Export PDF comments and annotations
Turn a reviewed PDF into one list of everything reviewers wrote and marked, page by page, ready to send, file or work through in a spreadsheet.
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What it does
Export PDF comments, explained
To export the comments from a PDF, open it in PDFBetter, choose Export comments in the Done menu or the Review panel, and pick a format. The summary PDF has one section per page listing each annotation's type, author, date, text and replies; for highlights it shows the highlighted words when they were captured.
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The CSV has one row per annotation and one per reply, with the reply linked to its thread, so a review can be sorted, filtered and assigned in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. JSON carries the same data for scripts and other systems. Options let you leave out resolved threads, shapes and drawings, or measurements.
The export is built in your browser from the document you have open; nothing is sent anywhere else. It needs a free account, like any download, but it does not use your monthly downloads because it is a list of annotations, not the edited document.
How to do it
Export PDF comments and annotations in 4 steps
1Your PDF
2Click and change
3The edited PDF
- 1
Upload the reviewed PDF
It opens with the Review panel and the export options.
- 2
Check the annotations
The Review panel lists notes, comment threads, highlights, shapes and measurements by page; resolve or delete what you don't need.
- 3
Choose a format
Summary PDF to read or send, CSV for a spreadsheet, or JSON for other software.
- 4
Export
The file downloads right away, named after the document.
Example
Before and after
A 14-page lease reviewed by two people: 9 comment threads with 15 replies, 6 highlights on rent and deposit clauses, and 3 sticky notes.
A 4-page comment summary grouped under Page 2, 5, 9 and 12, plus a CSV with 33 rows that the landlord's assistant sorted by author to answer each point.
Settings & formats
What you can control
- Summary PDF
- A report with a section per page: type, author, date, text, replies, highlighted text and measurement values.
- CSV
- One row per annotation and per reply (with a “Reply to” column), UTF-8 with headers in your language.
- JSON
- Versioned, structured data with the same fields, timestamps in ISO 8601.
- Filters
- Include or leave out resolved threads, shapes and drawings, and measurements.
Input
Output
Good to know before you start
- Only annotations made in PDFBetter are exported. Comments already inside an uploaded file (from Acrobat, Preview or another app) are shown on the page but not listed.
- Highlighted text is included only when the highlight was made over selectable text. Highlights drawn on scans or images list no words.
- Shapes, lines, arrows and drawings have no text; they are listed by type, page, author and date, without a picture.
- The summary PDF is a list, not an annotated copy of the document. To keep the comments on the pages themselves, download the PDF with comments included.
- Dates in the summary PDF use your device's time zone; CSV and JSON keep ISO 8601 timestamps.
Export PDF comments: questions people ask
How do I export all comments from a PDF?
Open the PDF in PDFBetter, choose Export comments in the Done menu or the Review panel, pick Summary PDF, CSV or JSON, and select Export.
Can I export PDF comments to Excel?
Yes. Choose CSV: each annotation and each reply is a row with page, type, author, date and text. The file is UTF-8 so accents and Japanese open correctly in Excel.
Are replies included?
Yes. In the summary PDF replies appear under their comment; in the CSV each reply is its own row that points to the thread it answers.
Does exporting comments use one of my downloads?
No. It needs a free account, like downloading, but it does not count toward the monthly download limit.
Can I leave out resolved comments?
Yes. Turn off “Include resolved comments” before exporting. You can also leave out shapes and drawings or measurements.
Will comments made in Acrobat be in the export?
No. Only annotations added in PDFBetter are listed. Comments already in the uploaded file stay visible on the page but are not exported.