Forum Discussion
The easy way to draw on a PDF in Windows 11?
A completely new task for me and I can't figure it out myself. Now, I need to add some freehand drawings and markups to a PDF — mostly for sketching out quick notes, circling important sections, and...
Tl;dr — if you're about to draw on PDF in Windows 11, read this first so you don't lose your annotations or wreck the file.
1. Test the save first. Draw one squiggle in Edge, save, close, reopen. If the ink is gone, switch tools before you waste time.
2. Flatten before sharing. Some viewers won't render ink layers — export a flattened copy so your markups don't vanish.
3. Skip OneNote's print workaround. Pages split and file size balloons. Fine for scratch notes, bad for anything you send back.
4. Keep the original. Save your annotated version under a new name so you never overwrite the only copy.
5. Match the tool to your input. Stylus? Xournal++ feels better. Mouse? Edge is fine when you draw on PDF in Windows 11.