issue it's a deeper bug that doesn't seem to have a quick workaround.