Creating and Editing Markups
Markups provide a method for annotating your PDF. They are part of the PDF, but not part of the underlying content. Because of this they can be moved and edited much more readily than the PDF content. Markups are always separate from the content of the PDF, but they can be associated with different layers if desired. Throughout this documentation the terms "annotation" and "markups" may be used interchangeably.
The tools to create and edit markups can be found in the Tools menu, in the
For detailed reference for each tool, see Tools and Toolbars.
Properties Panel for Markups
Each markup has a set of properties that control its appearance and organizes information related to it which are shown in the Properties panel.
Property Options
Some actions are common to all annotations. These options are available at the bottom of the Properties panel under Options.
Add to Tool Chest: Adds to the currently selected markup to a selected tool set in the Tool Chest for easy reuse.
Set As Default: Uses the current property settings (color, opacity, thickness, and so on) as the default properties for that markup type going forward.
Note: This button changes in certain cases. When multiple markups are selected, it becomes a Group button; click it to group those markups. When a grouped markup is selected it becomes an Ungroup button; click it to separate the annotations back into individual markups.
Locking Markups
Markups can be locked to protect them from editing. When locked, all properties related to the markup will be unavailable.
When a locked markup is selected in the main workspace, its control points will be gray, indicating that it cannot be moved or resized (as shown in the following example).
Finally, locked markups cannot be grouped.
To lock or unlock a markup, select it (either in the workspace or on the Markups list) and do any of the following:
- In the General section of the Properties panel, select Lock.
-
- Press
- If the Lock column is shown in the Markups list (see Markups List: Columns Menu for information about showing and hiding columns in the Markups list), click the box in that column.
Multiple markups can be locked or unlocked at the same time. Just select all of the desired markups and use one of the first three methods mentioned above.
Context Menu for Markups
The most commonly used operations are accessible through a context menu which appears whenever the markup is right-clicked. The menu differs depending on the type of markup, whether multiple markups are selected, and whether the PDF has one or multiple pages.
The most common context menu items are:
Cut (
Copy (
Paste (
Paste in Place (
Delete (DEL): Deletes the selected markup.
Open Pop-Up Note: Opens a comment box that is functionally similar to the Note Tool for entering information about the selected markup.
Control Point: Enables adding and editing control points for adding curved parameters to annotations to applicable markups.
Convert to Arc: Converts a line segment to an Arc to applicable markups.
Layer: Associates the markup with a layer, allowing easy toggling of visibility.
Order: Arranges overlapping markups from back to front.
Alignment: Provides options for aligning multiple markups.
Edit Action: Determines what happens when a user clicks the markup.
Flatten: Flattens the selected markup or markups.
Group: Converts two or more markups into a single markup element.
Ungroup: Breaks up a group into its individual markup elements.
Lock (CTRL+SHIFT+L): Protects the annotation from editing. The control points for the annotation change to gray, indicating that the annotation is in a locked state. To unlock, select the annotation and select Lock again to toggle the lock state off.
Legend: Creates a markup legend, summarizing the markups on the document.
Reply: Reveals the Markups list (if hidden) and allows you to post a response to the annotation. Replies appear on a new row under the markup's entry on the Markups list in the Comments column. See the Markups list section for more information. Additionally, a 
reply indicator will appear on the PDF below the markup to notify other users that the markup has replies if they have reply indicators enabled.
Set Status: Sets the status of the markup. The Status is visible in the Markups list.
Check: Applies a checkmark to the markup in the Markups list, often indicating that the annotation has been incorporated back into the CAD drawing or that the source document has been updated based on the comment.
Add to Tool Chest: Adds the selected annotation to Tool Chest for easy reuse of the markup. Hover over the menu item to show the currently enabled tool sets in a submenu. Click a tool set to place the annotation in that set.
Set As Default: Uses the current properties settings for all new annotations of this type going forward. For example, if a free text annotation is selected, all of the settings such as font color, line color for the surrounding text box and the fill color will all default to the current settings on the currently selected annotation and will continue to do so until they are changed again.
Apply to All Pages: Places the same annotation on each page of the current PDF. The same properties are applied to all the pages.
Apply to Selected Pages: When multiple pages are selected in the Thumbnails panel, Apply to All Pages becomes Apply to Selected Pages. Places the same annotation on each page that is selected in the Thumbnails tab.
Properties: Reveals the Properties panel and indicates the current settings for the selected annotation on the tab.
Change Colors: Opens the Change Multiple Colors tool, allowing for selective color changing when multiple markups are selected.
Autosize Text Box: Reduces the size of a text box so that it fits around the text, but is no larger.
Select Sequence: Selects all members of a Sequence.
Resume Count: Resumes adding the selected Count measurement to the PDF.
Resume Sequence: Resumes placing the selected Sequence markup to the PDF.