How can I change my name in PDF comment boxes?
QSomeone sent me a PDF and asked me for my views on it. With a little help from the person, I worked out how to do this in Adobe Reader, by adding comments. However, I noticed that all my comments were headed ‘swill’. At first I wondered why, but then I realised this is a contraction of my full name. Fair enough, I suppose, but I don’t really want my comments labelled as ‘swill’! Why is this happening? Incidentally, I haven’t encountered this problem in any other programs and I know it’s not a massive problem. However, I have another PDF to comment on and I’m wondering if the label can be changed? Samantha Willis
AWhen a new Windows 10 or 11 PC is set up with a Microsoft account, the operating system takes the first five letters of the related email address and uses them as the name for the user folder that it creates automatically. As your Microsoft-related email address begins with ‘swillis’, Windows created a folder called ‘swill’.
You’ll find it within C:\users.
There is a convoluted way to change that folder name but, most of the time, it’s of no consequence. Doing so can also cause all sorts of unforeseen problems with installed apps and other settings, so it’s not really worth the effort or risk.
However, this is why the notes you make on PDFS are headed ‘swill’, because by default Adobe Reader adopts the name of the user folder as the label for comments.
Changing this is a two-step process. First, open the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Then, on the left, click to select the Commenting category and then, on the right, click to remove the tick from the ‘Always use the Log-in Name for Author name’ box (see screenshot 1 ). Click OK. That’s the first step. Second, right-click any comment and, in the pop-up menu, choose Properties. Next, in the Sticky Notes Properties box that appears, click to select the General tab. Now, in the Author field, type whatever name you want to head your comments 2 . Finally, be sure to tick the Make Properties Default box before clicking OK.