On a touch-enabled device, draw with your finger, a digital pen, or a mouse.
Available inking features depend on the type of device you're using and which version of Office you're using.
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If your device is touch-enabled, the Draw tab is turned on automatically. Otherwise, on the File tab select Options, choose Customize Ribbon and pick Draw to turn it on. |
Write, draw, or highlight text
The pen set is customizable and portable. You define the pens you want to have, and they are then available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
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On the Draw tab of the Ribbon select a pen.
In Word, you must be in Print Layout to draw with ink. If the Draw tab is grayed out so that you can't select a pen, on the View tab, select Print Layout.
In Outlook, first select the body of the message and insert a drawing canvas
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Select the down arrow by the pen to change Thickness and Color options. Choose your preferred size and color.
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There are five pen thickness settings ranging from .25 mm to 3.5 mm. Select a thickness or use the plus or minus sign to make your pen thicker or thinner.
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Sixteen solid colors are available on the menu, with more available when you select More Colors.
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Eight effects are also available: Rainbow, Galaxy, Lava, Ocean, Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
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A Pencil texture is also available:
When you draw with the Pencil texture while using a supported digital stylus, you can tilt the stylus to get a "shading" effect, just like you would get with a real pencil.
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On the touch screen, begin writing or drawing.
Once you have drawn an ink shape, it behaves like any shape that you are used to working with in Office. You can select the shape, then you can move or copy it, change its color, pivot its position, and so on.
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To stop inking and select your annotations, press the Esc key.
Convert ink to text or shapes
Word or Excel: See Convert ink to shapes in Office
PowerPoint: See Convert ink to text or shapes in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365.
More features
Select a heading below to open it and see the detailed instructions.
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In the Drawing Tools, group, select the Eraser.
(In PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, you can choose from different sizes of erasers. Word has three eraser options. Select the down arrow on the Eraser button to pick the eraser that you want.)
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With your pen or finger, drag the eraser over the ink you want to remove.
With the Segment Eraser in PowerPoint, select a segment of ink or drag across it to remove it (rather than having to thoroughly wipe away the entire segment). Dragging across segments is an easy way to erase several at once.
Some active pens, such as the Surface pen, have an eraser that you can also use to erase digital ink.
All apps include a Draw tool
There is also theÂ
Applies only to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel:
To select part of a drawing or words written in ink, use the
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On the Draw tab, chooseÂ
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With your pen or finger, drag to draw a circle around the part of the drawing or word that you want to select. A faded, dashed selection region appears around it, and when you're done, the portion you lassoed is selected. Then you can manipulate that object as you wish: move it, change its color, and so on.
In both Excel and PowerPoint, with a digital pen, you can select an area without even tapping the selection tool on the ribbon. Use the supported digital pen button to Lasso Select ink without visiting the ribbon. Then you can use the pen to move, resize, or rotate the ink object.
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On the File menu, select Options, and then choose Advanced.
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In the Pen section, select the box next to Use pen to select and interact with content by default.
This setting only applies to the app in which you make it, so, for example, you can have automatic inking turned on in Visio and turned off in Word.
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Feature name |
Description |
See |
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Ink Editor |
Use touch or a digital pen with Windows digital ink to edit documents
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Ink to Text or Shape |
Convert an ink drawing to standard text or a standard Office graphic shape
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Ink to Shape |
Convert an ink drawing to a standard Office graphic shape
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Ink to Math |
Use touch or a digital pen to write a complex math equation, and then convert it to text
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Ink Replay |
Replay a series of inking actions on a slide
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Ruler |
Draw straight lines in ink, or align a set of objects
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Draw with ink in a notebook |
Hand-write notes and draw or sketch pictures |
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Language support |
See which languages are supported by Ink Editor (in Word) and the ink-to-text converter (in PowerPoint) |
Write, draw, or highlight text
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On the Draw tab select a pen to use.
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Select the down arrow to open the menu of Thickness and Color options for the pen. Choose your preferred size and color.
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There are five pen thickness settings ranging from .25 mm to 3.5 mm. Select a thickness to make your pen thicker or thinner.
