Export Annotations
List the text you highlighted in a PDF and the notes written on it, with author and date, as a Markdown or JSON file. Runs in your browser.
About This Tool
Export Annotations reads what has been written on a PDF and lists it in one file, page by page.
For every highlight, underline and strike-out it gives the words that were marked; for every note, text box and comment it gives what it says, who wrote it and when. You choose which of the two kinds to include, and whether the list is a Markdown file to read or a JSON file for another program. The Markdown file is written in the language of this page.
The marked words are found by matching each mark to the text under it, so on a scanned page, where the words are a picture, a highlight is listed without them. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
How to Use
Upload the PDF
Choose a PDF that has highlights, notes or comments on it.
Choose what to export
Tick marked text, notes, or both, and pick Markdown or JSON as the file format.
Export and download
Press the export button. The page says how many annotations were found; then download the file.
Use Cases
Study notes
Collect everything you highlighted in a textbook or a paper into one page of notes.
Reading summaries
Turn the passages you marked in a long report into a short list you can quote from.
Review comments
Gather the comments several reviewers left on a draft, each with its author and page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which annotations are exported?
Highlights, underlines and strike-outs, with the words they cover, and notes, text boxes and comments with their text. A drawing or a shape with nothing written on it, and links, are left out.
Why does a highlight come out without its words?
Because the page has no text under the mark, as in a scan, where the words are a picture. Run OCR on the PDF first and export again. Text set at an angle is not read either.
Does the list keep the order of the document?
Yes. Annotations are listed page by page, with the page number above each group. The document's chapter headings are not used.