Preview/Acrobat PDF annotations not visible in other apps

Question

Preview/Acrobat PDF annotations not visible in other apps

Modified PDFs in other Apps

When I modify with the toolbox a PDF in Vorschau to add arrows, lines or textboxes, I do not see these modifications when I place this PDF in Pages, Illustrator, InDesign etc. (except my signature). However, opening this PDF in Acrobat (Reader, Acrobat Pro), all these changes are visible.

When I modify a PDF in Acrobat Pro with Arrows and Textboxes, only the new Text is visible in Pages, InDesign or Ilustrator, however the Arrows do not show up!

Seems quite a lack of compatibility – or not?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7

Posted on Mar 29, 2026 10:24 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

130,132 points

Mar 30, 2026 2:49 PM in response to CommunityUser_0919-74

Not everyone here is a German speaker and naming all of the other applications in English but Preview can throw curves. Presumably, your "Vorschau toolbox" is known as Preview markup.

You want a guarantee that using several different applications, not all Adobe, with different PDF annotation writing capabilities, will propagate interoperable annotations when finally added back to InDesign. As you are discovering, that is a myth and annotations are lost. I suggest that you just use Adobe Acrobat Pro/Reader for PDF annotations and stick within the Adobe applications to eliminate real or potential issues introduced by non-Adobe applications. And, InDesign, knowing you have Acrobat Pro may write out a PDF with explicit Acrobat add-ins incorporated in it that Apple's Preview can only ignore.

Apple's Preview is based on a substantially older PDF code base. I have compared where Adobe Reader and Preview write annotations and they are in different locations within the PDF. That may make a difference to InDesign.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

130,132 points

Mar 30, 2026 1:04 AM in response to CommunityUser_0919-74

Adobe is in the position to make its Acrobat products far more robust than Apple's Preview, which is based on older PDF code. Apple's Preview and Acrobat write annotations differently within a PDF. Sometimes they are interoperable, and other times they are not.

I have no experience with Vorschau or its toolbox, and if it is designed to work with Acrobat, it may do things that Apple's Preview cannot handle. Consider sticking with the Adobe Acrobat family if that gives you a consistent annotation view of your Vorschau efforts.

Only the first page of a PDF will appear in Pages when dropped into it as a document object. Pages is not a PDF reader. Apple's Preview does not support Acrobat JavaScript (AcroJS) and will simply ignore its presence which can wreck form solutions that work fine in the Acrobat family.

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

130,132 points

Apr 1, 2026 2:01 PM in response to CommunityUser_0919-74

One last time. Apple's Preview is not being updated with current Adobe PDF code, nor is Apple attempting to compete with Adobe Acrobat. Its PDF handling capability is rather old. That age can get sideways with handling newer Adobe PDF writing techniques and the result as you have observed is dropped annotation content.

I continue to advise you to use the tools that do not disrupt your workflow. Based on what you have shared, that may require you to strictly use Adobe products for expected PDF content results.

No one here (your fellow users) can do anything about the PDF handling of Apple's Preview. You could send direct feedback to the macOS product team, but I would be disingenuous if I didn't say that would be a waste of your time.

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Answer 4

Apr 2, 2026 1:28 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you! O.K., Apple Preview may have its flaws, but the Adobe Acrobats are not any better in this case. When I place a PDF modified in Acrobat Pro as illustrated, and place this PDF in InDesign: circles, arrows or rectangles are missing, at least signatures and text marks did survive.

However, when I export from Acrobat Pro the same modified PDF as *.docx and save this MS Word file as PDF, all the modifications appear when placed as an image in InDesign.

I shall sent my complaints to Adobe. Perhaps they suggest to buy a new PC, as my iMac (i7, late2017) does not accept higher macOS than 13.7.X Ventura and the last updates to Photoshop 2026 do not work anymore...

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2026 10:14 AM in response to VikingOSX

I do not understand your arguments. I made a systematic test, first exporting a PDF from an InDesign document. then I opened this PDF in Vorschau (Preview), PDFViewer, Acrobat Reader and Acrobat Pro to add modifications all in red. Then I placed these PDFs again in another InDesign document.

