Acrobat -- Retroactively Copy Highlighted Text into Comments


Batch version: Buy Now ($60 only)
Non-batch version: Buy Now ($40 only)
Stand-alone version: Buy Now ($75 only)
Stand-alone DEMO version : FREE
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Update (25/03/2014): Acrobat has a problem processing very large files using this script, so I've decided to develop a stand-alone version of it, which runs outside of Acrobat and is not dependent on it. This version can process an entire folder of files, including all sub-folders, in a matter of seconds. It is much more robust and much faster than the script version, so more suitable for professional purposes.

The stand-alone version of the tool looks like this:


Alongside the stand-alone version there's now also a free demo version, which will process the first 3 highlight annotations in the first 3 files you use it on. Feel free to try it out and then purchase the full version to get the full functionality.

The script version of the tool is still available, as can be seen below...

Tool Description:
One of the most important settings in Acrobat is "Copy selected text into Highlight, Cross-Out, and Underline comment pop ups" (to be found under Edit - Preferences - Commenting). Sadly, it's not checked by default (see screenshot below).
As a result, if you make highlights to your file, the text you highlight is not copied into the comment itself, which can be very useful when creating summaries. And when you realize this and switch this setting on, it's too late. Acrobat won't change your existing comments, only your new ones.

This is why I developed this script to retroactively insert the highlighted text into existing comments in all of your pre-existing files.
In case you manually entered some text into the comment, don't worry! The script will not remove your text, just add to it (see example #2).

Note: The script can only recognize full words. If you highlighted just a part of a word, it will not be picked up.




Example #1:
A file with an empty comment (default behavior), before running the script:


And after:


Example #2:
A file with a comment that has manually entered text, before running the script:


And after:


The setting in question:


If you have any questions regarding this tool, you can contact me directly.

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