Annotate Contracts Offline (for Lawyers)

Highlight, comment, strike, and mark up a confidential contract draft on your own Mac or Windows machine — and send the marked-up PDF to a partner without uploading the draft to a SaaS collaboration tool.

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When this guide is for you

You have a draft contract in front of you. You need to mark it up — highlights for terms to discuss, sticky notes for partner questions, strikethroughs for clauses you want removed, freehand circles for the indemnity language that's bothering you — and then hand the marked-up PDF to a partner or client. The draft is confidential. You don't want to upload it to a cloud reviewer. The traditional answer is Acrobat, but Acrobat is expensive and many firms ban cloud-tools for confidential drafts.

Annotation vs. redlining vs. track changes vs. document compare

Four overlapping terms that the SERP and most vendor blogs conflate. Pick the right primitive for the right task. Annotation is what FileHop does; the other three are different categories of tooling.

Term	Definition
Annotation	Adding visual marks ON TOP OF a PDF — highlights, strikethroughs, sticky notes, freehand drawings, text boxes. The original file is not changed; the marks live on a separate layer and can be exported (flattened) into a new PDF when you're ready to send.
Redlining	Proposing specific text replacements — striking out the original clause and writing the proposed substitute. Mechanically this is annotation primitives (strikethrough + text box), but the convention is to use color: red for deletions, blue for additions, yellow for general comments.
Track changes	A per-revision ledger inside a Word document (the w:ins and w:del markup). Each author's insertions and deletions are recorded as accept/reject-able units. PDFs do NOT have native track changes — this is a Word feature.
Document compare	Algorithmically diffing two versions of a contract and producing a third 'blackline' or 'redline' document showing what changed. This is a separate category of tool (Litera Change-Pro, Workshare Compare, Acrobat Pro's Compare Files) and is NOT what FileHop does.

The redlining color convention (red for deletions, blue for additions) is documented in Adobe's own redlining help page and is what most partners expect when they open a marked-up contract. If your firm uses a different convention, follow it; otherwise red/blue is the default that another lawyer will recognize at a glance.

What FileHop ships for PDF annotation

The annotation primitives below are what the desktop app implements today. Map your markup intentions to the right primitive before you start — it saves time and makes the marked-up PDF easier for a partner to read.

Highlight

Color the background of a text selection. Standard yellow for 'discuss with partner,' green for 'agreed,' or any color you pick.
Underline

Draw an underline beneath selected text. Useful for emphasis or for marking defined terms.
Strikethrough

Draw a line through selected text. The primitive used to indicate proposed deletions in a redline.
Sticky note

Place a positioned note on the page with optional text content. Use for partner questions, drafting reminders, or open issues. One note, one position — FileHop does not thread sticky notes into a comment conversation.
Text box

Insert free-form text on the page at any position, with font size and family. The primitive used for proposed insertions in a redline, and for typed notes when you want them in line with the document rather than as a sticky.
Freehand drawing

Draw with a mouse, trackpad, or stylus. Use for circling clauses, sketching margin notes, or marking up signature blocks.
Shapes (rectangle, circle, line, arrow)

Draw geometric shapes with adjustable stroke width and fill. Useful for grouping clauses ('this whole paragraph') or pointing at specific terms.
Stamp

Apply a customizable stamp with template, rotation, style, and optional top/bottom arc text. Useful for 'DRAFT,' 'CONFIDENTIAL,' or firm-specific stamps.
Signature

Hand-drawn vector, typed text, or uploaded image. The same primitive used to sign a final document; on a draft, it can mark a sign-off on a particular page or section.
Image

Embed a PNG or JPG on the page (firm logo, diagram, screenshot). Stored as base64 in the annotation layer until you flatten.

From the v0.25.0 changelog (April 17, 2026)

“Added in-memory PDF annotation state retention with tap-dot rendering and a replace/new export wizard.”

In plain English: while you have the PDF open in FileHop, your annotation work is held in memory and rendered with tap-dot markers as you place them. When you go to export, the app presents an explicit replace-or-save-as-new choice so you don't accidentally overwrite a clean copy of the draft. The unflattened original PDF and its sidecar JSON stay on disk; the flattened export is a new file.

