Annotations

Docwize allows you to annotate documents. This means that shapes, text boxes, images and notes can be added to the document. In addition, you can add static and dynamic stamps to documents. When you select to preview a document, the most recent version of the document is automatically opened.

Annotations are saved as you add them, so there is no save button to remember. Each annotation can also carry its own thread of notes, which is useful when a reviewer needs to explain why something was marked up.

What you can do in Annotations

• Access annotation tools from the preview window
• Draw lines, rectangles, circles, arrows and clouds on a document
• Add text boxes and images to a document
• Set the default colour and font size for new annotations
• Add notes to any annotation, and reply to existing notes
• Delete or duplicate an annotation
• Create a signature and sign a document
• Add your name, the date or custom text with Signature Text
• Mark where a signature should go with a signature field
• Use stamp collections while annotating
• View every annotation on the document in the review panel
• Burn annotations into the document file

The annotation toolbar and side panel in the document preview

Annotation features

The vertical toolbar of the preview window includes icons that enable document annotation. These shapes and features can be added to the document. Hover over an icon to see its name.

Icon	Tool	Description
	Thumbnails	Shows or hides the side panel.
	Auto Redact	Opens the AI-assisted redaction dialog.
	Default Styles	Sets the colour and font size for new annotations. See Default Styles.
	Line	Draws a straight line.
	Rectangle	Draws a rectangle.
	Redaction	Activates the semi-manual redaction tool, for boxing a section to redact.
	Circle	Draws a circle or oval.
	Arrow	Draws an arrow, pointing to where you finish dragging.
	Note	Places a text box on the page, ready for you to type in.
	Cloud	Draws a cloud, often used to highlight an area that needs attention.
	Image	Opens the Add Image Annotation dialog. See Image annotations.
	Signature	Opens your saved signatures, where you can create one or pick one to sign with. See How to create a signature and sign a document.
	Signature Text	Adds your name, the date or custom text, for example beside a signature. See Signature Text.
	Draw Signature Field	Draws a placeholder field marking where a signature should be added later, and opens Assign Signature Fields so you can choose who signs it. See Signature fields.

To draw a shape, click its tool and then drag on the page. Each tool draws one shape and then switches off, so click the tool again to draw another. The Note tool works slightly differently: click it, then click the page where the text box should go, and start typing.

Note that some of these tools appear only if you have the relevant permissions.

To remove an annotation you no longer need, or to repeat one, such as the same cloud on several areas, right-click it. The menu has Delete and Duplicate, which adds a copy of the annotation.

The menu that opens when you right-click an annotation

Default Styles

The Default Styles icon opens a small panel where you choose the colour and font size for the annotations you add next. Set it before you start marking up, so that your annotations stand out on the page, or follow a colour convention your team uses, for example red for corrections and blue for queries.

The Default Styles panel

Field	Description
Colour swatches	Sixteen colours to choose from.
Font Size	The size of the text in new annotations.

Image annotations

The Image icon lets you add a picture to the document, such as a company stamp or a site photo. Images you upload are kept in your own image library, listed under Your images the next time you open the dialog.

The Add Image Annotation dialog

Field	Description
Upload a new image	Drag and drop an image here. Once an image is chosen, Insert Image appears.
Your images	The images you have uploaded before.
Bin icon	Remove from my images takes the image out of your library.
Insert Image	Uploads the chosen image and closes the dialog.
Close	Closes the dialog.

Signatures

Signing in Docwize lets you approve or sign off a document, such as a drawing, a certificate or a form, without printing it, signing it by hand and scanning it back in. The signed document replaces the current file, and the unsigned file is kept in its version history.

The Signature icon opens the Signature panel, which lists the signatures you have saved. You only need to create a signature once. Until you do, the panel shows No signatures yet and a Create Signature button. Once you have a signature, it is listed in the panel, and the button reads Create New Signature.

The Signature panel before you have created a signature

Create Signature opens a dialog with three ways to make a signature.

The Create Signature dialog

Tab	Description
Text	Type your name in Signature Name, and Docwize shows it as a signature.
Draw	Draw your signature by hand.
Upload	Upload an image of your signature.

Click Save. With Save locally only (not synced to server) left unticked, the signature is saved to your Docwize account, so it is listed in the Signature panel whenever you sign.

When you pick a signature, it is placed at a standard size where you click. When the signature has to fit a particular box or line, for example the signature block on a form, turn on Drag to size at the top of the Signature panel before you pick it, and drag a box on the page: the signature fits inside the box and keeps its proportions.

Once a signature is on the page, a Sign Document button appears at the top of the preview. The signature is not part of the document until you click it.

A signature placed on the page, ready to sign

Signature Text

Many forms ask for your printed name and the date beside your signature. The Signature Text icon opens a panel for adding that kind of text.

