Draw PDF annotations

What is this?

With Annotate in the PDF viewer you draw directly on the sheet music — breath marks, slurs, fingering, reminder notes. Everything you would otherwise write into your paper score with a pencil works digitally in the app.

Tool options

• Pen and Marker — strokes, slurs, breath marks or colored highlighting
• Eraser — remove drawings again
• Text — write notes, move them and edit them later (e.g. "softer", "ritardando"). Size and color follow your color and width setting
• Symbol — insert musical symbols from a selection
• Jumps — set jump areas for repeats (see Jump marks in the PDF viewer)
• Color — red, black, blue, green, yellow or white
• Width — from −50% to +150% of the default
• Undo — take back the last step

How to draw

1. Open a piece in the Sheet Music area
2. Tap "Annotate" in the dock at the bottom (the button in the middle)
3. Pick a tool at the bottom: Pen, Marker, Eraser, Text, Symbol or Jumps — next to them Undo, Color and Width
4. Draw with finger or pencil directly on the PDF
5. Tap "Save" at the top — only then are your drawings stored. "Cancel" discards the changes

Drawings "For everyone"

The choir leadership can draw once and all members see it, for example breath marks, cuts or "solo only here". These drawings sit underneath your own. Yours stay unchanged.

How to draw for everyone (only with the permission Draw in sheet music for everyone):

1. Tap "Annotate" and choose For everyone
2. At the top it says "You are drawing for everyone". Meanwhile your own drawings are faded and cannot be changed
3. Draw as usual. There are no jumps here, that is what the default jump areas are for
4. Tap "Save" and confirm "Save for everyone"

Anyone who has the piece open and is online sees the change within a few seconds, everyone else the next time they open it. Drawing for everyone only works with an internet connection. If someone else has saved in the meantime, the app asks whether you want to reload or overwrite anyway.

Drawings "For everyone" belong to the respective version and are included in the PDF with Drawings.

Writing text

1. Tap "Text" in annotate mode
2. Tap the spot where the text should go
3. Write your note in the input field — you can drag it by the handle if it covers the spot
4. Confirm — the text sits on the sheet; like everything else, it is stored via "Save" at the top
5. To move a text, drag it with your finger; to edit or delete it, tap it briefly

Exporting annotations

If you need your annotations outside Theatilo (print, backup, another app):

• In the app: open the piece → More → Share PDF → PDF with Drawings (on the iPad Share PDF at the top right)
• In the browser this export is not available

See Download PDF with personal marks for details.

Tips

• Consistent colors — e.g. red for breath marks, blue for dynamics. Helps with quick reading
• Draw sparingly — overloaded scores are harder to read
• Check annotations before concerts — sometimes the original PDF is clearer
• Apple Pencil is worth it if you draw a lot — more precise and natural than a finger

Permission

Every member with View sheet music can draw for themselves. These annotations are personal and not shared. Drawing for everyone requires the permission Draw in sheet music for everyone; by default only administrators have it. Your choir decides which other groups get it.