How to Comment on PDFs (or Any Other File) in Google Drive
You may already know that when you share documents with Google’s own Office apps, you can leave comments to make collaboration easier. But did you know that Google Drive offers the same commenting feature for virtually any file, not just Google Docs?
You can annotate Microsoft Office files, PDFs, images, videos and more without opening the file. This is a quick way to share your comment without taking the time to open the file.
In addition to being able to comment on Google Drive files, you have additional functions at your disposal. You can get a link to the comment and resolve comments that are complete. Also, certain file types, such as those for Microsoft Office, retain the comment when downloading. Let’s have a look!
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Add a comment in Google Drive
Since apps like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides have their own built-in commenting feature, the commenting feature in Google Drive applies to the other file types mentioned above.
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To add a comment, open the file in Preview. You can do this by selecting the file and clicking the preview icon (eye) at the top, or right-clicking and selecting “Preview”.
Select the comment icon at the top right of the preview screen.
When prompted, use your cursor to highlight an area of the document that relates to your comment. You can do this by dragging your mouse pointer with the crosshair icon over it.
Enter your comment and press “Comment” to save it.
To assign a task to a collaborator for the comment, use the @ (at) symbol in front of their name or email address. Select it from the list, check the Assign to box, and click Assign.
Comment actions in Google Drive
As in other Google apps that offer a commenting function, you can edit, delete or clarify comments. You can also get a link to the comment directly in Google Drive and share it with your collaborators.
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Preview the file as described above and select a comment. Click the three dots at the top right of the comment. Choose Edit to make changes or Delete to remove them. To resolve a comment, click the blue check mark in the top right.
To get a link to the comment, select “Link to this comment” from the three dots drop-down menu. When the link appears, you can select and copy it. Click Done and paste the link where you want it.
Preserve comments for file downloads
As mentioned earlier, some comments follow the file. So when you download a file from Google Drive with a comment, it may appear attached depending on the application you use to open the file.
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For example, here we have a comment on a Word document. If we download this file and open it in Microsoft Word, the comment will remain.
As another example, our PDF has a comment. If we download it and open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader we can see the comment.
This won’t happen with every file type and application, so test it out before you assume someone else can see your comments if they download it.
The ability to annotate files directly in Google Drive is a handy feature. Whether you’re using it for collaboration or taking notes for your own reference, keep this handy feature in mind.
For more information, see Set up and use Google Drive on your Mac or Add to File Explorer on Windows.
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