PDF Inking on Microsoft Edge

Microsoft

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. 

 

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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!

 

119 Replies

Hi @rhymes55 

there is a basic highlighter added to Canary and Dev

 

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Annotation 2019-12-04 001048.png

 

@HotCakeX 

It should be noted that this is available only after enabling it through the Experimental flags: 

Gabriel

Thanks Grabriel...!
Oh yes that's right :)
If you want a point eraser in WinUI (UWP/XAML), please give a thumbs up to the GitHub issue! https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/issues/1530

(posting reply again because it didn't post the first time)
I hate Microsoft Whiteboard because it replaced Sketchpad. I shouldn't have to sign in to use it.

(posting again because it failed the first time)
Thanks :)
@vygadeka Could you guys please look at my post where I detail the issue on animations being present when they are supposed to be off? I also have other posts where I've suggested and reported issues. I've also reported and suggested issues using the feedback tool but I don't get updates on them like if they are being worked on anymore. :(

@Elliot Kirk When testing this feature, I opened up a PDF from my Desktop and annotated some text. However, clicking Save got me a Save as option. Why can't I just save the file I opened?! 

@Krysset 


@Krysset wrote:

@Elliot Kirk When testing this feature, I opened up a PDF from my Desktop and annotated some text. However, clicking Save got me a Save as option. Why can't I just save the file I opened?! 


This^ is my concern too

@HotCakeX Thanks for pointing this out. We are working on getting this fixed. Till then, the fallback is to use the "Save as" like functionality to save the edited PDFs. 

Hi, that's great, thanks for the update!

I can't use surface pen 4's eraser.

"Using a digital pen or touch to write directly on PDF files has been one of the top feature asks from Microsoft Edge insiders." Really? So is Edge targeted for tablet users only? Because this feature makes only sense if you have a tablet. I guess the majority of Windows Users don't have a digital pen to write on their display. Where can I see the statistics? Because if Microsoft is targeting tablet users primarly I better think twice before I switch to it. Where do I have to vote so that basic features like text highlighting with annotation support is implemented?

Please add save functionality ( not a "save as" ), bookmarks/Content and some keyboard shortcuts for:-

1. Pen/Draw tool (Alt+P)

2. Eraser tool (Alt+E) (currently Alt+E does the same job as Alt+F : "..." menu)

3. Page entering text box/Page Goto box (or whatever it is called.)

@ZodiacVG Which build? We added the support for the back button eraser and it is already there in Canary. Please let us know if it is not working for you. 

@smartens222 We are working on features which you mentioned which would be useful for all users like text highlights. In fact, the feature is already live in Canary and Dev. Our effort is that PDF annotations should be accessible with any input mode. 

@Maan2003 This is a great feedback and it is definitely something that we plan to add. 

As someone already wrote, like in other apps (OneNote, Edge legacy...) touching with a single finger should scroll/pan the page, while using a pen should write/erase ink. As in other Windows Ink apps, a dedicated button should be present for writing with touch as well (disabled by default). The actual behavior could be activated automatically only on devices that do not support an active pen.

@Elliot Kirk Aun se extrañan todas las capacidades que teníamos en el Edge tradicional, hacía mucho la diferencia frente a Chrome y demás navegadores. Yo he dejado de lado Acrobat pero ahora al faltar tantas herramientas debo pensar en volver. Esperemos que pronto tengamos las mismas habilidades, incluso las notas web, eran fantásticas.