Annotation basics
Learn to edit, undo, redo, and duplicate annotations on screenshots and image pins, then arrange toolbar buttons, groups, and hidden tools.
Add annotations to screenshots or image pins to highlight details, write explanations, or reuse the same mark in several places. Learn these shared operations first, then arrange your favorite tools where they are easy to reach.
Open the toolbar and choose a tool
When taking a screenshot, the annotation toolbar becomes available after you select an area. On an image pin, press SpaceSpace to show the toolbar.
Click a tool icon to start annotating. Its style options appear below. A button with a small arrow contains a group of tools: click the arrow beside it to open the submenu, then choose a tool.
After you switch tools within a group, the main button shows the tool you just selected. Click the selected tool button again to exit that annotation tool.
Select an annotation to edit it again
“Mark secondary editing” is enabled by default. For annotations that support further editing, switch back to the same type of tool, then click the annotation to adjust its position or style. For example, choose “Geometry” to edit a rectangle.
Changing toolbar options while an annotation is selected changes that annotation. To set a different style for the next annotation, press EscEsc once to deselect first.
If you cannot select an annotation again, check that “Mark secondary editing” is set to “Enable” in the “Annotation” settings. Pencil strokes and other content that cannot be edited again must be undone and redrawn. Each tool's article explains what you can adjust.
Undo, redo, and delete
| Operation | Default shortcut | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | Ctrl+Z⌘ Command+Z | Undo the last annotation operation; you can also click “Undo” in the toolbar |
| Redo | Ctrl+Y⌘ Command+Y | Restore the operation you just undid |
| Delete the selected annotation | DeleteBackspace | Delete the selected object; undo can also restore it |
| Clear all annotations | Ctrl+Shift+Z⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+Z | Clear every annotation from the current image |
You can undo repeatedly. If you make a new annotation operation after undoing, the previously undone operations can no longer be redone.
While editing text, the delete key removes characters. The object deletion operation in the table applies to selected annotations such as shapes.
“Clear All Mark” also clears the annotation undo history, so you cannot undo it. To remove just one annotation, select and delete it, or undo the last operation.
Drag to duplicate an annotation
To create several matching frames or arrows, drag out copies within the current image. Using a rectangle as an example:
Switch back to “Geometry” and find the rectangle you have drawn.
Hold Alt⌥ Option and drag with the left mouse button from inside the rectangle to a new position. The original annotation stays in place.
Release the mouse button, then the modifier key, to finish duplicating. To move the copy horizontally or vertically, also hold Shift⇧ Shift while dragging.
- Drag from an existing annotationHold the modifier key and start dragging inside the rectangle.
- Keep the original, move the copyAlso hold Shift to move the copy horizontally or vertically.
This works with geometric shapes, arrows, text, and other annotations that support drag duplication. Pencil strokes, watermarks, and freehand mosaic or eraser strokes do not support it. This duplicates objects within the current image; to copy the entire annotated image to another app, use the screenshot or pin copy function.
Arrange toolbar buttons and groups
Keep frequently used tools on the main toolbar, put less-used tools in submenus, and hide tools you do not need for now.
Open toolbar management
Open any tool menu with a small arrow and click “Adjust” at its bottom right to open “Edit Annotation Toolbar Configuration.” You can also find “Adjustment of mark buttons” in the “Annotation” settings and click “Edit Button.”
In this window, each column represents one main toolbar button. The first tool at the top of a column is the group's default displayed tool; tools in the same column share a submenu. A column with only one tool has no dropdown arrow.
Here, “submenu” means the tool menu opened from a button, rather than the style options bar shown after selecting a tool.
Drag tools into place
| Goal | How to drag |
|---|---|
| Reorder main toolbar buttons | Drag the handle at the top of a column to move the whole column left or right |
| Make a tool the group's main displayed tool | Drag its icon into the first position in the column |
| Put a tool in a submenu | Drag its icon below the first tool in a column; the vertical order becomes the menu order |
| Give a tool its own main toolbar button | Drag its icon into the plus area on the right to create a column, then move the whole column as needed |
| Hide a tool | Drag its icon into the hidden area at the bottom |
| Restore a hidden tool | Drag it from the bottom into a column, or into the plus area to give it a separate button |
Changes are saved automatically. Close the window when you are done. Click “Restore Defaults” to reset the entire button layout.
The plus area accepts tools dragged into it; clicking the plus does not create an empty column. Hiding a tool only affects access to it and does not delete annotations already on the image.
Remember the last tool used in a group
To show the last selected tool in a group next time, turn on “Remember toolbar tool selections” in the “Annotation” settings. This is off by default. When it is off, temporarily switching tools in a group does not change the default layout.
Related articles
History
Restore closed pins, set their restore order and history limit, resume unclosed pins on startup, and distinguish hiding, closing, and deleting.
Geometric shapes
Highlight screenshots with rectangles and ellipses, adjust outlines and fills, create rounded corners, sectors, and rings, and transform shapes.