Adobe Reader 8

Add a line, arrow, or shape

Drawing tools are available only in PDFs that have commenting enabled. PDFs in a review workflow typically include commenting rights.

When selecting a drawing tool, consider the effect you want.

  1. Choose Tools > Comment & Markup, and select a drawing tool:

    • The Rectangle tool , the Oval tool , the Arrow tool , and the Line tool  let you create simple shapes.

    • The Cloud tool  and Polygon tool  create closed shapes with multiple segments. The Polygon Line tool  creates open shapes with multiple segments.

    • The Pencil tool  creates free-form drawings, and the Pencil Eraser tool  removes the pencil markups.

    To specify the line width, color, and other properties before you draw, right-click/Control-click the drawing tool, choose Properties, and set the desired options in the Properties dialog box.
  2. Draw in the PDF:

    • To create a cloud or polygon shape, click to create the start point, move the pointer, and click to create each segment. To finish drawing the shape, click the start point, or right-click/Control-click and choose Complete from the menu. Double-click to end a polygon line.

    • To draw a line, arrow, or rectangle, either drag across the area where you want the markup to appear, or click twice: once to create the start point and once to create the end point.

    • To draw a square or circle, or to draw a line that’s horizontal, vertical, or at a 45° angle, press Shift while you draw.

    • To draw free-form lines using the Pencil tool , drag where you want to begin drawing. You can release the mouse button, move the pointer to a new location, and continue drawing. To erase parts of the drawing, select the Pencil Eraser tool  and drag across the areas of the drawing that you want to remove.

  3. To edit or resize the markup, select it and drag one of the handles to make your adjustments.
  4. To add a pop-up note to the markup, select the Hand tool, and double-click the markup.
  5. (Optional) Click the close button in the pop-up note. A note icon appears to the right of the markup to indicate the presence of text in the pop-up note.
    Note: To delete a drawing markup, select it and press Delete.