The Signature Text panel

Field	Description
Drag to size	Turns sizing by dragging on or off.
Add Name	Adds your name.
Add Date	Adds today's date. Click the page where the date should go.
Custom Text	Type any text here, then click Add Custom Text.

Signature fields

When someone else has to sign a document, a signature field shows them exactly where. This is useful on forms and drawings with a specific signature block. A signature field marks the place where someone should sign later. Click Draw Signature Field and drag a box on the page. The Assign Signature Fields dialog opens straight away so you can choose who the field is for.

The Assign Signature Fields dialog

Field	Description
Recipient Email	Choose or type the email address of the person who should sign.
Cancel	Closes the dialog and removes the field you drew.
Assign Fields	Assigns the field to the recipient. It is unavailable until an email is chosen.

Notes on annotations

Any annotation can carry a thread of notes. When you add an annotation, or click one that is already on the page, a note card opens beside it. This is where you explain the mark-up, ask a question or reply to someone else's note.

The note card on a new annotation

Type in the Add a note... field and click the send icon. The note is added to the thread with the author's email address and the date, and the card's heading changes to show how many notes there are.

A note card with one note

Once an annotation has notes, a small orange marker with the number of notes appears beside it on the page. To delete a note, click the bin icon beside it.

Note that this is a separate feature from the private/shared document notes described in Notes. A note on an annotation belongs to that annotation, and there is no private/shared setting for it.

Side panel

The side panel next to the annotation toolbar helps you find your way around while you annotate: jump to a page on a long document, check its attachments, or pick a stamp. Click a tab at the top of the panel to switch between them.

Tab	Name	Description
	Thumbnails	Shows a thumbnail of each page of the document.
	Attachments	Lists the attachments of the document being previewed.
	Toolchest	Accesses the stamp collection(s) that can be applied to the document.

Review panel

On a long or heavily marked-up document it is easy to lose track of what has been commented on. To see every annotation on the document in one list, for example to check that every comment has been dealt with, open the review panel with the menu icon at the top right of the Preview Document toolbar. The panel has three tabs.

Tab	Name	Description
	Annotations	Lists the annotations on the document.
	Notes	Shows the document's notes.
	Tags	Shows the document's tags.

The Annotations tab is split into three sections. Click a section's heading to expand or collapse it.

The Annotations tab of the review panel

Section	Description
Signature Fields	Signature fields that are part of the document file.
Document Annotations	Annotations that are already part of the document file itself.
Live Annotations	The annotations added in Docwize, grouped by page. Each card shows who added it and when, along with its notes and an Add a note... field.

Burning annotations into the document

Annotations you add in Docwize are live: they sit on top of the document, so they can still be changed or deleted, and each one keeps its thread of notes. That suits a document that is still being reviewed.

Once the mark-up is final, for example a checked drawing that is going to a contractor, or a document that needs a permanent record of the comments on it, burn the annotations in. Burn Annotations writes them into the document file itself, so they become part of the file and stay with it, for example when it is downloaded. The button appears at the top right of the preview toolbar whenever the document has live annotations.

Once they are burned, the annotations move from Live Annotations to Document Annotations in the review panel. Docwize keeps the file as it was before: click View file versions at the top right of the preview toolbar, and the earlier file is listed with Demotion Reason: Annotated.

The file versions list after burning annotations

How to annotate a document

Step	Description
1	Open the document in the Preview Document window.
2	Click a tool in the annotation toolbar, for example Rectangle.
3	Drag on the page to draw the shape.
4	In the note card that opens, type a note about the annotation and click the send icon. This step is optional.
5	Close the note card. Repeat from step 2 for each annotation you want to add.

Here is an example of how to add annotations to a document:

Example: Adding document annotations

How to add a note to an annotation

Step	Description
1	Click the annotation on the page. Its note card opens.
2	Type in the Add a note... field.
3	Click the send icon.

To read the notes later, click the annotation again, or open the review panel's Annotations tab.

How to delete an annotation

Step	Description
1	Right-click the annotation on the page.
2	Click Delete.

How to burn annotations into a document

Step	Description
1	Open the document in the Preview Document window.
2	Click Burn Annotations at the top right of the toolbar.
3	Wait while Docwize burns the annotations. The document reloads with the annotations as part of the file.

How to create a signature and sign a document

Step	Description
1	Navigate to the Preview Document window and to the annotation toolbar.
2	Click Signature.
3	Click Create Signature.
4	Choose Text, Draw or Upload, and create your signature. See Signatures.
5	Click Save.
6	To sign the document, click Signature again and click your signature.
7	Click the page where the signature should go.
8	Click Sign Document at the top of the page.

If you already have a signature, start at step 6.

Here is an example of how to create a signature and sign a document:

Example: Creating a signature and signing a document

If the document still has live annotations when you sign, Docwize burns them into the document first, then signs it. You don't need to click Burn Annotations beforehand.

After signing, Docwize keeps the unsigned file. It is listed in View file versions with Demotion Reason: Signed.