Keeping comments visible in Microsoft Word 2007 pdfs
December 1, 2010 8:30 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to save a document as a pdf in Microsoft Word 2007 in such a way that comment ballons (which are visible in the document) also show up in the pdf. Google isn't helping me find a solution.
The Word doc has ballons with comments, text deletions, and formatting changes. When I save it as a pdf, the text deletions are indicated inline, and the comments, while indicated with superscripts, are nowhere to be seen. Is there an option somewhere in Word 2007 that governs how comments are displayed when documents are saved as pdfs?
My computer runs Windows 7.
The Word doc has ballons with comments, text deletions, and formatting changes. When I save it as a pdf, the text deletions are indicated inline, and the comments, while indicated with superscripts, are nowhere to be seen. Is there an option somewhere in Word 2007 that governs how comments are displayed when documents are saved as pdfs?
My computer runs Windows 7.
Print to PDF would be an option, but it would make the resulting PDF pretty much read-only. If that's the goal, that's the solution. Another option would be to print it to the Windows-included XPS imaging printer. I don't know a whole lot about it, but it exists.
To have the document retain some editable PDF functionality, you might have to get a full version of Acrobat.
I use PDFcreator, available from sourceforge. Caveat: it isn't the MOST user friendly program, but it has tons of options. One of them is the page size. For some reason it defaults to A4, which can cause issues.
Another caveat is to set the margins fairly conservatively so that other users who want to print it won't get margins cut off. (For example, if you have a printer that will print edge-to-edge, it will look fine with zero margins. But if some other user tries to print it on a printer that can't do edge-to-edge, things will get cut off. Inkjet printers often have this problem, in that they have (had?) issues printing all the way to the bottom of a page.)
posted by gjc at 8:49 AM on December 1, 2010
To have the document retain some editable PDF functionality, you might have to get a full version of Acrobat.
I use PDFcreator, available from sourceforge. Caveat: it isn't the MOST user friendly program, but it has tons of options. One of them is the page size. For some reason it defaults to A4, which can cause issues.
Another caveat is to set the margins fairly conservatively so that other users who want to print it won't get margins cut off. (For example, if you have a printer that will print edge-to-edge, it will look fine with zero margins. But if some other user tries to print it on a printer that can't do edge-to-edge, things will get cut off. Inkjet printers often have this problem, in that they have (had?) issues printing all the way to the bottom of a page.)
posted by gjc at 8:49 AM on December 1, 2010
You could use stitched-together screenshots. I imagine it's possible to turn image files into PDFs, though I don't know the exact mechanism.
posted by AugieAugustus at 9:19 AM on December 1, 2010
posted by AugieAugustus at 9:19 AM on December 1, 2010
Best answer: If you select Send --> E-mail as PDF Attachment from the button at the top left, you should see your comment balloons in the resulting PDF (I've just tried this). You do need your change-tracking settings set to Final Showing Markup for this to work.
posted by YamwotIam at 9:50 AM on December 1, 2010
posted by YamwotIam at 9:50 AM on December 1, 2010
Response by poster: Works like a charm. Thanks, Yamwotlam.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:10 AM on December 1, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 10:10 AM on December 1, 2010
Response by poster: YamwotIam, rather. Misread that "I" for an "L."
posted by ocherdraco at 10:11 AM on December 1, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 10:11 AM on December 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by brainmouse at 8:39 AM on December 1, 2010