How to Remove Annotations from PDF

You reviewed a PDF, highlighted sections, added sticky notes, drew arrows — the whole works. Now you need a clean version to share. Or you received a PDF covered in someone else's comments and need it pristine. Removing annotations from a PDF is straightforward once you know where to look.

Types of PDF Annotations

PDF annotations include several types of markup:

• Comments and sticky notes: Text bubbles attached to specific points in the document.
• Highlights and strikethroughs: Colored overlays on text, often with associated comments.
• Freehand drawings: Lines, arrows, shapes, and scribbles added on top of the page content.
• Stamps: Pre-made or custom stamps like "Approved," "Draft," or "Confidential."
• File attachments: Embedded files attached to specific pages or points.
• Form field data: Entered values in fillable form fields (technically a type of annotation).

Method 1: Online PDF Annotation Remover (Fastest)

For a quick cleanup without installing anything:

1. Go to an online PDF cleaner like PDF24 Tools or Sejda.
2. Upload your annotated PDF.
3. Look for the "Remove Annotations" or "Flatten" option.
4. Process the file and download the clean version.

Online tools work by flattening the annotations into the page content or stripping the annotation data entirely. The text and images underneath remain intact.

Method 2: Using Adobe Acrobat (Full Control)

Adobe Acrobat gives you the most control over which annotations to remove:

Remove All Annotations at Once

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. Open the Comments List panel (click the speech bubble icon).
3. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac) to select all comments.
4. Press the Delete key.
5. Save the file.

Remove Specific Annotations

1. Open the Comments List panel.
2. Click the filter icon to sort by type (highlights, sticky notes, etc.).
3. Select the annotations you want to remove.
4. Press Delete.

Flatten Annotations (Keep Them Visible but Uneditable)

Sometimes you want to keep the annotations visible but prevent anyone from editing or removing them. This is called flattening:

1. Go to File > Print.
2. Select Adobe PDF as the printer.
3. Click Print — this creates a new PDF with annotations burned into the page content.
4. The annotations become part of the page image and can no longer be edited.

Method 3: Using Mac Preview

1. Open the PDF in Preview.
2. Go to Tools > Show Annotations (if the toolbar is not visible).
3. Select individual annotations by clicking them, then press Delete.
4. To remove all: Select the first annotation, then Command+A to select all, then Delete.
5. Save the file.

Preview handles most standard annotations well. Some complex annotations (like embedded files or multimedia) may not be fully removable through Preview.

Method 4: Using QPDF (Free, Command Line)

QPDF is a free command-line tool that can strip annotations from PDFs:

qpdf --linearize --remove-unreferenced-resources=input.pdf output-clean.pdf

For more aggressive annotation removal, you can use Python with PyMuPDF:

import fitzdoc = fitz.open("annotated.pdf")for page in doc:    annot = page.first_annot    while annot:        page.delete_annot(annot)        annot = page.first_annotdoc.save("clean.pdf")

This script iterates through every page and removes all annotations one by one. It preserves the underlying document content completely.

Method 5: Using Foxit Reader (Free)

1. Open the PDF in Foxit Reader.
2. Go to the Comment tab.
3. In the Comments List panel, select all comments (Ctrl+A).
4. Right-click and choose Delete.
5. Save the file.

Foxit Reader is a solid free alternative to Adobe Acrobat for basic annotation management. It handles highlights, sticky notes, and drawing markups well.

Annotations vs Markup: Know the Difference

Not everything that looks like an annotation is technically removable:

• Annotations (removable): Comments, highlights, sticky notes, drawing markups, stamps. These are separate layers on top of the PDF content.
• Burned-in markups (not removable): If someone took a screenshot of an annotated page or printed-to-PDF with annotations visible, those markups become part of the page image. You cannot remove them with annotation tools — you would need image editing instead.

The key test: Can you click on the markup and see a selection border around it? If yes, it is an annotation and can be removed. If no, it is burned into the page content.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will removing annotations affect the original text?

No. Annotations are separate layers. Removing them only strips the markup — the underlying text, images, and formatting remain completely untouched.

Can I remove annotations from a password-protected PDF?

Only if you have the permission password (owner password). A PDF can be encrypted to prevent annotation removal. If you cannot edit the PDF at all, you need to remove the password first.

Does flattening reduce file size?

Usually yes. Annotations add data to the file. Flattening removes the editable annotation data and replaces it with static page content, which is often smaller.