Why PDF Comments and Highlights Don't Appear When You Print the Document

You marked up a document, printed it for a meeting, and the printed copy is clean. There is one setting responsible for this far more often than anything else, and it is switched to the wrong value by default.

Common Causes

1. Comments & Forms is set to "Document" — This is the cause in the overwhelming majority of cases. Adobe Acrobat and Reader default this print option to Document, which prints the page and deliberately omits all markup. It has to be changed to Document and Markups.
2. You printed from a browser viewer — Browser PDF viewers generally do not print annotations at all, and offer no option to.
3. Sticky notes are collapsed by design — A note icon prints as an icon, not as its text. The comment text lives in the pop-up, which is not page content.
4. The markup is on a hidden layer — Annotations on a switched-off optional content layer neither display nor print.
5. The annotations were never saved into the file — If they were made in a viewer that kept them locally, the file you printed never contained them.

Quick Checks to Try First

• In Adobe Acrobat: File → Print → Comments & Forms → Document and Markups
• Use Print Preview to confirm the markup appears before sending the job
• Open the file in a desktop reader rather than a browser tab
• Check the comments sidebar to confirm the annotations are in the file
• Try Print → Summarize Comments if you need the comment text rather than icons

Step-by-Step Solutions

Solution 1: Change the Comments & Forms setting

In Adobe Acrobat or Reader, open File → Print, find the Comments & Forms dropdown, and change it from Document to Document and Markups. Print preview updates immediately so you can confirm before printing. This is the fix for most people reading this — the setting exists precisely so that reviewers can print clean copies, and it defaults to the clean option.

Solution 2: Print from a desktop reader, not the browser

Browser viewers largely ignore annotations when printing and give you no control over it. Download the file and print it from a desktop PDF application where the Comments & Forms option exists.

Solution 3: Summarise comments when you need the text

Note icons print as icons; the text inside them does not appear on the page. If you need the actual comment text on paper, use Print → Summarize Comments, which produces a companion document listing every comment with its page reference. That is usually more useful for a review meeting than markup crammed into the margins.

Solution 4: Flatten the markup so it always prints

If this file is going to several people, or you want the markup permanent regardless of anyone's print settings, flatten it. Flattening merges annotations into page content, so they print from every application with no configuration at all. Keep an unflattened copy if the comments still need to be resolved or removed later.

When None of the Above Works

If you have tried everything and still see the problem, the PDF may have been created with proprietary tools that produce unusual internal structures:

• Contact the document creator and ask for an unlocked or editable version
• Ask for the source file (Word, InDesign) if editing is legitimate
• For government or official forms, check if a fillable online version exists on the official website

How to Prevent This in Future

• Always work on a duplicate — keep the original locked version intact
• When creating PDFs yourself, only apply restrictions you actually need
• Test your PDFs in multiple viewers before distributing
• For editable documents, consider sending the source file (Word / Google Docs) rather than a PDF
• Related reading: How to Remove Digital Signatures from PDFs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a sign of a serious problem? No, and your markup is almost certainly still in the file. One print setting accounts for the large majority of these reports.

Can I fix this on my phone? Yes. Open a mobile browser, go to an online PDF editor, upload the file, and try the operation. Many PDF problems that seem to require desktop software are actually just viewer limitations.

Will fixing this delete my document content? No. The steps above modify how the PDF is processed, not the underlying content. Always work on a copy to be safe.

How long does it take to fix? Changing the print setting takes about ten seconds.