A while back I wrote about some often forgotten features of the Notes app and the ability to sketch notes as well as create basic drawings. Hidden features are everywhere in our Macs and iOS devices, including features like Markup which can be found in your Mail program on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
Markup allows you to add drawings, text, and signatures to PDFs and photos. If you have used some of the Markup features within preview, you’ll be right at home using it on your iOS device. To try out these features you will want to make sure your using the Mail app on your devices and ensure that you have an active e-mail account set up as well. Recently I have found the Markup feature on PDFs to be incredibly helpful. To unlock these features you’ll first need to attach a PDF or photo to an e-mail.
1. Open Mail and tap on the square with a pencil to launch a new email
2. Double-tap in the body of the new email, this will pull up the option to insert a photo or PDF
3. Once you have located a PDF or photo to add simply tap choose
4. Tap the attachment and then tap Markup
5. Choose the tool you wish to use and tap done
There are several options within Markup to make quick on the fly revisions, provide instructions or give a final signature approval on a document. You can use the pen tool to draw directly on an image and you can select how thick or thing you need your lines to be. You can zoom in or out of an image and you can easily enter text, you even have a few different font options to choose from. To add a signature you simply need to select the signature option within markup and just like in Preview you can enlarge or shrink your digital signature to fit the signature space.
Markup is a great way to keep up on basic tasks and workflow from anywhere. Combine the features of Markup with iCloud drive so you can access and attach any document you need. Markup is just another way to turn your iOS device into an invaluable resource in the palm of your hand.