The smart way to progress PDF artwork amends

Our design agency oodle are here to create visual content for the widest range of creative projects. We work as flexibly as we can around your requirements, yet we wanted to pass on a tip about how you can share any amends that need to be made, an approach we guarantee improves the speed and accuracy of subsequent proofs!

Proofing is an important process in getting your design collateral correct and poised to generate maximum ROI for you! If you let us know your amendments over the telephone, on email or through handwritten notes on printed proofs, we recommend you try adding comments to the PDF proofs we send you.

If can open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader this process is technically possible. To check whether you have the programme installed on your computer, click the Start button on your taskbar, usually found in the bottom left of the screen. Select All Programs from the pop-up menu. Verify that there is a folder called Adobe Acrobat listed. If you don’t have this, it can be downloaded for free from the Windows Store.

You’re ready to give this a go…

1. Open the PDF you’d like to comment on.
2. Choose Tools from the top menu bar then Comment to open the Comment toolbar, which will appear as a second top menu bar. Comments are notes or drawings that communicate ideas or provide feedback as informal comments or even replacement text.
3. Highlight an icon from the Comment toolbar to indicate how you’re going to share feedback, then select the area on the artwork where you’d like the comment to be made.
4. The comments that you add to the document are displayed in the right panel, when you’ve finished typing click Post alongside the text.
5. If you’re sharing a text-based message the Sticky Note tool is a good one to use. You can also highlight, underline, strikethrough, copy and edit text.
6. Alternatively, you can use a drawing tool to add a line, circle, or other shape and then type a message in the associated pop-up note.
7. To review comments, simple hover over the annotation on the artwork.
8. When you’ve added your comments save the PDF in the normal way, potentially changing the document title so as not to overwrite the original version.
9. Send this file back to Systematic for us to action your amends or send the file onto any other colleagues who need to contribute. They will be able to open the PDF with your comments and built upon them, resulting in one document that collates all feedback!
10. Our oodlers can easily progress your amends through InDesign, without potentially struggling to read handwriting or their scribbled notes! You’ll then receive a revised proof which will accurately reflect your feedback.

This is a tried and trusted approach for clients who work with us on the most detailed catalogues and brochures. Let us know if you’d like to test this approach for your next design project with us? There are several online videos to demonstrate this capability within Adobe Acrobat, or we can show you how to do this live through a video conference call.

Rest assured, you’ll get the proofs and amends you need until you’re happy with each design project. However, if your initial brief changes, we will need to revisit our quote so you know where you stand.