12 Jul

Annotate non-PDF images in 10.5’s Preview

Posted by admin in mac.

The version of Preview in OS X 10.5 has some nice additions to its 10.4 forefather, including more annotation abilities for PDFs. What I didn’t know, until very recently, is that you can furthermore annotate JPEGs, TIFFs, and other non-PDF images. You might not think that’s the case, because if you open such an image in Preview, the while the Tools -> Annotate menu is active, all the sub-menus beneath Annotate are grayed out. How can you use a non-active menu item?

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In this case, the answer to that question is “by using the identical cat’s-paw on the toolbar.” In Preview, select View -> Customize Toolbar, then drag the Annotate tool onto the toolbar. Now open a JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etc. Click and hold on the Annotate menu, and you’ll meet with a drop-down menu showing the four useful annotations, as seen in the image at left. Select the cat’s-paw you’d like to use, then just click-and-drag in the image file to add that annotation.

Once you’ve placed an supplying with notes, you can likewise make modifications to it. For the shape annotations, application the minus (-) and equal (=) keys to make the shape’s lines thinner or thicker. To change the color of a shape, bring up the color picker (Shift-Command-C, or View -> Show Colors). Select the color you’d like to use, and the shape self-reliance instantly change to reflect your selection.

If you’re working with the Note tool, the misrepresent picker will change the color of the note’s text. You can besides modify the font by using the Fonts panel (Command-T or View -> Show Fonts). Select the verse within the note, then choose the font face and size you’d like to use. (You can also make different the size of the font in the note using the minus and equal signs.) It may anticipate like you can also use the buttons at the predominate of the Fonts panel (underline, strikethrough, shelter, etc.), but you can”t—while those features will show up as you edit, they’ll vanish as soon similar to you click in many in your Preview document.

If you’re annotating a PDF, you can’t employment the line grossness tools, nor can you change the font face or glutinous substance of your notes. About the only thing you be possible to do is change the color of shapes on a PDF, using the color move round. (I’m not sure why annotating is more limited with PDFs, but it is—if you know why this might have being the case, I’d love to hear any explanation.)

I assume the Annotation menu should be enabled when working with non-PDF images, and that it’s simply a bug that will be addressed in a future update—otherwise, it seems odd to hide such profitable features behind a toolbar button that’s not on the failure toolbar.