Evernote provides you with all the tools you need to visually communicate ideas, share feedback, and collaborate with friends and co-workers. Easily annotate and edit images and PDFs with lines, shapes, arrows, text, and more.
Annotate an image or PDF
Desktop and web
Images
Click on an image from inside a note and select the brush icon above the image, or right-click and select Annotate this Image from the pop-up menu.
PDFs
PDFs in your notes appear as an attachment card showing the file name, number of pages, and file size. Hover over the card and select the Edit & Annotate (brush) icon, or right-click on the PDF and select Annotate this PDF from the pop-up menu.
Mobile
Images
Tap to open an image from inside a note, tap the three-dots menu, then select Edit and annotate.
PDFs
Tap to open a PDF from inside a note, tap the three-dots menu, then select Edit and annotate.
Annotation tools
Select tool (desktop only)
Use the Select tool to click on an existing annotation to select it. You can then move it, change its color or size, or delete it. On mobile, tap an annotation to select it, then use the trash icon that appears above the toolbar to delete it.
Pen & Highlighter tools
Use the Pen tool to freehand draw with digital ink. Use the Highlighter tool to add a transparent color overlay.
To draw and highlight areas on your image or PDF do the following:
- Select the Pen or Highlighter tool icon.
- Hold and drag over the image or PDF page to draw with digital ink.
Eraser tool (desktop only)
Use the Eraser tool to remove annotations by touching or dragging over them:
- Select the Eraser tool icon.
- Hold and drag over the annotations you want to erase.
Text tool
Use the Text tool to add text to your image or PDF:
- Select the Text tool icon.
- Click the spot where you want the text to appear. A text cursor appears.
- Type the text you want to display.
- Desktop only: to format the text, select it to bring up the formatting options: change the font size, toggle Underline and Strikethrough, or switch between plain and bubble (outlined) text styles.
Arrow & Shape tools
Use the Arrow and Shape tools to call attention to specific areas.
To annotate your image or PDF with arrows and shapes do the following:
- Select the Arrow tool, or the Shapes tool icon to show all of the available shapes (lines, squares, rounded squares, and circles).
- Select the icon corresponding to the shape you want to use.
- Hold and drag over the area of the image or PDF page where you want the shape to appear. The arrow points and stretches in the direction you drag.
Badge tool
Use Badge to quickly give visual feedback about parts of an image or PDF page. This is a good way to let others know what aspects of the document you like, dislike, or need more information about. You can add short text notes to stamps as well.
Add a stamp:
- Select the Badge tool icon. A menu of the available stamps (Approved, What?, Rejected, Wow!, and Perfect) will be displayed.
- Select a stamp you want to use.
- Click anywhere on the image or PDF page to add the stamp.
Add text to a Badge:
- Select the Badge you want to add text to. The stamp editing options will be displayed around the stamp.
- Select the Badge tool text icon, identified by the letter "a". This icon will change to a text field.
- Start typing to add text to the stamp. You may add up to 16 characters.
- Select the Badge you want to add a pointer to. The stamp editing options will be displayed around the stamp.
- Select the + icon. The + icon will change to a solid blue anchor point, and a pointer will appear on the left side of the stamp.
- To rotate the pointer to another spot on the stamp, hold and drag the blue anchor point to any point around the stamp.
Rotate tool
On desktop, use the Rotate tool to rotate an image or a PDF page 90 degrees counter-clockwise: select the Rotate tool icon in the toolbar, or select it from the options menu near the top of the screen.
On mobile, Rotate is available for images only: tap the rotate icon in the header (or select Rotate clockwise / Rotate counter-clockwise from the options menu) to rotate the image 90 degrees.
Use the Pixelate tool to blur portions of an image you don't want to share, such as faces or other personal information:
- Select the Pixelate icon.
- Hold and drag over the area you want to pixelate.
Crop tool: Use this tool to select only the part of the image you want, and remove the rest.
- Select the Crop tool icon. On a Mac, a toggle switch lets you alternate between the Crop and Resize tools.
- Hold and drag over the area you want to include in the image. Once you release your finger, everything outside of the selected area will be removed.
Color & Stroke options
- Select a color for your text, arrow, and shape annotations.
- Select a stroke size for your text, arrow, and shape annotations.
Undo & Redo
Use the Undo and Redo buttons to step backward or forward through your changes. On desktop, they are in the toolbar and you can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Z / Cmd+Z (undo) and Ctrl+Shift+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z (redo). On mobile, they are in the header (on smaller screens) or the action bar (on tablets).
Keyboard shortcuts
(desktop only)
Press Ctrl+Alt together with the following keys to switch tools:
- M: Pen
- H: Highlighter
- E: Eraser
- T: Text
- A: Arrow
- L: Line
- R: Square
- U: Rounded square
- O: Circle
- P: Stamps
- X: Pixelate (images only)
- K: Crop (images only)
Zoom & page views
(desktop only)
While annotating a PDF on desktop, use the zoom controls in the bottom-right corner of the screen to zoom in and out, or select the zoom percentage to type an exact value. You can also choose:
- Fit in window: scales the page to fit the whole page in view.
- Fit page width: scales the page to fill the width of the screen.
To preview the PDF without leaving your note, select the chevron on the attachment card to expand it. Use the View As menu on the card to switch between a Single page view and an All pages view.
Manage PDF pages
(desktop only)
The pages panel next to the PDF lets you see and manage every page of the document. To open it, select the pages icon near the top of the screen. From there you can:
- Jump to a page: select a page thumbnail to open it.
- Delete pages: hover over a page, select the page options menu, then select Delete page. You can also select multiple pages and delete them at once. Deleted pages are permanently removed from the PDF.
- Insert a blank page: select the page options menu on a page, then select Insert blank page after.
- Extract pages: select the page options menu on a page, then select Extract page (or Download page) to save the selected pages as a separate PDF file.
- Rearrange pages: drag and drop page thumbnails to reorder them.
- Add or merge PDFs: select Add PDF at the top of the pages panel to append another PDF to the end of the document, or drag and drop a PDF file into the panel.
Note: Page operations are unavailable for password-protected or otherwise restricted PDFs.
On mobile, a pages drawer lets you browse the PDF's page thumbnails and select one to jump to it, but no other page operations are available.
More editing options
In addition to the annotation tools, Evernote provides other ways you can change the general layout of your images and PDFs. You can access these options while in Annotate view by selecting the options menu, usually located near the top of the screen.
The following editing options are available on all platforms and devices:
- Clear Annotations: Removes all annotations on a particular image or on a PDF. For PDFs, this means that annotations made on every page in a PDF are removed. On Windows, select Edit > Clear Annotations; on mobile, select Clear annotations from the options menu.
- Include Annotation Summary: adds a final page to the saved PDF listing all annotations, their page numbers, and any text they contain.
The following editing options are available on Mac and Windows:
- Select All Annotations: selects every annotation on the current page so you can move, restyle, or delete them together.
The following editing options are available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (images only):
- Rotate clockwise / Rotate counter-clockwise: Rotates the current image 90 degrees.
- Flip Horizontally / Flip Vertically: Mirrors the current image.
- Fit in window / Fit page width: Scales the image view.
Annotate password-protected PDFs
(desktop only)
You can open and annotate password-protected PDFs on desktop. When you open a protected PDF in the annotation editor, enter the PDF's password to open it. Note that restrictions from the original file (such as printing or copying restrictions) are removed when you save your annotated copy. Password-protected PDFs cannot currently be annotated on mobile devices.
Keywords:
- annotate
- annotation
- edit pdf
- pdf editor
- skitch
Updated