TIP 114: Working with Text Edit Comments
The text edit tools let you edit a PDF document the same way you would with a printed page and a red pencil, but much more efficiently. Instead of having to print a document, add comments and edits by hand, and then deliver the document to someone who will make the changes, you can do it all from within Acrobat.
The Sound of Your Voice
Are you the type of person who prefers to talk rather than type? There's a comment type made just for you. On the Commenting toolbar, click the pull-down arrow next to the Attach a File as a Comment Tool and choose the Record Audio Comment Tool .Click the document page where you want to display the comment's icon; a Sound Recorder opens. Click Browse to locate a sound file (you can use either WAV or AIFF formats) and select it. You can preview it in the Sound Recorder dialog or by clicking the comment's icon on the page. How you record the sound files depends on your operating system and configuration. |
You'll find the text edit tools on the Commenting toolbar. Click the Text Edits pull-down arrow to display the list of tools (Figure 114a). If you have selected text on the page, the tools are all active, as shown in the figure. If you haven't selected any text and click the Text Edits pull-down arrow, click Indicate Text Edits Tool to activate the Text Select tool. Use this option if you need to insert, delete, or replace text.
Figure 114a. Most of the Text Edit comments are unavailable until you select some text on the page.
When you select Indicate Text Edits Tool from the pull-down menu, the Indicating Text Edits information dialog shown in Figure 114b appears, explaining what some of the editing options are and how to use keyboard shortcuts. Click OK to close the dialog.
Figure 114b. Learn about common types of text edits in the Indicating Text Edits dialog.
See Attachments
The File toolbar includes a pair of tools for attaching other content to the document, including the Attach a File as a Comment tool . This tool is available on both the File and Commenting toolbars. Tip 36 in Chapter 4 describes attaching files. |
Adding Comments to Your Edits
Need to explain why you deleted a specific paragraph in a document, or just want to leave a note to verify that your changes are correct? Acrobat makes it easy. Once you've added an edit with any of the text edit tools, you can also add a comment. Simply double-click the edit to open a note box, and then type your comment. |
Here's how you work with the Text Select tool and keyboard, bypassing the commands in the pull-down menu: To insert text, click in the text of the document and type. On the document you see an insertion caret icon, and the text appears in a pop-up comment box. To delete text, select the text to delete using the tool and press Delete or Backspace on your keyboard. The text is crossed out on the document. To replace content in the document, select the text and type new text. The replacement text is added to a Replacement Text pop-up comment box, the selected text displays a strikethrough, and an insertion caret is shown at the end of the string of text you selected with the tool (Figure 114c).
Figure 114c. Acrobat adds indicator icons on the document to show you the location and content of your edits.
A comment added to an edit is indicated by a small "A" above the selected text .
Which Method Is Best?
You can find some or all of the comment tool options using three or four different methods. For example, if you want to insert text, you can: Select the Text Edit tool from the Commenting toolbar, click the document with the tool, and then use the keyboard. Select the text using the Select tool on the Basic toolbar, wait for the Select icon to appear, and then click the icon to open a list of editing options. Select the text using the Select tool on the Basic toolbar, and then choose another tool from the Text Edits pull-down menu. Select the text using the Select tool on the Basic toolbar, and then right-click/Control-click to open the shortcut menu and choose a tool.
Which is best? It depends on how you like to work. Try them allyou're sure to find a favorite method. |
Rather than using the Indicate Text Edits tool, you can select text using the Select tool and then choose any of the editing options from the pull-down menu; the tools and their purpose are described in Table 14.2.
Table 14.2. The Text Edit Commenting Tools Use this tool… | For this purpose… |
|---|
| Replace the selected text with text you type; the text is displayed in a pop-up comment box. |
| The selected text is highlighted. |
| A pop-up comment box opens for you to type notes about the selected text, which is highlighted in the document. |
| Type to insert new text in a pop-up comment box. |
| The selected text is shown with an underline. |
| The selected text is shown with strikethrough; no replacement text appears. |
If you select text using the Select tool on the Basic toolbar, the Select icon appears on the page over the selected text. When you click the icon, the menu appears (Figure 114d). You can choose a number of different comment types from the menu. Note that the menu doesn't contain the entire list of comment types; for some text edit comments, such as cross out for deletion, you have to use the Text Edits pull-down menu option.
Figure 114d. Some types of text edits can be selected from the pop-up menu that appears when you select text using the Select tool.
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