overleaf-comments-export

Get the review comments out of an Overleaf paper, into Markdown and JSON you can read, keep, commit, and hand to an AI assistant.

Overleaf leaves comments out of both the source download and the Git sync, so the only way to work through them is inside the editor, one at a time. On a paper with ninety comments from three co-authors that stops being workable.

What the output looks like

## Summary

- **Threads:** 2 (2 open, 0 resolved)
- **Tracked changes:** 0
- **Most active reviewers:** A. Reviewer (2), Co Author (1)

### § Method

**Line 142** — 2 comments

> …We propose **▸a novel framework◂** for measuring perceived quality across conditions.

**C014** _open · 1 reply_ — "a novel framework"
- **A. Reviewer** · 2026-02-25 06:13 UTC: Needs a citation. Which studies show this?
  - ↳ **Co Author** · 2026-02-26 10:00 UTC: Agree, Smith 2023 would work here.

**C015** _open_ — "coherent"
- **A. Reviewer** · 2026-02-27 13:46 UTC: This word is doing a lot of work. Define it.

Every comment sits in its section, next to the words it was attached to, with its replies underneath and a stable id you can point at.

Get it

If you do not write code, download the app for your computer from the latest release, unzip it, and open it. There is nothing else to install.

The first time you open it, macOS or Windows will warn you about an app it has not checked. That is because signing an app costs money every year, not because anything is wrong. On macOS, right-click the app and choose Open. On Windows, click More info, then Run anyway.

If you use Python, it is one command:

pip install overleaf-comments-export
overleaf-comments-export --gui

That opens the same window. Paste your project link, choose a folder, press the button. If you prefer the terminal:

overleaf-comments-export \
    --project-url https://www.overleaf.com/project/YOUR_PROJECT_ID \
    --out ./paper-comments

Python 3.10 or newer, tested up to 3.14, on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

What you get

Working through comments with an AI

This is what the export is shaped for. Hand an assistant the folder and it can work on any comment by id, because it already knows the quoted passage, the section it lives in, and what the replies said.

Some things that work well.

• Draft a reply to C014 that answers the reviewer and says what we changed.
• Which comments are asking for the same thing? Group them.
• Fill in the response letter for every comment from A. Reviewer.

Tracked changes come through too, as insertions and deletions with the surrounding text, so a deletion reads as before ~~removed~~ after.

Useful options

--response-letter        # draft a point-by-point reply document
--per-reviewer           # one report per reviewer
--reviewer "Emma"        # only threads this person touched
--no-resolved            # only what is still open
--render-mode detailed   # more source context around each comment
--stable                 # output that only changes when the comments change
--annotated-tex          # a copy of your source with the comments embedded

Run overleaf-comments-export --help for the full list.

Comments inside the PDF

--annotated-tex writes a copy of your LaTeX into annotated/, with each comment placed where it was made.

overleaf-comments-export --project-url <link> --out ./review --annotated-tex

We propose a novel framework\pdfcomment[author={A. Reviewer}]{[C014] A. Reviewer:
Needs a citation. | Reply (Co Author): Smith 2023 would work} for measuring
quality.

Compile that and the PDF carries the comments, which is what people have been asking Overleaf for since 2023. Use --annotate-style todonotes to put them in the margin instead of making them clickable notes.

Your own source is never touched. The annotated copies keep their original names and folder structure, so \input still resolves if you upload the folder.

Reviewer text is escaped before it goes anywhere near the file, so a comment containing 50% of $x$ or a stray backslash cannot break the build.

Keeping the comments in git

By default each run writes comments-<date>.md, so you end up with one file per run. That is fine for a one-off export and useless for version control.

--stable writes a single comments.md with no timestamps in it. Re-run it and the file does not move unless the comments actually moved.

overleaf-comments-export --project-url <link> --out ./review --stable
git add review/comments.md
git commit -m "reviewer comments as of today"

Next time you pull the comments, git diff shows the new ones and nothing else.

 thread_count: 41
+thread_count: 42

+**C042** _open_ — "the axis labels"
+- **A. Reviewer** · 2026-08-14 09:12 UTC: units are missing here

Self-hosted Overleaf

If your university runs its own Overleaf rather than using overleaf.com, tick "My university runs its own Overleaf" in the window and put in its address, or pass --base-url https://overleaf.my-university.edu on the command line.

Comments work. Tracked changes do not, because Overleaf makes them part of Server Pro rather than the free Community Edition, so there are none to export. Self-hosted Overleaf names its session cookie overleaf.sid rather than overleaf_session2, which the tool handles either way.

This path is less tested than overleaf.com, so if something does not work, please say so.

Signing in

The tool needs the session your browser already has. It reads that session and nothing else, and it only ever reads.

To paste it, open Overleaf, press F12, go to Application or Storage, then Cookies, then https://www.overleaf.com, and copy the value of overleaf_session2. Treat it like a password. It stops working when you sign out. Nothing is stored unless you tick the box that says so.

overleaf-comments-export --project-url <link> --out ./out --cookie "PASTE_HERE"

When something goes wrong

Anything else, please open an issue. Never paste your session cookie into an issue.

Related projects

Several people hit this same wall independently. Different approaches suit different people, so here are the others.

• adakite/extract-overleaf-comments works from a saved copy of the page, and can put comments in the PDF margins.
• salokr/overleaf-comment-exporter is a browser extension, so there is nothing to install on the command line.
• IcarusLemon/overleaf-comments-cli is another command line exporter, driving a real browser under the hood.

All of them exist because of this three year old request. An official export would make every one of us unnecessary, which would be the better outcome.

Honest limitations

This is an unofficial tool. It uses Overleaf's internal endpoints, which are undocumented and can change with any release. It identifies itself honestly in every request, backs off when asked to, and cannot modify your project. Even so, it may stop working one day without warning. If that happens, please say so in an issue, because you may be the first to notice.

It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Overleaf. Use it on projects you have access to, in line with Overleaf's terms.

Feedback and contributing

Feedback shapes what gets built next.

• Something broke, or the output was wrong. Open an issue. You do not need to be a programmer. Paste what the tool said and that is plenty.
• Want it to do something it does not. Suggest a feature. Describe the task, not only the feature. The real task usually leads somewhere better.
• A question, or something you built with it. Discussions.
• Code. See CONTRIBUTING.md. Two minutes to get the tests running, and there are items marked help wanted in ROADMAP.md.

What is coming next is in ROADMAP.md. What already changed is in CHANGELOG.md.

Maintained by Shivang Gupta, who wrote it to handle the review comments on his own papers.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.