Annotate PDFs
GUIDE
v.1.1
User Services
IT Services
User Services
IT Services
User Services
IT Services
University of Malta
Msida MSD 2080
Malta
Email: vle.itservices@um.edu.mt
Web: www.um.edu.mt/vle
Tel: +356 2340 4113
Last Updated: 19 October 2015
‘Annotate PDFs’ is licensed under the
Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
Table of Contents
Introduction ______________________________________________________________ 1
Creating an Assignment Activity for PDFs Annotations _____________________________ 1
Students' Submissions ______________________________________________________ 2
Annotating PDFs ___________________________________________________________ 3
Annotation Tools ___________________________________________________________ 4
Comments _______________________________________________________________ 4
Drawing Tools _____________________________________________________________ 8
Stamps __________________________________________________________________ 9
Saving the Annotated PDF __________________________________________________ 10
Annotate PDFs v.1.1
Introduction
PDF annotation, an e-assessment feature within the VLE, allows the tutor to comment on PDF
files which have been submitted by the students through the Assignment activity. One advantage
of this is that there is no need of downloading and uploading of files, since the tutor can annotate
in the browser directly.
Creating an Assignment Activity for PDFs Annotations
To create an assignment activity to provide feedback through PDF annotations:
1. In the VLE area, click Turn editing on.
2. In the desired topic/week section, click the Add an activity… menu, and choose
Assignment.
3. In the Assignment name field, write down the name of your assignment, and include a
brief description in the Description field.
It is suggested that in the Description field, you clarify that students must submit their
assignments in PDF format and that you will be annotating submissions on the VLE. A
recommended description would be the following:

You are to upload a PDF version of your assignment here. Upon uploading the file,
submit your assignment by clicking on the Submit assignment button.

Note that feedback will be provided through PDF annotation on the VLE, therefore it
is essential that you follow the steps above.
4. In the Availability section, adjust:
a. the start date and the due date of the assignment.
b. enable and set the cut-off date to match the due date.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
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Annotate PDFs v.1.1
To adjust the required dates, you may follow one of the steps
below:
i.
Use the drop-down menus to set the day, month,
year and time (24 hour clock).
ii.
Click the calendar icon adjacent to the dates. This
will display the calendar, from which you can easily
navigate to the day required. Note that the time can
only be set using the drop-down menus available.
When setting the time for the Due date and Cut-off date, it is recommended that you
keep the time concise and thus set one of the following: 11:55 or 23:55.
5. Expand the Submission settings section, and set Require students click submit button
to Yes.
6. Amend any other settings to your preference and click Save and return to study-unit.
Students' Submissions
Note that following the submission settings suggested above (step 5), the student would need
to click on the Submit assignment button. This setting is recommended in order to prevent
students from making re-submissions, even if it is past their due date, and particularly if you
have already annotated their submitted assignment.
The status of a student who has uploaded but not submitted his/her assignment will be displayed
as Draft (not submitted).
On the other hand, the status of a submitted assignment will be displayed as Submitted for
grading.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
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Annotate PDFs v.1.1
Annotating PDFs
It is recommended that you start annotating a student’s submission only once the student has
submitted it in PDF format, i.e. the status shows Submitted for grading.
To launch the PDF editor:
1. Access the study-unit area which contains the assignment activity.
2. Click on the assignment activity required.
3. In the assignment page, click on View/grade all submissions.
4. Click on the Grading icon
adjacent to the student.
5. In the Grade section, click on the Launch PDF editor… link.
The Annotate PDF screen is displayed. The file might take a few seconds to generate, depending
on the size of the file.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
3
Annotate PDFs v.1.1
Annotation Tools
The following are the tools available which one can use to annotate PDFs through the VLE.
Tool
Name
Previous / Next page
Search comments
Comment
Comment colour
Select
Pen
Line
Rectangle
Oval
Highlight
Annotation colour
Stamp
Current stamp
Comments

Adding a comment
1. Click on the Comment colour icon
to choose a colour for your note. Note that, there
are six different colours to choose from, the last of which is the transparent background
option.
2. Click on the Comment icon
.
3. Draw the textbox in the PDF file, and write the comment in the textbox.
Note that:

You can change the position of a comment textbox within the same page, however
you cannot modify the size of the textbox once this has been created.

