Circle or box something on a PDF
Circle a word with an ellipse, box a figure, point at a paragraph with an arrow, separate two blocks with a line. Color and thickness adjust before or after you draw.
Free · 100% local — nothing is uploaded- 1Open your PDF.
- 2Choose the shape — rectangle, ellipse, arrow or line — and draw it.
- 3Adjust color and thickness, then download.
How to circle or box something on a PDF
Open the document, choose the shape — rectangle, ellipse, arrow or line — and draw it on the page. Circling an amount, boxing a paragraph, pointing at a clause with an arrow, separating two blocks with a rule: these are the four gestures one makes with a red pen on paper. Color and thickness are set before or after you draw, and the shape stays editable for as long as you have not frozen it: you move it, resize it, remove it. It is saved as a standard annotation, so it shows at your recipient’s end and in print, and the file stays on your device. Nothing is flattened until you ask: the shape stays an object you can adjust, which lets you prepare a review in several passes. A stroke can be taken up again as many times as it needs before it is settled.
Hollow or filled, and over what
A hollow shape lets you read what it circles: that is what you want when drawing the eye. A filled shape masks what it covers on screen, but the text stays in the file underneath — to really make a passage disappear, redaction is what you need, which removes the characters from the page’s content stream. The distinction is not cosmetic: a black rectangle laid over an account number comes off in two clicks at the end of whoever receives the document.
Frequently asked questions
Does the shape stay editable afterwards?
Yes, in Vélin as in other readers: it is an annotation, so it moves, resizes and deletes.
Can I adjust the shape after drawing it?
Yes: it takes hold by its handles, and moves, resizes and rotates — holding Shift while rotating snaps it every fifteen degrees. Its measurements show during the gesture.
What color are shapes by default?
An ink blue, distinct from the interface’s red: what you put on the document should never wear the color of the tool.
Do my annotations print?
Yes: they are part of the file, not of the display. A red arrow placed on screen comes out red on paper, in the same place and at the same thickness.
Can the shape be filled rather than hollow?
The stroke is an outline, so as not to hide what it circles. To cover an area, use whiteout instead, or redaction if the content really has to disappear.