Tutorials MarkupCraft help Walkthroughs
Mark up a sheet
Draw revision clouds, callouts, text boxes, arrows, shapes, pen strokes and highlights, and set their color and line before or after.
Written for MarkupCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
Every tool works the same way: pick it, draw on the sheet, and the new markup is selected so you can see it in Properties. The tool stays on for the next one. The status bar always says what the tool expects next.
Touch
On a touch screen, use one finger to draw. A second finger cancels what the first one started and pinches or pans instead, so you never leave a mark by accident while zooming. More in Review on an iPad or touch screen.
Revision clouds
Box cloud: choose Cloud (CC) and drag a box. Hold ⇧Shift to make it square.
Free cloud around an odd shape:
- Choose Free cloud (⇧CShift+C).
- Click each corner of the area.
- Finish with a double-click, ReturnEnter or a right-click. On touch, double-tap.
While you click points, DeleteBackspace removes the last point and EscEsc cancels the whole shape. Hold ⇧Shift to keep the next side at a multiple of 45°. A free cloud needs at least three points.
The scallops always bulge outward and their size follows the line width: a thicker line gives bigger arcs.
Callouts
A callout is a text box with a leader pointing at something.
- Choose Callout (KK).
- Press on the point you want to call out and drag to where the text should go. Let go. If you just click without dragging, the box is placed up and to the right of the point.
- Type the text. The box grows downward as the lines wrap.
- Click anywhere outside the box, or press ⌘ ReturnCtrl+Enter, to finish. EscEsc throws the callout away.
If you finish without typing anything, no callout is added ("Nothing typed, so no callout was added.").
After it is drawn, select it to move the box, drag the leader's tip or its bend (the two diamond handles), or resize the box.
Text boxes
- Choose Text (TT).
- Click where the text starts (you get a box of a sensible width), or drag a box of the size you want.
- Type, then click outside or press ⌘ ReturnCtrl+Enter.
Text has no border by default. To give it one, raise Line width in Properties. To give it a background, tick Fill.
To change the words later: with Select on, double-click the text, or select it and press ReturnEnter, or choose Edit on the sheet in Properties. You can also edit it in the Text box in Properties.
Arrows and lines
- Choose Arrow (AA) or Line (LL).
- Drag from the start to the end. Or click the start, let go, and click the end.
- Hold ⇧Shift to keep it at a multiple of 45°.
The arrowhead is at the end where you finished.
Rectangles, ellipses, polylines and polygons
- Rectangle (RR) and Ellipse (EE): drag a box. ⇧Shift makes a square or a circle. A click without dragging draws nothing and the status bar says to drag.
- Polyline (YY) and Polygon (GG): click points; finish with a double-click, ReturnEnter or a right-click (double-tap on touch). DeleteBackspace removes the last point. A polygon closes itself and needs three points; a polyline needs two.
Pen and highlighter
- Pen (PP): drag to draw freehand. The stroke is smoothed a little when you let go.
- Highlight (II): the same, with a wide, see-through yellow stroke that tints the drawing under it instead of covering it.
- Hold ⇧Shift while you draw to get one straight stroke from where you started.
The highlighter is a freehand stroke. It does not snap to text in the PDF.
Color, line and fill
Two ways:
- Before drawing: pick the tool. With nothing selected, Properties shows "<tool> tool" settings: Color, Line width (in points), Fill and Fill opacity for closed shapes, Opacity, and Text size for text. Every new markup of that kind uses them, and MarkupCraft remembers them in this browser.
- After drawing: select one or more markups and change the same controls under "Style". With several selected, the change applies to all of them in one step.
The defaults: red markups, a yellow highlighter, blue measurements, orange counts, and stamps colored by meaning.
Saved looks you reuse every day belong in the tool chest: see The tool chest.
Subject and comment
Every markup also has a Subject (a short label such as "Cloud" or "RFI", shown in the markups list and in other PDF viewers) and a Comment (longer notes). Fill them in Properties. For a conversation about a markup, use replies: see Statuses and replies.