The text font and size cannot be modified.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
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Annotate PDFs v.1.1

Quicklist
For ease of access, often used comments can be saved as templates to your quicklist.
To save a comment to the quicklist:
1. Create a textbox and write your comment in the textbox.
2. Click on the icon
at the top right corner of the textbox.
3. From the drop-down menu choose Add to quicklist.
To use a comment from the quicklist:
1. Create a new textbox.
2. Click on the icon
at the top right corner of the textbox. All previously saved comments
will be displayed in the drop-down menu.
3. Click on the required comment.
To delete a comment from the quicklist:
1. Click on the icon
at the top right corner of any textbox.
2. Click the delete button
quicklist.

adjacent to the comment which you wish to remove from the
Deleting a comment
1. Click on the icon
at the top right corner of the textbox you want to delete.
2. From the drop-down menu choose Delete comment.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
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Annotate PDFs v.1.1

Searching comments
If you want to find a particular comment which you have included in an open file, you can make
use of the searching tool.
1. Click on the Search comments icon
displayed.
. The Search comments dialogue box is
2. In the Filter comments… field write down the comment or a phrase from your comment,
which you would like to search for.
3. Click on the comment. This will redirect you to the page which includes the searched
comment.
Note that:

The searching tool is case sensitive.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
6
Annotate PDFs v.1.1
Drawing Tools
The drawing tools consist of the pen, line, rectangle, oval, highlighter and choice of colour.

Adding a drawing object
1. Click the Annotation colour icon
to choose a preferred colour. Note that there are
six colours to choose from
.
2. Click on the drawing tool you would like to use
.
3. Drag over the text which you want to highlight, or draw the required object.
The figure below displays two different uses of drawing tools, namely the oval and the
highlighter.

Deleting a drawing object
1. Click on the Select tool button
.
2. Click on the drawing object you wish to delete.
3. Click on the Delete button
that appears at the top right corner of the item.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
7
Annotate PDFs v.1.1
Stamps

Adding a stamp
1. Click on the Current stamp button, adjacent to the Stamp button
.
2. Choose the stamp you require to use. Note that there are four different stamps which
you can choose from
.
3. Click the Stamp button
.
4. Click on the desired location to add the stamp.

Deleting a stamp
1. Click on the Select tool button
.
2. Click on the stamp which you wish to delete.
3. Click on the Delete button
that appears at the top right corner of the item.
Note that:

Drawing objects and stamps added to a document cannot be resized. You can only
delete or move such drawing objects and stamps.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
8
Annotate PDFs v.1.1
Saving the Annotated PDF
Having finished annotating a PDF file, it is important that you save any changes that you have
made so that the student will be able to view the annotated PDF file.
To save changes and make the annotated PDF visible to the student:
1. Close the PDF editor launcher.
2. Optionally, under the Grade section, set Notify students as Yes. In such case, an email
will be sent to the individual student informing him/her that feedback has been provided
for the submitted assignment. Such email will be sent after following the next step.
3. Click the Save changes button.
Your file is saved and can be accessed by your kind self from the Annotate PDF column.
Students would be able to view and access the annotated feedback file, upon clicking the
Assignment activity link.
‘Annotate PDFs‘ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.
IT Services, University of Malta
www.um.edu.mt/itservices
9
User Services
IT Services
University of Malta
Msida MSD 2080
MALTA
Email: vle.itservices@um.edu.mt
Web: www.um.edu.mt/vle
Tel: +356 2340 4113
‘Annotate PDFs’ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://goo.gl/R8rwUW.