How do I annotate PDFs in SpacesEDU?

Reviewing work and providing clear, visual feedback is a vital part of the learning journey. With native annotation tools directly in SpacesEDU, teachers and students can highlight, draw, and comment on PDF documents without needing to download and re-upload the file or switch to another app.

How to Annotate a PDF

You can annotate PDFs within Posts, Activity Submissions, and Comments.

1. Open the post or activity containing the PDF you want to mark up, then click on the document.
2. Click the Annotate button located at the top right. This will open the document in a full-screen annotation view.
3. Use the toolbar at the top to select your preferred drawing or text tools and apply your notes.
4. When you are finished, click Save in the top right corner.

Note: If you attempt to close the annotation tool without saving, you will see a warning message to ensure you don't accidentally lose your work in progress.

What annotation tools are available?

Within the annotation view, students and teachers have access to a full suite of markup tools:

• Text Features: Add text, highlights, underlines, strikeouts, and squiggly lines overlaid on the document.
• Drawing Tools: Draw with freehand ink, circles, squares, arrows, and lines.
• Comments & Links: Add text comments to specific locations within the document, and insert clickable links.
• Helpful Utilities: Fullscreen mode, a hand tool for dragging around the document, text search, zoom in, and zoom out.
• As annotations are added to the document, you can browse them in the panel on the left-hand side of the screen.

How your annotations are saved

The way your marked-up PDF is saved depends on whether the work is still a draft or has already been published:

• Drafts and In-Progress Work: If you are editing a draft post or activity submission, the system will ask if you want to Replace the original PDF with your new annotated version.

• Published and Submitted Work: If you annotate a PDF that is already published in a post or activity, your drawings and notes will not change the original file. Instead, when you click Save, your annotated version will automatically be added as an additional file inside a comment on that post.

Student Annotation

Students have access to the same powerful annotation tools as teachers, allowing them to self-reflect, complete worksheets, or respond to feedback. To keep the classroom environment safe and organized:

• Students can only annotate their own content, or content that a teacher has posted individually on their behalf (for example in a 1:1 Space).
• Students cannot annotate content posted by their peers, or by a teacher in posts shared across multiple students.

Important Notes & Limitations

• Web Only: Creating and applying PDF annotations is currently available exclusively on the web version of SpacesEDU.
• Mobile Viewing: While you cannot create annotations on the mobile app, students and families can still view the final annotated PDFs using the iOS and Android apps.

Annotating other files:

• Annotation tools are only supported with .PDF files.
• If you select a Google Doc when adding to a post, it will be automatically converted into an annotatable PDF.
• Word docs and other document formats must be saved as PDFs before they can be annotated in SpacesEDU. You can either save as a PDF from your document editor, or click the menu button at the top right (three dots) when viewing a document to download as a PDF.

Updated on: 05/05/2026