Software to draw on documents?

[Ambrosia7177]

At work my boss is trying to get people to work more in the digital world and save trees.

Is there any setup for my Mac where I could open a document (e.g. Word, Excel, PDF, HTML), and then draw on it like I am taking notes on a piece of paper?

I am mostly interested in being able to do things like circle things, cross things out, draw free-hand diagrams, but being able to actually write would be even better.

I have a 2012 MBP with Mountain Lion on it.

Not sure what hardware or software I would need.

Can this be done?

Oh, BTW, if there is anything that is open-source, that would be a bonus!

 

[cruisin]

Preview has some annotation options but in 10.10 it gained a drawing option. https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20218?locale=en_US

You have to check what Preview does in 10.8, but it should do text at least. I doubt that there is an app that annotates everything, but all will work with PDF so if you convert everything to PDF you should be fine. So you just need an app to annotate. Skim (http://skim-app.sourceforge.net) is a favourite for many and you should be fine with it unless you update to the newest OSX. Otherwise something like this: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-reader-your-file-viewer/id615956269?mt=12 could work.

For Pen support you need a drawing tablet of some kind (like the Wacom line, most will pretend to be a mouse) and a graphics program (like the open source GIMP), or failing that you need an actual tablet (like an iPad) and you can use your finger or a $5 capacitive pen.

 

[Tomorrow]

Skitch?

Bluebeam Revu?

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Thanks for the replies, but I don't think you understood what I'm looking for.

I was hoping to find software that would let me open up an MS Word or MS Excel or MS PowerPoint or Text or PDF document, and take a digital pen and draw all over it, similar to how a teacher might mark up a students paper, or you might draw over a slide projected onto a whiteboard, or how you might markup a screenshot that has been printed out.

Yes, I guess I would need one of those pads that looks like a large touch pad with a stylus.

The key concept, if I want to draw on top of a transparent layer above the documents, but I don't want to edit the document itself, and if the built in drawing tools in the above named applications were so good, I wouldn't be here looking for a solution.

Does that make more sense?

 

[zhenya]

Lots of tools to do this, but I would look at Microsoft OneNote which tends to best match the paradigm you are looking for where it allows you to insert documents and then mark them up but not modify the actual document (this is for better and for worse as you will soon find out). The latest versions of Office all have drawing tools built in but AFAIK this is native to the document and I don't think you can hide the annotations.

This is a LOT more natural on an iPad - especially the Pro models with the Pencil, but people have been doing this for years with cheap capacitive styli and there are a ton of great tools for this on iOS.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Lots of tools to do this, but I would look at Microsoft OneNote which tends to best match the paradigm you are looking for where it allows you to insert documents and then mark them up but not modify the actual document (this is for better and for worse as you will soon find out). The latest versions of Office all have drawing tools built in but AFAIK this is native to the document and I don't think you can hide the annotations.

This is a LOT more natural on an iPad - especially the Pro models with the Pencil, but people have been doing this for years with cheap capacitive styli and there are a ton of great tools for this on iOS.

Since this is a Mac forum, I was looking for a Mac solution. I don't have Windows or MS Office installed on my Mac - I just use OpenOffice.

 

[zhenya]

Since this is a Mac forum, I was looking for a Mac solution. I don't have Windows of MS Office installed on my Mac - I just use OpenOffice.

OneNote is free for Mac. It's in the app store.

I wouldn't turn your nose up because it's Microsoft. It's the best note-taking tool available right now, and happens to be cross-platform and updated very aggressively.

 

[Tomorrow]

Does that make more sense?

You made sense before. I use Acrobat and Bluebeam Revu to do what you're describing.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

OneNote is free for Mac. It's in the app store.

I wouldn't turn your nose up because it's Microsoft. It's the best note-taking tool available right now, and happens to be cross-platform and updated very aggressively.

It would be nice if the website told you what it did?!

There is no link to "Features" or any "Demos" and the video on the home page is useless.

Care to explain what it does?

As far as Microsoft goes, yes I do turn my nose up at them since I switched to Apple a decade ago.

Microsoft makes me feel dirty...

 

[zhenya]

It would be nice if the website told you what it did?!

There is no link to "Features" or any "Demos" and the video on the home page is useless.

Care to explain what it does?

As far as Microsoft goes, yes I do turn my nose up at them since I switched to Apple a decade ago.

Microsoft makes me feel dirty...

I don't know what website you are talking about? I would just download OneNote and give it a try as it's one of the closer tools to accomplishing what you want. As I mentioned, this is even better on an iPad - either in OneNote or in the many other tools available for iOS.