Learn how Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader can make it easy to grade electronically uploaded exams. Use a variety of annotation markup tools to add comments for yourself or provide feedback for the student. Use text editing tools to add editing marks to indicate changes that you want in the source document.
Getting Started
Adobe Acrobat Pro is available to all Penn Law full-time faculty and staff. Acrobat Pro is available on all Penn Law issued devices. Don’t see Adobe Acrobat Pro listed as an application on your device? Please visit our help guide on installing and activating Adobe Acrobat.
If you don’t have access to Acrobat Pro, download the Acrobat Reader app to use the same annotation tools as Acrobat Pro. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader cannot edit or create PDFs.
Training Sessions
If you need further help beyond the resources provided here, please register for one of our training sessions. Group trainings are one hour long with up to 5 available seats. Individual faculty training is limited to faculty and adjuncts and can run up to one hour.
As a first step, you will need to add the comment tool from the tool center. It will then appear in the navigation pane on the right side of your document. Once you click the Comment tool in the right navigation, the Comment toolbar will appear across the top of your document.
Select Tools to get to the Tool Center
Click Add or the drop-down menu to add the Comment tool to your toolbar.
Annotating and Marking Up Exams
Sticky Notes, Add Text, and Text Box
Click the Comment tool in your navigation pane on the right side of your document. The Comment toolbar will appear at the top of the document. From the Comment toolbar, select the Sticky Note tool
to add a sticky note, theAdd Text Commenttoolto type comments anywhere on the PDF page, or theText Box
tool
to create callout text.
Choose the
Add Text Comment
tool from the Comment toolbar. Click with your mouse cursor on the page where you want to add the text.
Change the font color and type using the text properties box.
Add notes to any comments made on the page and view them in the right pane or the Comment list.
Use sticky notes to stay better organized.
Choose the
Sticky Note
tool from the Comment toolbar. Click with your mouse cursor on the page where you want to add the Sticky Note. Type your notes into the pop-up note.
You can also use the
Select tool
to copy and paste text from a PDF into a note. Click and drag your cursor in the area you wish to copy. Right-click the highlighted area and select copy.
Paste the selection into a new or existing sticky note.
Choose a preferred color or change the opacity to prevent the blocking of any important essay answers during grading.
Use the Text Box tool
to create a box that contains text. Reposition it anywhere on the page and adjust it to any desired size. The text box remains visible on the document page; it will not close like a pop-up note.
Choose the
Add Text Box
tool from the Comment toolbar > Select anywhere on the page to place your text box > Type your text.
Choose the Text PropertiesAa icon in the Comment toolbar to change the color, alignment, and font attributes of your text. Note, text wraps automatically when it reaches the right edge of the box.
Resize the text box by using the Select tool
or the Text Box
tool
, click an edge of the text box to select it > Drag a corner to resize it. Use the Properties toolbarto change theborderandfilloptions.
Make changes to an existing text box by double-clicking the text box to edit the text or change the text attributes. Drag across text to select it, and then select Options from the Properties toolbar.
Note: You can also paste a block of text by selecting and copying the text in any application, selecting the Hand tool in Acrobat, and choosing Edit > Paste. To delete the text box, select it, and then press Delete.
In the Comment toolbar, click
Drawing Tools
and choose the Add Text Callout tool. Click once to set the location of the endpoint, and click again to set the location of text box. Type your comment or markups.
Highlight, Strikethrough, or Underline text
Click the Comment tool to open the Comment toolbar. From the toolbar, select the Highlight Text tool
, theStrikethrough Text
tool
, or theUnderline Text
tool
.
Choose Tools > Comment, and select the Highlight Text tool
> Drag from the beginning of the text what you want to mark up. Change the color using the text propertiestool.
You can sort highlights in the Comments list by color, in the comments list, displayed in the right pane > click
sort comments
> Select color.
You can sort highlights in the Comments list by type(highlights, text box, sticky notes, etc.), in the comments list, displayed in the right pane > click sortcomments > Select Type.
Choose Tools > Comment, and select the Strikethrough Text tool or the Underline Text tool
. Drag from the beginning of the text you want to mark up.
Select any existing markups/annotations with your mouse cursor and press delete or backspace.
Note: Comments created in Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader will be viewable in any PDF viewer.
