Write, highlight, select, and erase with simple Apple Pencil gestures.

Pen always active

Start handwriting naturally on the PDF, without first choosing a tool.

Double-tap to switch

Double-tap Apple Pencil to switch from pen to lasso. In Settings, this can be changed to switch to eraser instead.

Squeeze to erase

With Apple Pencil Pro, squeeze to erase while squeezing. The squeeze gesture is configurable in Settings.

Configurable behavior

Settings include gesture actions, return-to-pen timing, highlighting behavior, eraser behavior, and more.

Pencil settings

Simple defaults, with room for personal workflow.

Pencil gestures are designed to keep annotation direct: write with the pen, briefly switch tools with Pencil gestures, and let the app return to the pen automatically when configured.

Auto return to pen Choose a timer so lasso or eraser can fall back to pen after a gesture-driven action.

Highlight or select Choose what a Pencil long-press on text should do first.

Lasso or eraser Use double-tap or squeeze for the tool behavior that feels most natural.

Pencil settings screen showing configurable Pencil gestures and options

Pen handwriting annotations

Start writing. Scratch out strokes when you want to erase.

The pen is always ready, so writing feels immediate. Users can also configure a timer that returns the Pencil to the pen after lasso or eraser is activated with a Pencil gesture.

Handwritten annotation before using scratch to erase — Write naturally on the PDF.

Scratch gesture drawn across pen strokes — Scratch across strokes to remove them.

Annotation after scratched strokes are erased — The scratched strokes disappear.

Text selection

Long-press with Pencil to select text and open the context menu.

When long-press with Pencil is assigned to text selection in Settings, the selection context menu opens automatically. Options include highlighting the selected text, adding a note, copying the selection, creating a link in the selected text to a URL or another PDF page, searching Google or Google Scholar, adding an entry to the ToC, translating, looking up, or bookmarking.

When a link is created, a blue underline marks the linked text. The link can then be followed with a two-finger tap. Created links work inside the app, but may not work in exported or external PDF files.

Text selection context menu opened from a Pencil long-press — Selection opens the full context menu.

Selected text with a blue underline indicating a created link — Created links are marked with a blue underline.

Highlight text

Long-press text with Pencil to highlight or select.

A Pencil long-press on text starts highlighting or text selection, depending on the setting. Tapping an existing highlight with Pencil opens the highlight context menu for quick actions.

PDF highlight context menu opened on highlighted text

Free lasso

Double-tap Pencil to select handwritten strokes.

Double-tap Apple Pencil to switch from pen to lasso. Draw around pen strokes to select them, then tap the selection to open the lasso context menu.

Lasso context menu opened for selected handwritten strokes

Rectangular lasso

Long-press with lasso active to start a rectangular selection.

When the lasso tool is active, long-press to begin a rectangular lasso. Tap the selected region to open the context menu for the selected content.

Rectangular lasso context menu opened over a selected PDF region

Eraser

Erase only while the squeeze is active.

With Apple Pencil Pro, squeezing can temporarily activate the eraser and release back to the previous flow. Like the other Pencil gestures, this behavior can be configured in Settings.