How to Annotate and Highlight a PDF Offline

Q: How do I draw on a PDF in Edge?

Click Draw in the PDF toolbar. Click the small arrow next to it to choose a colour and thickness. Draw on the page with the mouse, a touchscreen or a pen. Use Erase to remove strokes you don't want.

Q: How do I add text or a comment in Edge?

Click Add text in the toolbar, click where you want the text, and type. You can change its colour and size from the small menu that appears. To leave a comment instead, select some text, right-click it and choose Add comment . The comment is attached to that passage and opens when you click its icon.

To annotate a PDF offline on Windows, open it in a desktop PDF app, use its highlight and annotation tools, and save the file, ideally as a new copy. We recommend NativeOffice for Windows, whose PDF tools let you highlight and annotate PDFs on your own computer with no upload. If you'd rather use something already installed, Microsoft Edge's built-in PDF viewer can highlight, draw and add text offline. The free Okular reader adds underlines, sticky notes and stamps, and Xournal++ is good for handwriting with a pen or tablet. With any of these, the file never leaves your computer.

Why annotate a PDF offline?

Most free online PDF annotators ask you to upload the file first. That is fine for a public flyer, but the PDFs people mark up most are often the ones that shouldn't leave their computer:

Contracts and agreements you are reviewing before signing, where your notes reveal what you plan to negotiate.
Study notes, textbooks and lecture slides, which can be large and are easier to work through without a slow upload each time.
Drafts of reports, manuscripts or proposals that aren't public yet.
Statements, medical letters and HR documents with personal details.

Offline tools also work on a plane, on a poor connection, and with no file size or daily limits.

How do I annotate and highlight a PDF with NativeOffice?

NativeOffice for Windows includes PDF tools for reading, annotating and highlighting PDFs, as well as merging, splitting, reordering, rotating and compressing them. They run on your own computer and keep working offline after you have signed in once.

Install NativeOffice for Windows from the Microsoft Store and sign in once with your Google account.
Open the PDF. It opens as a tab, next to any documents or spreadsheets you have open.
Use the highlight tool to mark the passages you want, and the annotation tools to add your notes.
Look through the pages to check that everything is marked the way you want.
Save the PDF, ideally as a new copy, so the original stays clean.
Reopen the saved file to confirm your highlights and notes are there.

Because it all happens on your machine, you can mark up contracts, statements and drafts without sending them to a website.

How do I highlight a PDF in Microsoft Edge?

If you don't want to install anything, Edge is already on your PC and opens PDFs by default on Windows 10 and 11. If a PDF opens in another app, right-click it, choose Open with, then Microsoft Edge.

Open the PDF in Edge.
Select the text you want to mark.
Right-click the selection, choose Highlight, and pick a colour.
To remove a highlight, right-click it and choose to remove it, or pick None as the colour.

You can also pick the Highlight tool from the toolbar at the top and drag over text with the mouse or a pen.

How do I draw on a PDF in Edge?

Click Draw in the PDF toolbar.
Click the small arrow next to it to choose a colour and thickness.
Draw on the page with the mouse, a touchscreen or a pen.
Use Erase to remove strokes you don't want.

How do I add text or a comment in Edge?

Click Add text in the toolbar, click where you want the text, and type. You can change its colour and size from the small menu that appears.
To leave a comment instead, select some text, right-click it and choose Add comment. The comment is attached to that passage and opens when you click its icon.

How do I save annotations in Edge?

Click the Save icon in the toolbar to update the current file, or Save as to keep the original untouched and write a new copy.
Choose a folder and a name, then click Save.
Close the tab and reopen the file to check that everything is there.

Edge only writes your changes when you save. If you close the tab first, it will usually ask, but it's easy to click past that prompt.

How do I annotate a PDF with Okular?

Okular is a free, open-source document reader from KDE that runs on Windows and Linux. It has more annotation types than Edge.

