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MikeP1's avatar
MikeP1
New member | Level 2
8 years ago
Solved

People can't see my comments on shared files

I'm trying to share PDF files with non members of my dropbox but they cannot see my comments - anyone know why this is?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    8 years ago
    Hi Mike, just want to check something, did you create these comments in the PDF file itself before uploading it to Dropbox (i.e. in your PDF creator), or did you upload the PDF and then use Dropbox to add comments on the file?
     
    If they’re previewing it on the site, only the latter will appear.
     
    If they’re downloading the file, only the former will appear, since they’re a part of the document itself.

10 Replies

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  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    8 years ago
    Are the comments embedded in the PDF file? If so, they'll need to download the file and open it in a PDF viewer. The Preview page on the Dropbox website won't show embedded comments. It's just a preview of the original file.
  • MikeP1's avatar
    MikeP1
    New member | Level 2
    8 years ago
    Thanks Rich, I'm no IT expert! But I've uploaded a PDF file attached comments which show as a list on the right side of the page and yellow boxes that I created on the plans. When I share with others neither the comments nor the boxes show - is this due to the access level they have?
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    8 years ago
    Hi Mike, just want to check something, did you create these comments in the PDF file itself before uploading it to Dropbox (i.e. in your PDF creator), or did you upload the PDF and then use Dropbox to add comments on the file?
     
    If they’re previewing it on the site, only the latter will appear.
     
    If they’re downloading the file, only the former will appear, since they’re a part of the document itself.
  • MikeP1's avatar
    MikeP1
    New member | Level 2
    8 years ago
    Thanks Jay - I uploaded the PDF file and then added comments using Dropbox. It's quite frustrating the way Dropbox is set up or is that my lack of IT skills and experience on Dropbox?
  • m44444444rk's avatar
    m44444444rk
    New member | Level 2
    7 years ago

    this is also happening to me and team

    we used to see the comments as highlighted yellow boxes and page numbers as links. now comments shown on the rhs but no context and no way getting to a specific comment

    impossible to use

    i predict that this very going to be is the reason to replace DB

  • Alihan's avatar
    Alihan
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago

    Same issue here. Comments are not being displayed on shared files. As the person commenting I can see my comments but others cannot. 

     

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Hi Alihan, thanks for posting on the community!

    Could you let me know more about this? As per my older post above, are the comments located in the PDF itself, or are these the comments added on the Dropbox site to the online document?

    Are the comments visible when downloading the PDF to the computer?

    Keep me posted so I can assist further!

  • Spokes's avatar
    Spokes
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago

    I used the comments feature on a shared file within DB. The file was a PDF initially uploaded by the owner of the file (not me). I used the tool to select an area of the PDF, added comments related to this selection, and posted the comment. everytime I return to the document (still within DB) I can double-click on a comment and the highlighted (yellow) area also appears. However, the other users with shared access to this same file only see my text comments and the highlights do not appear for them. This also prevents them from seeing the context of my comments specific to an area on the shared PDF. The expected result on my end was that the others with shared access to this file could see the comments AND the highligted areas. Instead, the functionality either failed to work or DB fails to understand that the feature still has unresolved issues.

  • kellyburns's avatar
    kellyburns
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago

    My comments on a shared file are not appearing for the other person on the file. is that possible to fix?

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hey kellyburns, thanks for joining our Community.

     

    Is this a file that you've shared through a link?

     

    Can the recipient open the link or the file through a different browser, to see if that helps?

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