Workflow A — Marking up a draft for partner review (single reviewer)

The most common workflow: you mark up the draft, export a flattened marked-up PDF, send it to the partner. Four steps; the file never leaves your machine until you send it.

1

Open the draft in FileHop

Open the contract PDF in the FileHop desktop app. The file stays on your machine — no upload, no account required to use the annotation tools. The sidecar JSON that holds your markup is written next to the PDF in the same directory. If you've moved the PDF to an encrypted volume (FileVault on macOS, BitLocker on Windows, VeraCrypt for either), the markup file lives there too.
2

Mark up the draft using the primitives above

Use Highlight for terms to discuss, Strikethrough plus Text Box for proposed redline edits, Sticky Note for partner questions, Freehand or Rectangle for callouts around problematic clauses. Convention: red for deletions, blue for additions, yellow for general comments. Annotations are reversible — you can move, edit, recolor, or delete any annotation while the draft is still in FileHop's editable layer.
3

Flatten the annotations into a new PDF

When you're ready to send, use the Export / Flatten Annotations action. FileHop burns every annotation into the page content stream of a new PDF. The flattened PDF renders identically in Acrobat, macOS Preview, Foxit, PDF-XChange, browser-native PDF viewers, and any other reader — the partner does not need FileHop installed to see your markup. By default FileHop picks a unique output filename so re-exports don't silently clobber the original. If you explicitly choose to overwrite the original, the app respects that choice.
4

Send the flattened PDF

Send the flattened marked-up PDF the same way you'd send any other confidential file — encrypted email, your firm's document portal, or an encrypted thumb drive. Keep the unflattened original PDF AND the sidecar JSON if you want to be able to re-open the file in FileHop later and continue editing annotations. If you only kept the flattened export, your annotations are now part of the page content and cannot be selectively edited or removed — that's the trade-off of flattening.

⚠ Before sending

Scrub document metadata first

Annotations are visible to the recipient by design; document properties (author, last-edited-by, software fingerprints, modification timestamps) are visible to anyone who opens File → Properties and you may not want them to be. The 60-second pre-send metadata scrub is the metadata-sibling guide.

Strip document metadata before sending →

Workflow B — Consolidating markup from multiple reviewers (the offline pattern)

The honest answer to 'we don't have cloud collab; how do two partners and I review the same draft?' Each reviewer marks up their own copy on their own machine; one person merges the marked-up versions into a single review packet. Asynchronous, file-based, never leaves your firm's machines.

1

Send each reviewer their own copy of the draft

Send a fresh copy of the unannotated PDF to each reviewer over your firm's standard secure channel. Each reviewer opens the file in their own FileHop install on their own machine. There is no shared file and no concurrent edit — that's the trade against cloud collab, and it's the trade you wanted for this draft.
2

Each reviewer marks up their own copy and flattens

Each reviewer follows Workflow A on their own machine and produces a flattened marked-up PDF (Partner-A-markup.pdf, Partner-B-markup.pdf, etc.). Convention: ask reviewers to include their initials in the filename and to use a distinct annotation color (Partner A in red, Partner B in green, etc.) so when the marked-up versions come back, you can tell at a glance who said what. This convention substitutes for the per-comment attribution that cloud-collab tools provide automatically.
3

Combine the marked-up PDFs into one review packet

Use FileHop's Merge PDF tool to combine the flattened marked-up versions into a single review packet — typically in the order: clean draft → Partner A markup → Partner B markup → your consolidated markup. Page numbers will run continuously, and you can scroll the packet to see all reviewers' input on each clause side-by-side. The merge operation runs locally; no upload.
Open the Merge PDF tool →
4

Walk the packet to produce a final consolidated draft

Open the merged packet in FileHop and use Workflow A on the clean-draft section to produce YOUR consolidated markup — incorporating what each partner asked for, flagging open disagreements with sticky notes, redlining the proposed final clauses with strikethrough plus text box. Flatten and send to whoever needs to sign off. The packet itself — the multi-partner record of who said what — is preserved for the file.

