Forum Discussion
PDF Inking on Microsoft Edge
Using a digital pen or touch to write directly on PDF files has been one of the top feature asks from Microsoft Edge insiders. We are pleased to announce that inking mode for PDF files has rolled out to all Insider Preview channels. With this new inking mode, users can fill out PDF forms and sign using ink or take notes directly on PDF files and save for later reference.
How to access inking mode
To access this feature, open any PDF file from your computer or from the web. In the toolbar that is seen on the top, you will see two new options – Draw and Erase. You can click or tap on the Draw button to enter inking mode. Once in this mode, you can use a digital pen, touch or even mouse to write on any part on the PDF file. You can use two finger swipe for panning the file or use pinch gesture to zoom in/out if you want to navigate the file while in inking mode.
If you make any mistakes while writing or drawing on the document, you can use the eraser by clicking or tapping the Erase button. To erase ink strokes in the erase mode, just move the pointer across any ink stroke to erase it.
Once you are done marking up the file, you can use the Save button in the toolbar to save your work and all the annotations you made will get saved onto the file. You can reopen the file at any point to see the ink annotation on the file or edit them. You can also print the file along with the annotations in case you want to send out a copy of the annotated form, for example.
What’s next?
This is just the first step for inking support for PDFs. For inking, right now we offer basic support with one pen color and stroke size. We will build on this over time, supporting additional capabilities and quality enhancements. Following is the list of inking features the team is working on:
- Support for the pen back button (eraser button) to erase while in inking mode.
- Ability to select color and stroke thickness for ink
- Selection of additional pens, like highlighter pen
If you have any feedback or suggestions for the current version of inking support in Microsoft Edge, please do write as well. To send any feedback use the Send feedback in the top right corner of the app or leave a comment to this post. We are listening!
120 Replies
Elliot Kirk I have a Lenovo Think Pad with a touch screen and a pen. In a previous version of edge, when I was writing on PDFs with my pen, edge was able to distinguish between my hand and the pen. This was convenient, as I was able to scroll and zoom out with my fingers while still being in pen mode.
Now, edge can no longer distinguish my pen from my hand. When I try to scroll down, I accidentally write a line through the PDF. I now have to switch in and out of pen mode to scroll and write. This is very frustrating. Is there a way to fix this problem?
Thanks.
JacobZ2205 This sounds like a windows quirk. Your pen is (im assuming) from Lenovo? I have a school HP and stylus and it can distinguish on apps like one note because its from the same manufacturer as the laptop and hp designed it exclusively for windows HP products. Legacy edge was a WUP app, so thats probably why it worked there and not in the new system32 app. Unfortunately, the edge team is not willing to put in the work to make chromium a WUP app as that is a monumental task. Hopefully they will find a workaround.
- cjc2112 Thanks for the quick reply.
The pen came with the laptop, yea.
I have no idea what WUP, system32, or chromium mean, but I appreciate your answer that this is probably not a problem I can solve on the new edge.
Is there any way I could possibly get the legacy edge back?
- nice, now I feel like I dodge a bullet by not upgrading my microsoft edge
- I don’t like that it treats touch and the pen the same. The old edge you could scroll with touch and ink. This was very handy in annotating music for me while practicing guitar and the new behavior is super clumsy
vygadekaMicrosoft
Toddwseattle this is useful feedback and we are working on enabling the option to turn off writing with touch. But in the meanwhile, you can scroll/pan the documents with two fingers. You can also scroll in the margins.
Vyankatesh Gadekar
Program Manager, Microsoft Edge
- Scrolling in the margins helps solve the ergonomic issue btw...i can do this with one finger. the accidental marketing i mentioned in the previous comment is still a problem. Thanks for the reply vygadeka.
I would like to know if we can have the option of not saving the notes on a pdf. I am a teacher and after a lesson is over, I would like to have an option of quitting without saving,
It is very frustrating that I was forced the get Microsoft eedge and it doesn't have the features I used all the time. The highlighter, ability to change the size and colour of the pen and the ability to look things up in the dictionary was very useful. I have tried other apps, but they're just not as good. Please, please bring those features back!!! Elliot Kirk
You mentioned in your November 2019 post that we could soon expect:
- Support for the pen back button (eraser button) to erase while in inking mode.
- Ability to select color and stroke thickness for ink
- Selection of additional pens, like highlighter pen
Can you update us on the status. I got used to all of these features in prior versions of Edge and I've lost that since updating.
Please advise.
Thanks.
Larry
- vygadeka
Larry2325 pen back button support is already there in the product. Other features mentioned are also making their way to Stable channel
This is another update on this we had posted to inform the community about progress. May be helpful - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/microsoft-edge-extends-tools-for-the-pdf-reader/m-p/1303243-Vyankatesh Gadekar
Product/Program Manager, Microsoft Edge
- Its really sad how they removed the multiple colours for the Microsoft pen on PDF. Does anyone have suggestions for other free apps that allows me to write on PDF in different colours?
- vygadeka
aleyu multiple colors for the drawing pen would be supported very soon. In fact, the feature is already available in Canary and Dev channels. Here is a reference for what's coming next - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/microsoft-edge-extends-tools-for-the-pdf-reader/m-p/1311892
Elliot Kirk Hi there!
I am really confused by the fact that you mentioned all of the great Edge inking capabilities the team is currently working on rolling out when each of those features were available for over a year on Microsoft Edge before the latest update. I used this on a daily basis to make multicolored notes with different stroke sizes quickly and easily on PDFs on a daily basis in my grad school. This decrease in capabilities with the new Edge update has been very disruptive to my regular note taking process, unfortunately. I was wondering why the update got rid of these capabilities.
- vygadeka
MitchellJP unfortunately, change in the web platform for new Microsoft Edge got rid of the PDF goodness we have in the legacy version of Microsoft Edge. But rest assured that we are building these capabilities back into the new version. You can read about what's coming up for PDF annotations here - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/microsoft-edge-extends-tools-for-the-pdf-reader/m-p/1311892
Do provide feedback on what more you want
MitchellJP Because they switched to the chromium source code. They can't just import the code from the old edge. They have to literally re-code everything. If you want the old capabilities, I highly suggest using OneNote if possible as they have all those drawing capabilities and more.
Right now, the share button will only send a link to OneNote, so you can use Win+Shift+S to snip what you want, and it saves it to your clipboard so you can paste (Ctrl+V) into OneNote, and from there you can work on it.
I hope this helps you!
- I miss some tools reading pdf on the browser, the layout, find, table of contents with where too use full, thus some times I have to use other softwares to reduce my time readding and simplify my searchs
- Find is there, press CTRL + F
