Draw and write with ink in Office

10/23/2019

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.

If your device is touch-enabled, the Draw tab is turned on automatically. Otherwise, turn it on by selecting File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Draw.

 

Please start by choosing your version of Office:

Office 365 | Office 2019 | Office 2016, 2013

 

 

 

Office 365

---

Write, draw, or highlight text

The new pen set is customizable and portable. You define the pens you want to have, and they are then available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

1. On the Draw tab of the Ribbon, tap a pen to select it.

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, go the View tab and select Print Layout.

In Outlook, first tap the body of the message and insert a drawing canvas  ; then you can select a pen to draw with.

2. Tap again to open the menu of Thickness and Color options for the pen. Select your preferred size and color.
   • 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.
   • Sixteen solid colors are available on the menu, with more available when you tap More Colors.
   • Eight effects are also available: Rainbow, Galaxy, Lava, Ocean, Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. To stop inking and select your annotations, either to modify or move them, select Draw on the Draw tab. 

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 Office 365.

Erase ink

1. Under Draw > Tools, tap the Eraser.

(In PowerPoint for Office 365, you can choose from different sizes of erasers. Word has three eraser options. Tap the down arrow on the Eraser button to pick the eraser that you want.)

2. With your pen or finger, drag the eraser over the ink you want to remove.

With the Segment Eraser in PowerPoint, 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.

Some active pens, such as the Surface pen, have an eraser that you can also use to erase digital ink.

Select parts of an ink drawing or written words

All apps include a Draw tool  on the Draw tab of the Ribbon for switching between inking mode and selection mode.

PowerPoint and Excel also have an ink selection tool, Lasso Select,  specifically for selecting objects drawn with ink. It's most useful when you have a mixture of standard and ink objects and you only want to select an ink object.

Applies only to PowerPoint and Excel:

To select part of a drawing or words written in ink, use the Lasso Select tool. (This tool can't select non-ink objects—that is, shapes, pictures, etc.)

1. Under Draw > Tools on the Ribbon, tap Lasso Select  .
2. 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.

Turn off automatic inking in a desktop app

1. On the File menu, select Options, and then select Advanced.
2. 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.

Other digital ink features

Feature name	Description	See
Ink Editor	Use touch or a digital pen with Windows digital ink to edit documents	Edit your document with natural gestures
Ink to Text or Shape	Convert an ink drawing to standard text or a standard Office graphic shape	Convert ink to shapes or text
Ink to Shape	Convert an ink drawing to a standard Office graphic shape	Convert ink to shapes
Ink to Math	Use touch or a digital pen to write a complex math equation, and then convert it to text	Write, insert, or change an equation
Ink Replay	Replay a series of inking actions on a slide	Replay your ink strokes in Office
Ruler	Draw straight lines in ink, or align a set of objects	Draw straight lines or align things with the ruler
Draw with ink in a notebook	Hand-write notes and draw or sketch pictures	OneNote for Windows 10: Write notes and draw in OneNote  OneNote 2016, 2013, 2010, or 2007: Draw and sketch notes on a page  OneNote for Mac: Draw and annotate with ink OneNote for the web: Draw and sketch notes on a page
Language support	See which languages are supported by Ink Editor (in Word) and the ink-to-text converter (in PowerPoint)	Languages supported for ink-to-text conversion

 

 

 

Office 2019

---

If your device is touch-enabled, the Draw tab is turned on automatically. Otherwise, turn it on by selecting File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Draw.

Write, draw, or highlight text

The new pen set is customizable and portable. You define the pens you want to have, and they are then available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

1. On the Draw tab of the Ribbon, tap a pen to select it.

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, go the View tab and select Print Layout.

2. Tap again to open the menu of Thickness and Color options for the pen. Select your preferred size and color.
   • 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.
   • Sixteen solid colors are available on the menu, with more available when you tap More Colors.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. To stop inking and select your annotations, either to modify or move them, pick Select  on the Draw tab.

Convert ink to text or shapes

See Convert ink to text or shapes in PowerPoint for Office 365.

Erase ink

1. Under Draw > Tools, tap the Eraser.

(In PowerPoint for Office 365, you can choose from four erasers. Tap the down arrow on the Eraser button to pick the eraser that you want.)