⚠ Honest limit

This pattern is for small rounds — for heavy negotiation, look at a CLM

Workflow B works well for 2–4 reviewers on one round. For 6+ reviewers across multiple rounds, or for a contract that's going to bounce back and forth a dozen times before signing, a real CLM (ContractWorks, Ironclad, Juro) or a real document-compare tool (Litera Change-Pro, Workshare Compare) is the right answer — and that's a different category of software with a different privacy posture you'd need to evaluate separately.

What this workflow is NOT

Explicit boundaries. These are not caveats — they are the wedge. If you need any of the items below, route to the tool that does that thing.

NOT real-time collaboration. Two people cannot mark up the same PDF at the same time. The workflow is asynchronous file hand-off, not Google-Docs-style co-presence. If you need real-time, you need cloud collab — and you need to evaluate whether that vendor's privacy posture is acceptable for THIS draft.
NOT comment threads. Sticky notes are single positioned notes with optional text. There is no reply, no @mention, no per-comment status (resolved / unresolved / question / blocker). If the partner wants to reply to a specific note, the workflow is: they add their own sticky note next to yours.
NOT Word-style track changes. Track changes is a feature of the .docx format (w:ins / w:del markup) and lives in Microsoft Word. PDFs do not have native track changes. If your firm's drafting convention requires Word track changes, that work happens in Word; FileHop enters the picture after the contract is exported to PDF for circulation.
NOT automatic document compare / blackline. FileHop does not diff two contract drafts and produce a colored redline. For automated PDF-vs-PDF compare, Litera Change-Pro, Workshare Compare, and Adobe Acrobat Pro's Compare Files are the established tools — each with its own pricing and privacy posture you'd evaluate.
NOT a redlining engine. FileHop provides the primitives (Strikethrough for deletions, Text Box for insertions, Highlight for emphasis); there is no automated 'suggest replacement' AI feature or playbook-based markup. CLM vendors (DraftWise, goHeather, Spellbook) sell that — usually as a SaaS upload, which is the posture you may be specifically avoiding for this draft.
NOT a Word add-in. FileHop runs as a desktop application; it does not embed in Word's Review pane.
Mac+Windows desktop only. No Linux build, no iPad/iOS, no Android, no web/browser version. If you need to mark up a PDF on an iPad with the Pencil, the right tools are GoodNotes, Notability, Drawboard PDF, or PDF Expert — each with its own iCloud/sync posture you'd evaluate.

FileHop vs. cloud-collab and SaaS annotation tools

Workflow comparison only, not a complete product comparison. Many firms run Acrobat AND a desktop offline tool — Acrobat for routine documents, the desktop tool for confidential drafts. Pick the tool that matches the privacy posture of THIS document.

Workflow capability	FileHop (offline desktop)	Adobe Acrobat (with cloud share)	Smallpdf / Xodo / Lumin (browser-cloud)
File leaves your machine?	No (local file + local sidecar JSON)	Yes, when you Share for Review	Yes, file is uploaded to vendor server
Account/login required?	No (FileHop annotation works without an account)	Yes (Adobe ID)	Yes (vendor account, often with email verification)
Highlight, strikethrough, sticky note, text box, freehand, shapes, stamps, signatures	Yes	Yes	Yes (varies by vendor)
Comment threads / replies	No	Yes	Yes
@mentions / per-comment attribution	No (manual convention: color + filename initials)	Yes	Yes
Real-time co-editing	No	Yes (Acrobat Share for Review)	Yes
Multi-reviewer consolidation pattern	Manual: each reviewer flattens; one person merges (Workflow B above)	Automatic (one shared review file)	Automatic (one shared link)
Automatic PDF-vs-PDF document compare	No	Yes (Acrobat Pro Compare Files)	No (varies)
Mac and Windows	Yes (Mac + Windows only)	Yes (Mac + Windows + iPad + web)	Yes (browser-based; OS-agnostic)
iPad / Apple Pencil support	No	Yes	Sometimes (browser only)
Cost	Free desktop install (no subscription for annotation)	Subscription required ($14.99–$23.99/mo Acrobat Pro)	Free tier limited; paid tiers $9–15/mo

When you should still reach for Acrobat (or Litera, or Word)

Cases where the offline workflow above is the wrong answer. Naming them up front is part of why the rest of this guide is trustworthy.

