We use cookies to improve your experience and analyze site traffic. By clicking "Accept", you consent to our use of cookies. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Reader Drawing

Let signed-in readers draw and highlight on your pages with a pen, highlighter and eraser. Their drawings are private and sync across their devices.

Reader Drawing

Reader drawing lets your readers draw, write and highlight on your pages, as they would on paper: circle a figure, underline a passage, work through an exercise. Each reader's drawings are private to them and saved to their reader account, so they are still there on their next visit and on their other devices.

Plan requirement: Business and Enterprise plans.

Turn it on

Reader drawing is set per publication, and it is off by default.

  1. Open your publication in the editor

  2. Click the Settings tab (gear icon) in the left sidebar

  3. Under Viewer Controls, switch on Reader drawing

The setting saves straight away. Reload the reader view to see the Draw on pages button in the toolbar.

You can try it yourself in the publication's preview. Nothing you draw in preview is saved.

What readers see

Readers click Draw on pages in the toolbar, or press D. Drawing works in Scroll view, so the reader switches to it, and goes back to the view they were using when they click Done drawing.

The drawing tools are:

  • Pen, Pencil and Marker, each in a choice of colours and three thicknesses

  • Highlighter, which lets the text show through

  • Eraser, which can erase part of a stroke or whole strokes

  • Scroll (hand), to move through the book without drawing

  • Undo and Redo (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z), and Clear this page

Drawings save as the reader goes. If the connection drops, they are kept on the device and saved when it comes back.

Who can draw

  • Readers sign in to draw. A reader who isn't signed in sees Draw on pages with a prompt to sign in, because drawings are saved to their account.

  • On a paid publication, only readers who own it. Reading the free preview of a paid title doesn't let a reader save drawings on it.

  • Drawings are private. Neither you nor other readers can see them.

Turning it off

Switch Reader drawing off in the same place. The drawing tools disappear from the reader. Readers' existing drawings are kept, and come back if you turn it on again.

If your organization moves to a plan without reader drawing, publications that already have it on stay as they are until you switch it off, but readers can no longer save new drawings.