The markup tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Highlight | Drag over a passage. Uses multiply blending, so the text underneath stays crisp and readable instead of being washed out. |
| Draw | Freehand pen for signatures, circling a figure, ticking a box or scribbling a correction. |
| Box and Oval | Outlined or filled shapes for calling out a region, with adjustable border width and opacity. |
| Line | Straight rules, underscores, strike-throughs and pointers. |
| Image | Drop in a logo, a stamp or a photograph of a signature, then scale it with the corner grip. |
Markup that survives
Annotations are written into the PDF as real page content, not as a separate annotation layer that some readers hide and others show. That means a highlight looks the same in Chrome, Acrobat, Preview on a Mac, a phone and a printer.
Adjusting after the fact
Switch to Select and click any mark. Drag to move it, use the corner grip to resize, and change
colour, border and opacity in the panel on the right. Delete removes it, and Duplicate copies
a mark you want to repeat elsewhere.
A highlighter is not a redaction tool. Colour laid over text leaves the text readable underneath — selecting and copying still works, and so does turning the opacity down. To hide something rather than draw attention to it, see redacting a PDF.
Questions
Do highlights show up in other PDF readers?
Yes. Marks are drawn into the page content rather than added as reader-specific annotations, so every viewer and every printer renders them identically.
Can I change a highlight colour after drawing it?
Select it with the Select tool and pick a new colour in the panel. Opacity and size can be changed the same way at any time before saving.
Can I sign a PDF with this?
Yes, with the Draw tool — a trackpad or a finger on a touchscreen works well. You can also insert a photograph of your signature with the image tool.
Is there a limit on how many marks I can add?
No. There is no page limit, no export limit and no watermark.
Start editing
The editor opens instantly and runs on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to create.