As one can see, most modifications (rectangles, circles, arrows are missing, only red texts are visible).

When I open these modified PDFs in other programs, PDF Viewer, Acrobat Pro and Reader and Photoshop «see» all modifications, however missing in Illustrator, Affinity or Abby Fine Reader Sprint...

To demonstrate these incompatibilities I include an exported JPEG of the InDesign doc exported as JPEG.

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Answer 6

Apr 1, 2026 9:42 AM in response to CommunityUser_0919-74

I can add the following fact:

If I modify a PDF in Acrobat Pro an export it as Word file (*.docx) and save this files as a PDF, all the modifications appear correctly. A real detour...

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Answer 7

VikingOSX

Level 10

130,132 points

Apr 3, 2026 10:31 AM in response to CommunityUser_0919-74

Sorry you are experiencing this PITA.

Apparently, there is some deep voodoo going on with how InDesign mishandles your Acrobat PDF annotations, and not the DOCX created by Word in converting the PDFs from Acrobat. Newer versions of Adobe everything and a Mac platform upgrade to provide the operating system that the current Adobe applications require may go a long way in resolving this issue.

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Answer 8

VikingOSX

Level 10

130,132 points

Apr 5, 2026 5:50 AM in response to CommunityUser_0919-74

If you are using the last updates for the 2025 Creative Suite (aka CS2025), then Adobe needs to explain why your PDF annotations in Acrobat are being dropped by InDesign. If that is a known problem with the CS2025 products, and Adobe confirms this has been fixed in the CS2026 versions, then you have a decision to make.

Status Quo

Stay on your speedy 2017 iMac and use a different workflow to get all of your PDF annotations into InDesign. I believe that was exporting the PDF to Word from Acrobat Pro and then creating a PDF from that DOCX document.

Not ideal, but the price is right. Still, you should be planning for the future and the certainty of Intel Mac obsolescence.

New Mac and CS2026

If Adobe has confirmed the first paragraph and that CS2026 has fixed the InDesign PDF annotation issue as you have described it to them, then it will be no guarantee, but rather a leap of faith in purchasing a new Apple Silicon Mac.

The current M4 iMac stops at 24 GB RAM, with fewer CPU/GPU and RAM than you can obtain with an M4 Mac Mini Pro and a new Apple display (if you are set on 27-in) or a 32-in third-party display.

My M4 Mac Mini Pro with 14 cores 20 GPU and 64 GB RAM would run circles around your 4.2 GHz iMac. I use an LG 32-in 4K display and that extra screen real estate is gold.

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Answer 9

Apr 1, 2026 8:07 AM in response to VikingOSX

I do not agree: You may blame Apple Preview (Vorschau in German) but PDFs modified in Adobe Acrobat Pro or Reader do not appear (except signatures or texts) when placed in Apple Pages, MS Word and even in other Adobe products (InDesign, Illustrator).

There is no excuse when I see the flood of monthly updates arriving on my Mac!

Again I place below the exported JPEGs of the PDF modified in Preview (the modifications look somewhat different in Adobe Acrobat Pro or Reader) as well as the JPEG of an InDesign page to demonstrate these flaws.

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Answer 10

Apr 4, 2026 11:45 AM in response to VikingOSX

If I understand you correctly, do I need a new Mac?

(As my iMac 27 4.2 GH Quad-core intel core i7 late 2017, 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4, does not accept macOs higher than Ventura 13.X.Y and the updates to Photoshop 2026 don't work – so I still work with Photoshop 2025. Many people work with older iMacs and their magnificent monitors

At least the newest updates of Acrobat, Illustrator and InDesign are loaded – and Acrobat PDFs are still not fully compatible with InDesign. So much for the rather expensive Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Shall we blame macOS Ventura?

2 years ago I made a clean install, loading back Ventura 13 after the automatic update to Sonoma (macOS 14) created a variety of problems. I went to a service shop and they hinted that the i7 chip occasionally may create problems. But their tests did not reveal any.

Is there a guarantee that a new Mac with the latest operating systems can handle my PDF problems between Acrobat and InDesign? I shall ask Adobe about this.

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