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Sixteen solid colors are available on the menu, with more available when you tap More Colors.
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Eight effects are also available: Rainbow, Galaxy, Lava, Ocean, Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
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A Pencil texture is also available:
When you draw with the Pencil texture while using a supported digital stylus, you can tilt the stylus to get a "shading" effect, just like you would get with a real pencil.
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Once you have drawn an ink shape, it behaves like any shape that you are used to working with in Office. You can select the shape, then you can move or copy it, change its color, pivot its position, and so on.
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To stop inking and select your annotations, press the Esc key.
Touch drawing with a trackpad
Rather than drawing ink with your mouse, you can draw on a trackpad with your finger. See Use your trackpad for "touch" drawing for more information.
Erase ink
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Under Draw > Tools, tap the Eraser.Â
(In PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac, you can choose from different sizes of erasers. Word has three eraser options. Select the down arrow on the Eraser button to pick the eraser that you want.)
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With your mouse, pen, or finger, drag the eraser over the ink you want to remove.
Additional procedures
Select a heading below to open it and see the detailed instructions.
PowerPoint and Excel also have an ink selection tool,
Applies only to PowerPoint and Excel:
To select part of a drawing or words written in ink, use the
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On the Draw tab, chooseÂ
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With your mouse, pen, or finger, drag to draw a circle around the part of the drawing or word that you want to select. A faded, dashed selection region appears around it, and when you're done, the portion you lassoed is selected. Then you can manipulate that object as you wish: move it, change its color, and so on.
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On the PowerPoint, Word, or Excel menu, select Preferences and choose General in the Authoring and Proofing Tools group.
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In the Pen section, clear the box next to Use pen to select and interact with content by default.
This setting only applies to the current app. So, for example, you can have automatic inking turned on in Excel and turned off in Word.
Basic inking tools
Word for iOS, Excel for iOS, and PowerPoint for iOS all come with basic inking options on the Draw tab: a selection tool, a draw-with-touch tool, a stroke eraser, pens, multiple ink colors, and ink thickness options:
Draw or write
By default, Draw with Mouse or Touch (or "Inking mode") is turned on when you are using a mobile device. Just tap the Draw tab, select a pen
To change the settings on a pen:
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Tap again to open the menu of thickness and color options for the pen. Select your preferred size and color:
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There are five pen thickness settings ranging from .25 mm to 3.5 mm. Select a thickness or use the plus or minus sign to make your pen thicker or thinner.
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Sixteen solid colors are available on the menu, with more available when you tap More Ink Colors.
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(For Microsoft 365 subscribers only) Eight effects are also available: Rainbow, Galaxy, Lava, Ocean, Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
A Pencil texture is now available:
The Apple Pencil is sensitive to pressure, which allows you to vary line thickness. It's also sensitive to tilt, which allows you to create shading, as you can with a tilted lead pencil.
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On the touch screen, begin writing or drawing.
Once you have drawn an ink shape, it behaves like any shape that you are used to working with in Office. You can select the shape, then you can move or copy it, change its color, pivot its position, and so on.
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To stop inking and select your annotations, either to modify or move them, turn off Draw with Touch on the Draw tab. Turning off this feature also keeps you from making accidental ink marks when your hand touches the screen.
Watch a video overview of the inking features in iPhone and iPad:
2:47
Select
On an iOS device, Inking mode is turned on when you have selected a pen or highlighter on the Draw tab. Otherwise, you are in Select mode, and you can tap to select an object.
(If you're using an Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro device, you can make Select mode the default by going to app settings.)
PowerPoint and Excel have an ink selection tool, Lasso Select,
To select part of a drawing or words written in ink in PowerPoint or Excel, use the Lasso Select tool:
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On the Draw tab on the Ribbon, tap Lasso Select
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With your pen or finger, drag to encircle the ink that you want to select.
A faded, dashed selection region appears as you drag, and when you're done, the portion you've lassoed is selected. Then you can manipulate that object as you wish: move it, copy it, delete it, and so on.
