Forum Discussion
How to draw on a PDF on Windows and save the changes?
I need to mark up a PDF with freehand notes, circles, arrows, and a few simple shapes without changing the original text. When I open the file in a browser on my Windows laptop, the pencil or drawing...
Okular is a free PDF viewer with annotation tools, and it’s available for Windows. It can save your markings into the PDF without changing the original text.
- Open the PDF in Okular.
- Press F6, or choose Tools > Annotations, to display the annotation toolbar.
- Choose Freehand Line for handwriting. Use the ellipse, polygon, or line tools for other shapes. For arrows, select a straight-line annotation and set an arrowhead in its properties where available.
- Adjust the appearance. Right-click a completed annotation and open Properties to change its color, opacity, or line width, depending on the annotation type.
- Remove unwanted marks by selecting or right-clicking the annotation and choosing Delete, or use Undo immediately after drawing.
- Choose File > Save As, save a new PDF, and open that copy in another viewer to confirm the annotations appear.
Okular is particularly useful if you want PDF annotations rather than drawings baked into the page. Its main drawback for handwriting is that deleting a whole freehand annotation is more straightforward than erasing small portions of a stroke. Some restricted PDFs may also prevent annotations from being saved.