Bring spreadsheet tag data onto your P&ID PDF
Turn a tag table into highlights and popup notes on a searchable drawing. PDF Annotator matches spreadsheet tags to PDF text, so reviewers can see selected information alongside the equipment or line it describes.
- No account required
- Files processed locally
- Searchable PDF + XLSX, XLS, CSV or TSV
What you can do with PDF Annotator
Put tag information in context
Choose the tag column and the spreadsheet columns to include in popup notes, then carry those details onto the drawing.
Make review status visible
Use highlights and visible labels to help readers find relevant tags. Check placement in the preview before sharing the drawing.
Catch unmatched tags
Review the unmatched-tag list and check the source PDF before drawing conclusions. Text extraction and CAD font encodings can affect matching.
How it works
Select the PDF and tag table
Open a searchable PDF and your spreadsheet, or paste the table including its headers. The built-in sample provides a drawing and matching tag data to try.
Choose the annotation data
Select the worksheet, header row and tag column, then choose which columns should appear in the popup notes.
Check and download
Review the highlights and unmatched tags. Download the annotated PDF and open it in a PDF reader that supports popup notes.
Your output: Annotated PDF and unmatched-tag report. Your original files stay unchanged.
Before you start
Which files can I use?
Use a searchable PDF up to 150 MB and an XLSX, XLS, CSV or TSV table up to 30 MB. You can also paste cells from Excel including the header row. Spreadsheet inputs support up to 100,000 data rows and 256 columns; browser memory and drawing complexity also affect capacity.
Does it work with scanned drawings?
Tags must be readable as PDF text. Scans, outlined text and some CAD font encodings need OCR or a new searchable PDF export first. Try searching for a tag in your PDF reader to check the source.
How are tags matched?
Matching ignores letter case and treats hyphens and dots as equivalent. Tags must be whole tokens made of letters, digits, underscores, hyphens or dots. Equivalent duplicate tags use the first spreadsheet row.
Why are popup notes missing from the preview?
The preview shows highlights and visible labels. Open the downloaded PDF in a compatible reader to use popup notes. Password-protected and digitally signed PDFs are not supported; use an unencrypted, unsigned source copy.
Are PDFs and spreadsheets uploaded?
Selected files are processed in browser memory and are not uploaded by the tool or saved to WordPress. Settings, including colour-rule values, are stored locally only when you choose Save settings in this browser. Downloads contain your data. The website still loads application files normally.