Try Acrobat DC
These forums are now Read Only. If you have an Acrobat question, ask questions and get help from the community.


How do I unlock my Comments->Annotations T(typewritten text)?

I am using Adobe Pro XI, (Windows 7, 64 bit)

The T in Comments->Annotations (The Comment Properties box calls it Typewritten Text) is locked. (The Locked checkbox in Comment Properties is grayed out.(Documents are not PDF/A).
The Security settings are all ALLOWED.
I have tried Repair Installation which did not fix it.

The Edit Text under Tools, which also displays the text box when selected, works fine when the document is not in Shared Review (but is properly grayed out when in Shared Review).

The Comments Annotations T(ypewritten Text) is always locked; I can't write anything in the box, it cannot be resized, etc. I click once and the box appears and the Comments List shows it as being added & locked with the padlock icon. It cannot be deleted either, despite it having no text.

Could this be a setting somewhere? I seem to be the only one having this problem. It works for others. How do I unlock it and set the default to be unlocked so I can use it for commenting in our Shared Reviews?

As a side note, I tried to made a Reader Extended PDF only once under Save As Other, and it never seemed to work after that. Could that have had a bearing on this?


Diane Yarger


3 Answers

Voted Best Answer

It sounds like you might have selected locked and then set that as the default somehow. Try selecting the annotation, then running this in the console:

this.selectedAnnots[0].lock=false;

Then resetting the default properties.


By David Dagley   

Thank-you so much for your response.

I haven't had to use it because in an Adobe Chat session late yesterday they had me try all the methods that should have worked to unlock the Typewritten Text Tool, but nothing worked.

They then had me uninstall my Adobe Acrobat Pro XI, use a "cleaner" tool, and then download a new installation. Unfortunately, that also erased all my Preferences and customizations.

I am not familiar with how to use the JavaScript Console, but it this reoccurs I will try this solution before going to the extreme of uninstalling and reinstalling and losing my setups.


Diane Yarger   

You are not the only one with this problem believeme I’m also waiting for help with this situation. As many time as I have readthis problem in many different help blogs there is NO real fix and I and othersfind this really hard to believe. Ok so something became locked with the textto comment tool and set to default so what? This should a no brainer to reversebut for some reason Adobe offers no real solution. It’s as if you own AcrobatXI you are left out in the cold as they just expect you to buy or lease CT.This is NOT the customer support you expect from a premium software publisher.



Kurt Saldutti   

Please specify a reason: