Hive proofing is focused on document review, so the feature set is intentionally scoped to viewing, navigating, and collaborative markup.
Proofing controls can vary between the redesigned viewer and the legacy viewer. The stamp and layer controls described below apply to the redesigned PDF viewer.
Yes: viewing, hyperlinks, annotations and commenting; stamps and PDF layer controls in the redesigned viewer
Partial: form field display, button display, bookmarks (data preserved, navigation not exposed)
No: form filling/submission, embedded scripts, digital signatures, presentation transitions, embedded media, embedded attachments
For workflows that need form-filling, e-signatures, or script execution, those are handled outside of proofing — Hive's own approval and sign-off flows cover the equivalent review-and-approve use cases.
Breakdown of interactive PDF features and their level of support in Hive
Feature | What it does | Supported | Notes |
Form fields (text, checkboxes, radios, dropdowns) | User-fillable inputs | Partial | Existing form widgets render and are visible in the proofing view, but reviewers cannot create, edit, or save responses to form fields |
Buttons (submit, reset, scripted) | Clickable actions | Partial | Buttons render as part of the document, but submit and script-driven actions are not executed |
Hyperlinks (internal and external) | Click to navigate to a page or URL | Yes | Internal page jumps and external URL links work as expected |
Bookmarks / TOC (outlines) | Clickable document navigation tree | Partial | Bookmarks remain embedded in the file, but the side-panel navigation tree is not exposed in the proofing UI |
Multimedia (video/audio/3D embedded in PDF) | Play media inside the PDF | No | Media embedded inside a PDF will not play. Hive proofing does support standalone video files as a separate proofing type |
JavaScript (calculations, validation, conditional logic) | Scripted form behavior | No | Scripts embedded in the PDF are not executed |
Digital signatures | Cryptographic signing and verification | No | PDF-native signatures are not supported. Hive offers its own approval and sign-off workflow for documents |
Stamps (Approved, Draft, etc.) | Apply predefined or custom stamps | Yes — redesigned viewer | Use the stamp picker in the redesigned PDF viewer to place a predefined stamp or create a custom stamp. A stamp is a visual annotation; it does not approve the proof or replace an approval decision. |
Layers (Optional Content Groups) | Toggle visibility of content groups | Yes — redesigned viewer | For PDFs that contain layers, open the Layers tab in the redesigned viewer’s sidebar to show or hide them. Changing layer visibility does not change the stored source PDF. |
Page transitions / animations | Animated page changes | No | The proofing view uses scroll and thumbnail navigation rather than a presentation mode |
File attachments (files embedded inside a PDF) | Download embedded files | No | There is no UI for listing or extracting attachments |
Annotations (comments, highlights, drawings, markups) | Markup and comment on the document | Yes | Fully supported and is the core of Hive proofing — includes threaded replies, mentions, team approvals, and export of the marked-up document |
For a walkthrough of annotations, stamps, version comparison, and approval decisions, see Simple, integrated Proofing & Approvals.