NOTE: Missing Images
This article lost its example images during a KB system migration. We are working to restore or recreate them.
Background
When you create various annotations (notably Freehand)in our annotation aware
viewers and embed them into PDF files, you would expect that re-opening them in
our annotation viewers would have them render the same as they looked when they
went in. (In other words, that annotations created in our viewers would properly
"Round-trip" to embedded PDF annotations and back).
This happens because by default, when embedding annotations into a PDF using
our PdfAnnotationDataExporter, it tries to only include properties available withing
native PDF annotation for the types that you're embedding. This helps to ensure
that all PDF readers will see the annotations the same way. However, a side
effect is that the embedded annotations no longer contain all settings that were
present at creation time. This can lead to annotations that "look wrong" when
re-opened as seen in the example images.
 |
 |
| Annotation You Saved |
Annotation You See |
You can override this default behavior by setting the
PdfAnnotationDataExporter.AlwaysEmbedAnnotationData property to TRUE.
Note that this means that some PDF viewers may not render the annotations in
exactly the same way, but it will ensure that DotImage does.
Original Article
Q10335 - HOWTO: Freehand Annotations Embedded into PDF Don't Render As Expected
Last Update
2026-11-11 - TD - (Noted missing images)