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Annotations Access and Overview
Annotations Access and Overview

Learn why annotating is a good option and how to access annotations for your documents

Phoenix Robertson avatar
Written by Phoenix Robertson
Updated over 2 months ago

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Annotation Basics

II. Access Annotations

III. Select Annotation Visibility

IV. Add Annotations

V. Download Annotations

I. Annotations Basics

The annotation tools support markup of documents. This allows the user to draw attention to important information, emphasize key points, and facilitate idea-sharing between users.

Annotations improves collaboration and overall productivity by letting users share notes directly on documents before, during, and after meetings.

Annotations can private or public. Public annotations are visible to all users with access to the annotated document. Private annotations are visible only to the annotating user.

Annotations cannot be applied to documents attached from Google Docs, OneDrive, or Dropbox.

There are two different annotation types:

  1. Annotation

    1. Free hand

    2. Free hand highlight

    3. Free text

    4. Highlight

    5. Rectangle

    6. Squiggly

    7. Strikeout

    8. Underline

  2. Additional options

    1. Callout

    2. Comment

    3. Comment status

    4. Link

    5. Stamp

    6. Stamp — custom

    7. View annotator

II. Access Annotations

To view and add annotations:

  1. Navigate to the desired document

    1. To learn how to do this, please see Related Articles

  2. Click Annotate to toggle on Annotation view

    1. Annotation options drop down

    2. Comments panel opens on right side of page

    3. Public and Private buttons display to the right of Annotate toggle

Only one person at a time can annotate from within Spotlight. To annotate a meeting document at the same time as someone else, open the document from the meeting page.

III. Select Annotation Visibility

To view and create annotations which are not visible to any other person, click the Private button to the right of the Annotate toggle.

To view and create annotations which are visible to all others with access to the same document, click the Public button to the right of the Annotate toggle.

IV. Add Annotations

To use annotation options:

  1. Navigate to the document and open it

  2. Click Annotate

  3. Click desired visibility

    1. Annotation options display at the top of the document

  4. Hover over each icon to view tool name

  5. Once tool is clicked, color options for that tool become available

    1. Note that the tool selected changes colors based on color option selected

  6. Click on the document — annotation is applied

    1. Some options require additional steps — please refer to Related Articles for more details

V. Download With Annotations

Note: downloads can only include annotations when format is PDF.

To download a document with annotations:

  1. Navigate to document and open it

  2. Click Download

    1. Download menu pops out

  3. Click the box beneath Format which defaults to original file format

    1. Options drop down

  4. Click PDF

    1. Annotations toggles display beneath this

  5. Click Include Public Annotations toggle to change selection from Off to On

    1. When toggled on, downloaded document shows public annotations

  6. Click Include Private Annotations toggle to change selection from Off to On

    1. When toggled on, downloaded document shows private annotations

  7. Click Download with Annotations

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