Erase
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On the Draw tab, tap the Eraser.Â
Word has three erasers to choose from—a stroke eraser, a small eraser, or a medium eraser. Tap the down arrow on the Eraser button to pick the eraser that you want.
PowerPoint has those three erasers plus one more: With the Segment Eraser, you can simply tap a segment of ink or drag across it to remove it (rather than having to thoroughly wipe away the entire segment). Dragging across segments is an easy way to erase several at once.
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Drag the eraser over the ink you want to remove.
Switch tools with the new Apple Pencil
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Office for iOS supports the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil and its double-tap gesture. By default, the double-tap gesture switches from the current tool to the eraser, but the System settings on your device allow you to choose a different behavior for this gesture. This feature is available to Microsoft 365 subscribers in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on iPad version 2.22.19020201 and later.
Turn off automatic inking
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Open the Settings app from the home screen of your iOS device.
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Scroll through the list of apps at the bottom of the Settings page to find your Microsoft 365 app, and tap to open its Settings.
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In the app settings on the right side, at the bottom under Draw and Annotate, toggle Apple Pencil Always Draws Ink.
For more information, see Turn off automatic inking on iOS.
Convert ink drawings to standard shapes in PowerPoint
In PowerPoint, you can convert ink drawings on a touch screen into common shapes:
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Ensure that Draw with Mouse or Touch
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Tap Ink to Shapes
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With a pen or your finger, draw a shape on the slide. When you finish drawing, PowerPoint automatically converts your drawing to the shape that looks most like it.
To stop converting shapes, tap Ink to Shapes again.
Basic inking tools
Word for Android, Excel for Android, and PowerPoint for Android all come with basic inking options on the Draw tab: a selection tool, a draw-with-touch tool, a stroke eraser, pens, ink colors and a color wheel, and ink thickness options:
Draw or write
By default, Draw with Mouse or Touch (or "Inking mode") is turned on when you are using a mobile device. Just tap the Draw tab, select a pen
Select
On an Android device, Inking mode is turned on when you have selected a pen or highlighter on the Draw tab. Otherwise, you are in Select mode, and you can tap to select an object.
PowerPoint and Excel have an ink selection tool, Lasso Select,
To select part of a drawing or words written in ink in PowerPoint or Excel, use the Lasso Select tool.
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On the Draw tab on the Ribbon, tap Lasso Select
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With your pen or finger, drag to encircle the ink that you want to select.
A faded, dashed selection region appears as you drag, and when you're done, the portion you've lassoed is selected. Then you can manipulate that object as you wish: move it, copy it, delete it, and so on.
Erase
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On the Draw tab, tap the Eraser.
(In PowerPoint, you can choose from three erasers—a stroke eraser, or a small or medium eraser. Tap the down arrow on the Eraser button to pick the eraser that you want.)
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Drag the eraser over the ink you want to remove.
Some active pens, such as the Surface pen, have an eraser that you can also use to erase digital ink without having to select an eraser from the Ribbon.
Convert ink drawings to standard shapes in PowerPoint
In PowerPoint, you can convert ink drawings on a touch screen into common shapes:
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Ensure that Draw with Mouse or Touch
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Tap Ink to Shapes
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With a pen or your finger, draw a shape on the slide. When you finish drawing, PowerPoint automatically converts your drawing to the shape that looks most like it.
To stop converting shapes, tap Ink to Shapes again.
Annotate with ink while showing a presentation
In PowerPoint, you can add ink markings to a slide while you are presenting:
Write, draw, or highlight text in PowerPoint
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On the Draw tab select a pen to use.
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If you want to customize the pen, select the drop arrow next to the pen on the ribbon and choose the thickness, and color, you want.
The Draw menu lets you have two separate pens available, plus a highlighter.
Stop inking
After you've drawn what you want, you can stop inking and return to selection mode by pressing the Esc key.
Erase ink
Select the eraser from the pens gallery on the Draw tab, then swipe your cursor across the ink you want to erase. This is a stroke eraser, which means it erases entire ink strokes at a time.
