Whether you're on an iPad or other tablet, Windows PC or Mac, here are the simplest, free ways for yous or your children to write or draw on a PDF.

Conventional PDF readers don't make it piece of cake to draw or write freehand onto documents. Many – including Adobe's own Acrobat Reader – arrive easy to highlight text or add your signature. Others let you edit the document layout, ordinarily at a price. Only sometimes all you lot want is, for case, to draw amendments on some plans you lot've been sent – or your child wants to write in letters a crossword you've downloaded from Twinkl – and if yous don't own a printer, these apps don't give you the tools you demand.

Instead, hither are the easiest means to plough your PDFs into a form that yous or your children tin can draw or write on. A lot of them are based on the aforementioned essential principle – y'all turn the PDF certificate into 1 or more than images that you tin then draw or write on in an fine art app. We've picked out workflows that use completely free apps – but if you've got a preferred slice of software such as Photoshop or mobile app similar Procreate, it'due south easy to use them also.

We'll start with the method for an iPad before moving onto other tablet types, Macs and Windows PC.

Draw or write on a PDF on an iPad

The first step is to plough your PDF into an image or a serial of images. If your PDF has a single page, the simplest way to practise this just to accept a screen grab of it. To practice this, just printing the top button and either the abode push – if your iPad has one – or the Volume Up push if it doesn't (equally on the latest iPads Pros).

If your PDF has multiple pages, it's probably easier to go through each folio in turn and have a screengrab. Or if possible, use one of the workflows on a Mac or PC beneath and so send the files to the iPad. You can employ a site like pdf2jpg.net to convert your PDFs to JPGs, but y'all'll either end upwards having to download each JPG by hand or downloading a Nada file – and using Naught files on iOS is painful equally you can't simply excerpt all the files in one become.

In one case you have your images, you'll need an art app. Nosotros recommend Autodesk Sketchbook as it'southward free, has a great set of tools and – equally importantly – is easy for adults and children to use if only you desire to add notes to a certificate or letters or numbers to a worksheet. And if yous want to get more artistic, Sketch has a peachy set of art tools equally you lot'd expect from an app created by a company who'south other apps are used in the creation of the visual effects for almost major Hollywood blockbusters.

Draw or write on a PDF on a tablet

The easiest workflow here is the same as on an iPad: screengrab each page – though exactly how you do this varies from tablet to tablet. Then use the complimentary Autodesk Sketchbook app for Android to draw or write on the images y'all created.

If you're using an Amazon Fire tablet, y'all'll demand to use a different apps as Autodesk doesn't have a version of Sketch for that platform. Instead an app like ArtFlow should be good enough for you needs.

Depict or write on a PDF on a Mac or PC

The simplest way to achieve what yous want if you're using a Mac or PC is to utilise Adobe Photoshop – equally you can open PDFs directly in that app, picking which pages y'all want or opening all as dissimilar layers or documents. However, Photoshop costs £10/US$10 per month later a 30-day trial – the subscription gets you Photoshop for the iPad too, but this can't open PDFs.

Instead, every bit with iPads and tablets, the humble screengrab may exist your best manner to create images yous can describe on in an fine art application.

If you have a PDF with multiple pages, https://pdf2jpg.net/ will permit you convert this into multiple JPGs for free. However, we don't know anything virtually the people behind it – and so it'south probably safest non to utilize this for legal documents you lot want to comment.

In one case you lot have your screengrabs, you'll demand an art application to write or draw with. Over again, the complimentary Autodesk Sketchbook app is your friend here as in that location are Mac and Windows versions of this.