You need real-time co-edit with the other side on the same file

Acrobat Share for Review or a CLM like Ironclad — and evaluate their privacy posture for this specific document.
You need an automated PDF-vs-PDF blackline / redline diff between two drafts

Litera Change-Pro, Workshare Compare, or Acrobat Pro's Compare Files.
Your firm's convention requires Word-native track changes (with accept/reject per change)

Microsoft Word's Review pane. Do the drafting work in Word; only convert to PDF when you're ready for circulation that does not need to be re-edited as Word.
You need to mark up a PDF on an iPad with an Apple Pencil

GoodNotes, Notability, Drawboard PDF, or PDF Expert — each with its own iCloud/sync posture to evaluate.
You need a CLM's playbook-driven markup AI

DraftWise, goHeather, or Spellbook — knowing that all of them are SaaS uploads and may not match the privacy posture you want for THIS draft.

Privacy posture: what 'local' means here

Plain statement of what stays on your machine and what doesn't. No marketing language — just the architecture.

•Annotations are stored in a sidecar JSON file next to the PDF. The PDF itself is not modified until you explicitly export (flatten). If you delete the sidecar file, the PDF reverts to its original unannotated state.
•No telemetry on annotation content. FileHop does not transmit the contents of your annotations to any server.
•Cloud OCR is opt-in and off by default. If a reviewer later runs OCR on a scanned contract page, the OCR step is the privacy decision, not the annotation step.
•The flattened export PDF carries the annotations in its page content stream. They are visible to anyone with any PDF reader. That's the point — your partner doesn't need FileHop to see your markup — but it means flattened markup is not 'hidden' from a recipient.
•Mac+Windows desktop only. No iPad, iOS, Android, Linux, or web version of FileHop exists; there is no browser-side processing or cloud-side processing of your draft.
•Annotations are not encrypted at rest by FileHop beyond ordinary filesystem permissions. For a confidential draft, store the PDF and its sidecar JSON on an encrypted volume (FileVault on macOS, BitLocker on Windows, VeraCrypt for either) the same way you'd store any other confidential file.

Why uploading sensitive files to online converters is a problem → FileHop for lawyers — the full workflow set → Strip metadata before sending (sibling) → Real PDF redaction for lawyers (sibling) →

FAQs

Can I annotate a PDF without uploading it anywhere? ▼

Yes. FileHop runs on your local Mac or Windows machine and the file never leaves your machine during annotation. No account is required for annotation; no upload happens. The annotations are stored in a small JSON sidecar file next to the PDF, also on your machine. Browser-based annotators that claim 'process in your browser' may or may not actually upload — read each vendor's privacy policy carefully if you go that route.

Is annotating the same as redlining? ▼

Redlining is a SPECIFIC annotation pattern — strikethrough for proposed deletions plus text-box (or sticky note) for proposed additions, conventionally in red for deletions and blue for additions. FileHop provides the strikethrough and text-box primitives; the redlining convention is what you do with them. It is not the same as Word's track changes (which is a per-revision ledger inside the .docx format) and it is not the same as automatic document compare (which is a diff between two complete drafts).

How do I send a marked-up PDF to my partner for review? ▼

Flatten your annotations into a new PDF (Workflow A, Step 3), then send the flattened PDF the same way you'd send any other confidential file — encrypted email, firm portal, encrypted USB. The partner does not need FileHop to see your markup; the flattened annotations render in any PDF reader. Keep the unflattened original PDF and its sidecar JSON if you want to be able to come back and continue editing the markup layer.

How do multiple reviewers annotate the same PDF without cloud collab? ▼

Workflow B above. Each reviewer marks up their own copy on their own machine and flattens. One person merges the flattened versions with FileHop's Merge PDF tool into a single review packet. Convention is to give each reviewer a distinct color and include initials in the filename so it's obvious at a glance who said what. This is the asynchronous version of what cloud-collab tools do automatically; the trade is one extra manual step in exchange for the draft never leaving your firm's machines.

