Drawing shapes, arrows and clouds on a PDF

Words are not always the clearest way to comment. Circling a problem, drawing an arrow to the right spot or boxing an area to be changed often says it faster. PDF by Zaweba has a full set of shape comments for that.

Rectangle, oval, line, arrow and cloud are drawn by dragging. Polygon and connected lines are drawn by clicking at each corner, then double-clicking or pressing Enter to finish. Properties give colour, fill, opacity, line width, dashed or cloudy borders and ten line endings.

Which shape for which job

A rectangle frames an area: a paragraph to rewrite, a part of a form to fill in, a picture to replace. An oval does the same with a softer look and is good for circling a single word or figure.

Lines and arrows point. An arrow from a margin note to the thing it describes is clear at any zoom. A plain line can underline or connect two points.

Clouds are the traditional mark on drawings and plans for "something changed here" or "check this area". Their scalloped edge stands out from the straight lines of a drawing, which is exactly why reviewers use them.

Polygons follow irregular areas, such as a room on a floor plan or an oddly shaped region of a map. Connected lines draw a path with several bends, useful for tracing a route or a cable run.

Drawing precisely

For drag shapes, start at one corner and drag to the opposite one. For polygons and connected lines, click each corner in turn. When you reach the last one, double-click or press Enter. Zooming in first makes it easier to place corners exactly.

Using properties well

Colour and fill are the obvious ones. An unfilled red rectangle draws attention without hiding what is inside. A filled shape with low opacity tints an area while leaving it readable, a gentle way to mark a region on a plan.

Line width matters on dense pages. A thin line can vanish on a busy drawing; a slightly heavier one stays visible when zoomed out.

Dashed borders suggest something provisional, like a proposed area or a possible change. Cloudy borders turn any rectangle or polygon into a revision cloud.

The ten line endings change how lines and arrows finish. Arrowheads, open or closed, and other endings let you show direction, dimension lines or plain connections as the job needs.

How shapes fit with the rest

Shapes work best alongside words. A cloud plus a callout explaining the change is clearer than either alone. A rectangle round a paragraph plus a sticky note asking for a rewrite tells the author what and why.

Every shape is a comment, so it shows in the Comments panel, where it can be given a status, replied to or filtered. If you need actual measurements rather than marks, the measuring tools give distance, perimeter and area with a drawing scale.

Fill, colour and the redaction trap

Covering what you are commenting on is the commonest. A solid filled rectangle hides the text underneath. Use no fill or low opacity unless hiding is the point.

Too many colours is another. Pick a small set and use it consistently, perhaps one colour per reviewer or per kind of comment.

Finally, shapes are not redaction. A black rectangle over sensitive text only covers it; the words are still in the file. For anything private, use proper redaction.

With a little restraint, the shape tools in PDF by Zaweba let you mark up a page as clearly as a pen on paper, and keep it tidy enough for others to follow.