How to Search Document Annotations in WebViewer SDK

Summary: Searching comments and annotations in PDFs makes document review faster, more accurate, and easier to automate. Using Apryse WebViewer’s AnnotationManager, you can store annotations as XFDF, parse comment data, search by content or metadata, and instantly jump to results in large documents. This enables powerful workflows like automated redactions, compliance auditing, progress tracking, notifications, and search-first review experiences across Web, Server, and Mobile SDKs.

Annotations are a powerful review and collaboration feature in PDF document experiences. Apryse supports annotations in the Server, WebViewer and Mobile SDKs, including special types of annotations such as redaction annotations, which mark specific content to be permanently removed.

The ability to search through comments on documents in WebViewer, not just document content can help speed review processes, enable workflows, and reduce compliance errors.

Here’s how to search and review annotations using the AnnotationManager class.

While the ability to add annotations is a powerful tool for collaboration and review, with many annotations across a large document, it can become challenging for users to navigate.

The capability to search and extract content from comments and annotations can help add automation and traceability to redaction workflows, get progress updates from document workflows, and log comment data. In addition, getting data from annotations can help developers build features like notifications and reports.

Store annotations as searchable XFDF files, which can include metadata like date, name, approval status, and more. Instantly jump to annotations in documents with thousands of annotations.

The AnnotationManager class described below is used in WebViewer. For the Server SDK, you can use the Annot object and GetContents. 

WebViewer delivers high-fidelity viewing, editing, annotation, conversion, and more across PDF, DOCX, spreadsheets, CAD with a single component. Using our Quick Start Guide, initialize WebViewer. You can also refer to the video below for integration instructions. The process is simple. You’ll start by downloading the required packages, pasting in the code for the WebViewer constuctor, and adding your trial license key. Before long, you’ll have WebViewer up and running in your browser. You can visit our API guide for class: Annotation to learn more about the features of annotations.

WebViewer provides methods to import annotations into the viewer from their XFDF data as well as export all currently loaded annotations as XFDF using AnnotationManager.

You can visit this documentation page for XFDF Annotations to find sample code and more details.

Because XFDF is XML, you can now use any XML parsing library to parse the annotations and extract data.

Now, you can use jumpToAnnotation(annotation [, options]) to jump to the page of the annotation and if it isn't visible then center it in the window.

To learn more about annotations in WebViewer, visit the annotations capabilities page or try the annotations demo. If you have any questions or when you’re ready for production, please contact sales.