How to Draw on a PDF on Windows/Mac 2024

Do you know how to draw on PDFs? Using annotations while reviewing PDFs can be a wonderful way to provide valuable feedback to its author. Especially the freehand drawing tool can be a real time saver.

With simple drawings and quick markings, readers and team members can precisely mention the necessary alterations and modifications required in the document. This is way better than writing wordy comments or even brief statements.

If you are new to this, you might be wondering about how do I draw on a PDF? Well, you can by using simple and easy methods. This article presents 4 simple solutions on how to draw on a PDF document.

Part 1: How to Draw on PDFs with Editor Tools

PDFgear and SmallPDF are two popular PDF editing tools online. Both include freehand drawing tools to draw on PDF documents. This section covers how to draw on a PDF using these editor tools.

Tool 1: PDFgear

PDFgear is available for both online and offline use. Both versions contain tools to help you on how can I draw on a PDF document?

To begin with how to draw on a PDF document using PDFgear, visit its website here. On this page, you can both upload your PDF file for editing it online as well as download PDFgear for your PC.

Then, once you have opened your PDF document in the online or offline version, do the following：

• First, click on the “Add or Edit Annotations” button.

• Now choose the “Draw Ink” tool from the drop-down menu.

• That’s it. Just click and drag anywhere on the document to freehand draw anything.

• If required, you can also change the color and thickness of the “Draw Ink” tool. Pro tip: Using distinct color and thickness levels can add more details to the document.

• Once done, select the “Download file” option from the main toolbar and a modified version of the original PDF document with all the markings will be saved/downloaded on your PC.

  

Tool 2: Small PDF

Our next PDF editor on how to draw on a PDF document with editor tools is “Small PDF”. Small PDF too is an online PDF editor offering various tools to work with PDF documents.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to draw on a PDF document using Small PDF.

• Visit Small PDF website here and upload your PDF document.

• Once the PDF has opened, go to the toolbar above at the center-top section and select “Mark up”. Doing so will display different marking up tools.

• Now select the “Pencil (P)” tool, choose the color as well as set its opacity and thickness level.

• That’s it. Now click at any place on the PDF document and drag to freehand draw anything.

• Again, using different variations as to color, thickness, and opacity in your drawings can add a little more perspective to your feedback.

• When done, click on the “Export” button at the top-left corner and then click “Download PDF” inside to download the modified version of the PDF on your PC

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Part 2: How to Draw on a PDF on Google Drive

If you use Google Apps to work on PDFs, here is how to draw on a PDF on Google Drive. Just follow these steps –

• After logging into your Google Drive account, open any PDF document with Google Docs.

• Now on the main menu bar above, click on “Insert” > then “Drawing” > and inside it “+ New”.

  

• A whole new panel will appear in the center of the screen with multiple annotating tools.

• Using this panel, you can draw shapes, arrows, lines, text, callouts, equation symbols, signatures, watermarks, and much more.

• But for freehand drawing, click on the “Line” tool to open its drop-down menu. From this, select “Scribble” and there you are.



• Freehand draw anything anywhere on the panel board and then click “Save and Close”. Your freehand drawing will appear on the PDF document. You can then move it anywhere you want to.

• Finally, you can save changes to the original PDF document or make a copy of it and then download or share it.

Part 3: How to Draw on a PDF on Mac Preview

Another option for how to draw on a PDF document is by using the built-in Preview app on Mac OS. The following steps explain how to draw on a PDF on Mac Preview –

1.Open the PDF document on which you intend to draw in Preview. You can also control-click the file and select “Preview” to do this.

2.Click on the “Show Markup Toolbar”.

3.Select “Sketch” to freehand draw anything anywhere on the PDF document.

Part 4: [Extra Tip] How to Use AI to Extract Data from PDF

Now that you know how to draw on PDFs, it is time to explore the opportunities unlocked by AI for PDF users.

Whether you use PDFs for education, work, academic research, and/or just occasionally, looking for relevant information and concluding summaries out of long and lengthy PDFs can sometimes be stressful, hectic, and overwhelming. But this shouldn’t be the case anymore.

Why? Because tools like the Tenorshare AI Chat PDF Tool are redefining the way users work with PDFs.

With Tenorshare AI Chat PDF Tool, all you need is a prompt to begin interacting with the PDF document. Consequently, it can help you –

• Extract summaries with accurate, relevant, important, and precise information out of lengthy PDF documents.
• Gather and list key details that is corroborative, contextual, and dependable.
• Generate summaries that aren’t just concise and clear but also easy to understand.
• Save time and increase productivity with efficient and effective summaries.

How to Use the Tenorshare AI Chat PDF Tool?

Using Tenorshare AI Chat PDF Tool is easy and requires you to do only the following ：

• Visit Tenorshare AI Chat PDF Tool website. Next, upload your PDF document.

• Sign in directly if you already have an account or create a new one and log in.

  

• Now start a chat with a prompt to ask questions about the PDF document you just uploaded.

  

Conclusion

If you are someone who regularly works with PDF documents, then this article can help you increase your productivity in an efficient and effective way.

By combining any of the methods on how to draw on PDF files together with Tenorshare AI-PDF Tool , there’s so much you can achieve both academically and professionally.

For instance, you can extract summaries of entire PDF documents to ascertain the quality and reliability of its content. Based on that, you can then draw markings to provide valuable feedback and/or request necessary modifications on key areas of the PDF document.