Import Annotations leaves ghost annotations in the PDF file

edited October 4, 2022
I am trying to transfer some annotations made in Adobe Acrobat to Zotero annotations (in Windows 10). I have used the File -> Import Annotations... tool from the PDF Viewer. It apparently seems to work, with the locked annotations temporarily disappearing in the PDF Viewer, and then reappearing as Zotero annotations. A quick look in the PDF file also gives the impression that it has worked, as nothing is highlighted anymore.

But if I open the comments panel in Acrobat, it shows that all the annotations are actually still there as ghost annotations: Zotero_Annotations_01.png.

Zotero has only removed the colour of the annotations, but the annotations are still there. It seems that the other PDF readers cannot see these annotations, so it seems to be something specific to Acrobat.

To make sure if the annotations are really in the file, I have transferred the file to another Windows 10 VM. I have installed there a fresh Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, but did not Sign In. Opening the PDF file there still shows the ghost annotations. So it seems that they are really stored somewhere in the file.
Is there any way to get rid of these ghost annotations? Did I do something wrong in the process?
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