Spotlight
Find Spotlight in the Geometry submenu, highlight areas in screenshots and image pins, adjust the mask and stroke, and keep several areas bright.
Spotlight keeps important areas unchanged while darkening the surrounding image, helping readers find the button, paragraph, or detail you want to explain. Use it for instructions or to highlight several areas in one image.
Find Spotlight in the submenu
In the default layout, “Spotlight” is in the “Geometry” submenu. The toolbar initially shows a box icon. Expand the small arrow beside it to find the light bulb icon.
For a screenshot, select an area first. On an image pin, press SpaceSpace to show the annotation toolbar.
Click the small angled arrow to the right of “Geometry” to open the grouped tool menu.
Click “Spotlight.” The group's toolbar button changes to a light bulb, and the spotlight style bar appears below.
You can also select Spotlight directly with the default shortcut Shift+0⇧ Shift+0.
If you have changed the button layout, its location may differ. For frequent use, click “Adjust” at the bottom right of the menu to move it to the top level. See Manage button order and grouping.
Draw the area to keep bright
Choose “Rectangle” or “Ellipse” in the style bar. Hold the left mouse button and drag from one corner of the important area to the opposite corner, then release. Its inside stays unchanged, and a black mask covers the outside.
A rectangle suits buttons, paragraphs, and whole panels; an ellipse suits individual details. Hold Shift⇧ Shift while dragging to draw a square or circle.
For a rounded rectangle, select rectangle, then hover over its button to adjust “Corner radius” in the popup panel. A value of 0 gives square corners.
With an existing area selected, switching between rectangle and ellipse or changing the corner radius modifies that area directly. To choose a different shape for the next area, press EscEsc once to deselect, then set the shape and draw.
Adjust the surrounding brightness
“Opacity” in the style bar controls the black mask outside the important area. Higher values darken the surroundings; lower values reveal more context. The default is 70%.
Drag the slider, or scroll over the image: up darkens the mask, and down lightens it. At 100%, everything outside the important area becomes fully black.
- 30% · contextSurroundings stay clearer
- 70% · emphasisDarker surroundings
- Several bright areasCombine rectangles and ellipses
Lower opacity to preserve context, or darken the surroundings to draw attention to the important area first. If scrolling over the image has no effect, check “Disable mouse wheel to adjust annotation tools.”
Add a stroke around the important area
Check “Stroke” in the style bar to draw an outline around the spotlight area. It is off by default; turn it on when you need a stronger boundary.
Hover over the stroke width icon or value to open its panel. Adjust “Stroke Width” above and choose a stroke color from the palette below. This color affects the outline; the surrounding mask stays black.
With a spotlight selected and its stroke enabled, hold Ctrl⌘ Command and scroll to adjust stroke width.
Highlight several areas in one image
To emphasize two buttons or several paragraphs, keep dragging in other locations to add spotlight areas. Each remains bright, and only the outside is darkened. Overlapping areas join together.
All spotlights in one image share opacity and stroke settings. Changing mask darkness, the stroke toggle, width, or color affects the other areas too. Their shapes, sizes, and positions can be adjusted separately.
Move, resize, and delete
Keep “Spotlight” selected and click an existing bright area to adjust it. If you cannot select it again, set “Mark secondary editing” to “Enable.”
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Move an area | Drag inside it, or fine-tune with the arrow keys |
| Change its bounds | Drag the square control points at its corners or edges |
| Adjust rounded corners | With a rectangle selected, drag the circular control point inside a corner, or use the rectangle button's corner radius panel |
| Delete an area | Select it, then press DeleteBackspace |
Deleting an area restores the mask there. Where it overlaps another spotlight, the overlap remains bright. Deleting the last spotlight restores the whole image's original brightness.
If you delete an area accidentally or draw in the wrong place, press Ctrl+Z⌘ Command+Z to undo. See Annotation basics for more general operations.
Related articles
Mosaic
Cover parts of screenshots and image pins with rectangles or a pencil, adjust mosaic and blur strength, edit rectangles, and undo freehand strokes.
Highlighter
Find the highlighter in the Pencil submenu, emphasize text or areas, set direction, width, color, and blending, and adjust existing highlights.