How to draw on a PDF.

Don’t waste time trying to explain complex PDF markups with words. Learn how to draw on PDFs and make your meaning crystal clear.

A picture is worth a thousand words. When marking up PDFs, a simple drawing can sometimes explain things much more effectively than a long-winded text comment. For example, if you need to tell an editor to move an image on a page, you can show the new location clearly with a drawing.

But how exactly do you draw on PDFs? You don’t need an image editor — you can easily do it with Adobe Acrobat.

Draw on any PDF document.

1. Launch Acrobat and select File > Open to bring up your PDF.
2. Select Comment from the menu bar on the right.
3. Select the marker icon in the Comment toolbar to activate the Draw Free Form tool.
4. Draw on the PDF. You can change line color, thickness, and opacity in the Comment toolbar.
5. Once you’re finished, save your PDF.

How to draw lines in PDF.

There are a wide array of reasons you may want to draw lines in a PDF. Maybe a whole paragraph of text contains incorrect information and you want to indicate that it needs to be removed from the final version of the document. You can use the line tool to cross out the incorrect paragraph.

Use the following steps to draw a line in your PDF using Adobe Acrobat.

1. In Acrobat, Click the Tools tab, then click Comment.
2. Click the Drawing Tools and select Line.
3. From here, you can go to your document and draw a line. To make your line straight, press the Shift key and draw your line. To make the line thinner or thicker, select the line and click the icon with four lines on the right side of the comment pane. Now you can adjust the thickness of the line. Save your work once you’re done.

How to edit PDF drawings.

To move or resize a drawing, click the drawing, and a bounding box will appear around it. Click and drag the resizing handles to adjust the size of your drawing. You can also move the drawing by clicking the border of the box. You can use the resizing handle at the end of the arrow to reposition it on the page how you want it.

To delete a drawing, click the drawing’s border to select it, then press the Delete key on your keyboard or right-click the drawing and select the Delete command from the pop-up menu.

For adjustments to the drawing’s appearance, right-click a drawing and select the Properties command in the pop-up menu that appears. In the Properties dialog box, you can adjust elements such as style, color, and opacity in the Appearance tab. Click OK when done.

Be sure to save any new changes you make.

Draw on PDFs anywhere with an online tool.

If you’re away from your computer, don’t worry. You can draw on PDFs just as easily with Acrobat online services.

1. Navigate to the PDF editor.
2. Upload your PDF.
3. Draw your markings with the Drawing tool. When you’re finished, simply download your document.

Your needs are constantly changing, and the way you work evolves with them. Adobe’s tools and features will continue to expand to help with all your document-related needs. Find out about other ways to work with PDFs online, and discover what more you can do with Acrobat to convert, share, compress, and send PDFs.