Can FileHop replace Adobe Acrobat for PDF markup in a law firm? ▼

For the annotation workflow specifically, yes — FileHop ships the same annotation primitives Acrobat uses (highlight, underline, strikethrough, sticky note, text box, freehand, shapes, stamps, signatures), and the flattened export renders identically in Acrobat. What FileHop does NOT replace is Acrobat's cloud Share for Review, the Compare Files document-diff feature, or features that depend on the Adobe cloud (e.g., Sign workflows that route through Adobe Sign). For those specific workflows you'd need Acrobat Pro, or a dedicated tool like Litera Change-Pro for compare.

Do PDF annotations carry metadata I need to scrub before sending? ▼

The annotations themselves become part of the page content when you flatten — they are visible to the recipient by design (that's what you want). What's separate is the PDF's DOCUMENT metadata — author, last-edited-by, creating-software, modification timestamps — which is what a partner or opposing counsel could see by opening File → Properties on the flattened PDF. If you're sending a confidential draft, scrub that document metadata before sending. The 60-second workflow for that is the metadata-sibling guide.

Will my annotations be visible to the other side in any PDF reader? ▼

Yes, after you flatten. Flattening burns the annotations into the page content stream of a new PDF, so they render in Acrobat, Preview, Foxit, PDF-XChange, browser-native PDF viewers, and any other reader. Before you flatten, the annotations live in FileHop's sidecar JSON and are only visible to someone who opens the file in FileHop.

Can I remove or edit my annotations later? ▼

Yes, as long as you keep working from the original PDF plus its sidecar JSON. While in FileHop, you can move, edit, recolor, or delete any annotation. Once you flatten and export, the annotations in the FLATTENED file are permanent — they're now part of the page content. The unflattened original (PDF + sidecar) is still editable; the flattened export is what you'd send and what is no longer selectively editable. This is why FileHop defaults to a unique output filename on flatten — to preserve your editable original by default unless you explicitly choose to overwrite it.

What's the difference between annotation, redlining, track changes, and document compare? ▼

Annotation = visual marks on a PDF (highlights, strikes, notes, drawings). Redlining = a specific annotation pattern using strikethrough for deletions and text-box for insertions, by convention in red and blue. Track changes = a per-revision ledger inside a .docx Word file (w:ins and w:del markup). Document compare = an algorithmic diff between two complete drafts that produces a third 'blackline' document. They overlap in vocabulary but they're four different things — and they need four different tools. See the definitions table near the top of this guide.

Is it ethical to mark up an opposing counsel's draft and send it back? ▼

Marking up the other side's draft and sending the marked-up version back is ordinary contract negotiation — it's how counterproposals are made. The ethical questions live elsewhere: don't represent the marked-up version as something the original drafter authored, don't strip the original metadata in a way that would obscure authorship, and follow your jurisdiction's rules on professional conduct around the use of inadvertent inclusions (ABA Model Rule 4.4(b), etc.). Annotation tooling does not create the ethical issue; it's neutral. This guide is technical — for ethics questions specific to your jurisdiction, consult your bar's professional conduct opinions.

Does FileHop work on iPad with the Apple Pencil? ▼

No. FileHop is Mac and Windows desktop only — no iPad, no iOS, no Android, no Linux, no web version. If you need PDF markup on iPad with Apple Pencil, the established tools are GoodNotes, Notability, Drawboard PDF, and PDF Expert. Each has its own iCloud / Files-app sync posture you'd evaluate separately for a confidential draft.

Mark up your next draft on your own machine

Free desktop install. No account required for annotation. The file stays on your machine. Mac and Windows only. If you do this kind of file work regularly — annotate, redact, combine, compress, sign, scrub metadata — the lawyer persona page at /for/lawyers/ walks the broader workflow set, and the related guides below cover the adjacent steps.

Download FileHop (Mac + Windows) See the full lawyer workflow set