How to Print a PDF File With Comments Included

Printing a PDF with its annotations and comments intact sounds simple — but the option isn't always obvious, and the default print behavior in most software will quietly strip those notes out. Here's what's actually happening under the hood, and what you need to know to get it right.

Why Comments Don't Print by Default

When you annotate a PDF — whether that's sticky notes, text callouts, highlight markups, or drawing tools — those elements exist on a separate annotation layer that sits above the base document content. This architecture is intentional: it lets reviewers add feedback without modifying the underlying file.

Most PDF viewers default to printing only the base layer. That keeps things clean for end-use printing, but it means a document covered in review notes will print as though no one ever touched it. Accessing the comment layer requires a deliberate setting change.

Printing With Comments in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader

Adobe's software gives you the most granular control over how annotations print.

In Adobe Acrobat (Standard or Pro):

1. Go to File > Print
2. In the print dialog, look for the Comments & Forms dropdown
3. Change the setting from Document to Document and Markups (or Document and Stamps, depending on the version)
4. Preview the output in the panel on the left before confirming

The "Document and Markups" option renders most annotation types directly onto the printed output — sticky notes appear as small icons or expanded boxes, highlights show as shaded regions, and drawing markups print inline.

In Adobe Acrobat Reader (free version):

The same print dialog is available, and the Comments & Forms dropdown appears in the same location. The free Reader supports printing annotations that were added via standard tools. However, some advanced annotation types created in Pro may render differently or not at all in Reader.

Printing Comments as a Summary Page

Adobe also offers a separate option: printing a comment summary — a standalone page or appendix that lists all annotations in order, separate from the document pages.

In Acrobat Pro, this is accessible via:

• Tools > Comment > Print with Comment Summary
• Or within the Comments panel, select Print Comment Summary

This is useful for legal review, academic feedback, or editorial workflows where a clean document needs to accompany a structured list of notes. The summary can include comment author names, timestamps, and comment text — details that don't always translate well when rendered directly onto a page.

Printing PDF Comments in Other Applications

Not every user works in Acrobat. Here's how comment printing works across common alternatives:

The browser-based PDF viewers — Chrome, Firefox, Edge — are the biggest source of confusion here. They're convenient for reading but were not built for annotation-layer printing. If you've added comments in a browser viewer and then tried to print, there's a good chance those notes disappeared.

Annotation Types Behave Differently 🖨️

Even within the same application, not all annotation types print identically:

• Sticky notes may print as small note icons (collapsed) or full text boxes (expanded), depending on how they're configured
• Text highlights and strikethroughs generally print reliably as colored overlays
• Free-text annotations (text boxes placed directly on the page) usually print inline without any special settings
• Drawing markups (arrows, shapes, freehand lines) typically print as part of "markups"
• Pop-up note contents (the text inside a sticky note) may require the note to be open/expanded to print visibly

In Acrobat, you can control whether sticky notes print collapsed or expanded by right-clicking the note and checking its properties before printing.

Flattening Comments vs. Printing Them

There's an important distinction worth knowing: flattening and printing with comments are not the same thing.

Flattening merges the annotation layer permanently into the base document content. After flattening, the annotations are no longer editable — they become part of the page pixels. This is useful when sending a final marked-up version to someone who may not have Acrobat, or when archiving reviewed documents.

Printing with comments outputs to paper (or to a PDF via a virtual printer) without altering the source file. The original PDF remains unchanged with its annotation layer intact.

If your goal is to create a new PDF that includes the comments visibly — rather than printing to physical paper — using a virtual PDF printer (like Microsoft Print to PDF) while the comments-included print setting is active will produce a flattened output without touching the original.

The Variables That Actually Determine Your Result 🗂️

What works cleanly for one setup may fail silently for another. The factors that matter most:

• Which PDF application you're using — and whether it's the viewer the annotations were originally created in
• Annotation types in the document — some are more portable across viewers than others
• Whether the PDF uses advanced permission settings — some documents restrict printing or annotation visibility
• Operating system and printer driver behavior — particularly relevant on macOS where Preview's annotation support differs noticeably from Adobe's
• Whether comments were added by multiple authors in different tools — mixed annotation sources can behave inconsistently

The "right" method isn't universal. A legal team running Acrobat Pro on Windows, a designer using PDF-XChange, and a student printing from Preview on a MacBook are each going to encounter a different set of options and constraints — even if they're all holding the same PDF.