2. With your pen or finger, drag the eraser over the ink you want to remove.

With the Segment Eraser in PowerPoint, 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.

Some active pens, such as the Surface pen, have an eraser that you can also use to erase digital ink.

Select parts of an ink drawing or written words

When you've been drawing with ink, you can use Stop Inking  on the Draw tab to change the mouse pointer back to a standard selection tool  . The selection tool can select both digital ink drawings and any other kinds objects.

PowerPoint and Excel also have an ink selection tool, Lasso Select,  specifically for selecting objects drawn with ink. It's most useful when you have a mixture of standard and ink objects and you only want to select an ink object.

Applies only to PowerPoint and Excel:

To select part of a drawing or words written in ink, use the Lasso Select tool. (This tool can't select non-ink objects—that is, shapes, pictures, etc.)

1. Under Draw > Tools on the Ribbon, tap Lasso Select  .
2. 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.

Turn off automatic inking in a desktop app

1. Select File > Options > Advanced.
2. 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.

Other digital ink features

Feature name	Description	See
Ink Editor	Use touch or a digital pen with Windows digital ink to edit documents	Edit your document with natural gestures
Ink to Shape	Convert an ink drawing to a standard Office graphic shape	Convert ink to shapes
Ink to Math	Use touch or a digital pen to write a complex math equation, and then convert it to text	Write, insert, or change an equation
Ruler	Draw straight lines in ink, or align a set of objects	Draw straight lines or align things with the ruler

 

 

 

Office 2016, 2013

---

Find the drawing tools

Go to the Review tab and select Start Inking to display the Ink Tools and Pens tab.

Write or draw

1. Under Ink Tools >Pens choose Pen.

2. To change the ink color and stroke width, point to the color and width (0.35mm - 0.5mm) you want.

3. On the touch screen, begin writing or drawing.

Highlight text

1. Under Ink Tools, on the Pens tab, click Highlighter, and then pick a highlight color.

2. Point and drag your pen or finger over the text that you want to highlight.

You can highlight text in Excel, Word, and Outlook, but PowerPoint doesn't support highlighting text.

Delete whole written words or ink drawings

1. Under Ink Tools, on the Pens tab, click the arrow below Eraser, and then pick an eraser size.

2. With your pen or finger, select the word or ink drawing that you want to erase.

Drawing in OneNote

If you're using OneNote and want to draw, see these other articles:

 OneNote for Windows 10: Write notes and draw in OneNote 

 OneNote: Draw and sketch notes on a page

OneNote for the web: Draw and sketch notes on a page

Extra features in PowerPoint

Select parts of an ink drawing or written words (PowerPoint only)

To select part of a drawing or some written words, use the Lasso tool. (You cannot use the Lasso tool to select non-ink objects (shapes, pictures, etc.).

1. Under Ink Tools, on the Pens tab, click Lasso Select.

2. 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 will be selected.

Delete parts of an ink drawing or parts of written words (PowerPoint only)

1. Under Ink Tools, on the Pens tab, click the arrow below Eraser, and then pick an eraser size.

2. With your pen or finger, select parts of the ink drawing or text that you want to erase.

Convert ink drawings to shapes (PowerPoint only)

You can convert ink drawings on a touch screen into common shapes.

1. Under Ink Tools > Pens, select Convert to Shapes.

2. With a pen or your finger, draw a shape on the slide, and PowerPoint automatically converts your drawing to the shape that looks most like it.

To stop converting shapes, click Convert to Shapes again.

Which shapes can PowerPoint convert?

When you create an ink drawing, PowerPoint can convert it to the shape that is most like it.

Ink drawing	Corresponding shape
Rectangle	Rectangle
Square	Rectangle with all sides equal
Diamond	Diamond
Parallelogram	Parallelogram
Trapezoid	Trapezoid
Irregular quadrilateral	Closed freeform shape with four sides
Regular pentagon	Pentagon with all sides equal
Regular hexagon	Hexagon with all sides equal
Ellipse	Ellipse
Circle	Ellipse with shape height and width equal
Single-headed arrow	Arrow
Double-headed arrow	Double arrow
Arrows connecting two shapes	Arrow connectors
Right triangle	Triangle with right angle
Equilateral triangle	Triangle with all sides equal
Isosceles triangle	Triangle with two equal sides
Irregular triangle	Closed freeform with three sides.