Install Okular and open your PDF.
Press F6, or go to Tools > Annotations, to show the annotation toolbar.
Pick a tool: Highlighter, Underline, Squiggle, Strike Out, Typewriter for typed text, Inline Note or Pop-up Note for comments, Freehand Line for drawing, plus shapes and stamps. The number keys 1 to 9 switch between them.
Drag over text to highlight it, or click on the page to place a note.
Right-click any annotation and choose Properties to change its colour, opacity or type.
Go to File > Save As and save a new PDF.

Okular can also save a .okular document archive, but that file only opens in Okular. If you want to send the result to someone, save it as a PDF.

How do I write on a PDF with Xournal++?

Xournal++ is a free note-taking app for Windows, macOS and Linux that is built for pen input. It treats the PDF as a background and draws on top of it.

Install Xournal++ and choose File > Annotate PDF.
Select your PDF.
Use the pen, highlighter, text and shape tools to mark up the pages.
Save with File > Save. This creates a .xopp file that holds your notes and stays editable.
When you are done, use File > Export as PDF to make a PDF you can share.

The exported PDF has your notes baked in, so they can't be edited any more. Keep the .xopp file if you might want to change them later. Xournal++ highlights by drawing over the page, not by selecting text, so its highlights don't show up as text highlights in other readers.

Why didn't my highlights save?

This is the most common problem, and it usually comes down to one of these:

The file was never saved. Annotations live in the open window until you click Save or Save as.
The PDF opened from an email or download as a temporary copy. Saving changes the temporary file, not the one you think. Use Save as and pick a folder you know.
The file is read-only or in a synced folder that's still syncing. Copy it to a local folder such as Documents, then annotate it.
Okular saved an archive, not a PDF. A .okular file only shows your notes in Okular.
Xournal++ saved a .xopp file. Other apps only see the original PDF until you export it.
The other reader hides annotations. Some viewers don't show every kind of note, especially pop-up comments. Open the file in NativeOffice, Edge or Okular to check.
The PDF is protected. Some PDFs block editing. You may need the owner's password, or a copy without restrictions.

What's the difference between a highlight, a comment and flattening?

Highlight: a coloured mark over existing text. It is stored as an annotation, so it can be removed or changed later, and most readers show it.
Comment (note): a piece of text attached to a spot on the page, often shown as a small icon you click to open. Good for questions and review notes that shouldn't cover the content.
Flattening: turning annotations into part of the page itself, so they can no longer be moved, edited or deleted, and look the same in every reader. Xournal++'s PDF export does this. In other apps, printing to Microsoft Print to PDF gives a similar result, though pop-up comments may not survive.

Flatten a PDF when you are sending a final version and want the marks to stay put. Keep an unflattened copy if you might still want to edit your notes.

Other offline PDF jobs

Once your notes are in, you may need to do more with the file. NativeOffice's PDF tools also merge, split, rotate and reorder pages, and run OCR on scanned documents, all offline. See our guides:

FAQ

Can I highlight a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?

Yes. NativeOffice for Windows, Microsoft Edge, Okular and Xournal++ can all highlight a PDF offline without Acrobat.

Does Edge's PDF highlighter work without internet?

Yes. The PDF viewer is part of Edge, so you can open, highlight and save a local PDF with no connection.

Can I highlight a scanned PDF?

Text highlighting needs real text in the file. A scan is just an image, so selecting text won't work. Either draw a highlight with Edge's Draw tool or Xournal++, or run OCR first so the text becomes selectable.

Will my highlights show up for someone else?

If you saved the file as a PDF, highlights from NativeOffice, Edge and Okular should show in most PDF readers. Pop-up comments can look different from app to app. If it must look exactly the same, flatten a copy before sending it.

How do I remove all annotations from a PDF?

The simplest way is to go back to your original file, which is why saving annotated versions as a new copy helps. Otherwise, delete them one by one in the app you used and save.

NativeOffice for Windows is free on the Microsoft Store. Learn more at nativeoffice.online.