How to draw and write by hand on a PDF on a Mac
Sketch, circle, underline by hand or write notes on a PDF on a Mac with Preview's drawing tools, with a trackpad or an iPad and Apple Pencil.
The problem
You want to circle a clause, sketch an arrow or scribble a note on a PDF, the way you would with a pen on paper.
How do I draw on a PDF on a Mac?
- Open the PDF in Preview and click Show Markup Toolbar.
- Click Sketch or Draw, and drag on the page.
- Choose the colour and line thickness from the toolbar.
- Save.
What is the difference between Sketch and Draw?
- Sketch smooths what you draw and turns rough shapes into clean ones: a wobbly circle becomes a neat one.
- Draw keeps every line as drawn, and gets thicker the harder you press. It appears on Macs with a Force Touch trackpad.
How do I write by hand on a PDF?
Handwriting with a finger on a trackpad is hard to make legible. For notes, type them with the text tool instead. See add text to a PDF. For real handwriting, use an iPad with Apple Pencil as a second screen for the Mac.
Our take
Use shapes for marking and text for words. Preview's arrows, boxes and highlights say "look here" more clearly than a freehand circle, and a typed note is readable by anyone, which handwriting drawn with a trackpad rarely is.
In Simply PDF
Simply PDF's Draw or sign tool draws on any page and writes the drawing into the page when you save, so it looks the same in every app. See also every tool in Preview's Markup toolbar.
Questions
How do I draw on a PDF on a Mac?
In Preview's Markup toolbar, click Sketch or Draw and drag on the page.
Why is there no Draw tool in my Preview?
Draw appears only on Macs with a Force Touch trackpad. Sketch is always there.