Preview Annotation Guide

This page will teach you how to use Preview to annotate a PDF.

Please note: Preview is a pre-installed app on all macOS devices. For more information, see Apple’s Preview User Guide.

How do I open a document with preview?

Step 1: Download your document locally.

Step 2: Open your document with Preview.


How do I use the highlighter tool?

Step 1: Click the markup icon to open the tool bar.

Step 2: Click the highlighter tool and select the text you would like to highlight.

Step 3: Right click to change the colour of the highlight, add a note, or remove the annotation.

Right click to edit the text highlight.

Select the colour you would like the highlighted text to be.

Attach a note to a highlighted region.


How can I annotate the document’s text or add my own?

Step 1: Use the underline tool to underline text.

Step 2: Use the text box tool to add your own text.

Step 3: Click the typography icon to change font, font size, colour or alignment.

Step 4: Use the note tool to add notes.