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Writing or drawing digital ink with the Pens tool

The easiest way to write or draw digital ink is to use pen tray pens (on interactive whiteboards) or a tethered pen and pen tool buttons (on interactive pen displays).

You can also create freehand objects using the Pens tool. If you use the Pens tool, you can fade the digital ink after a specified number of seconds when setting its appearance.

Tips 

  • Don’t rest your elbow or the palm of your hand on your interactive product’s surface while you write or draw.

  • If you write or draw multiple lines, SMART Notebook software combines the lines into a single object automatically. For example, if you write the letters of a word, SMART Notebook software combines the individual letters, allowing you to interact with the whole word. If you want to write words on the same line but don’t want them combined, leave a large gap between them, use different pens, or briefly put the pen in the pen tray before writing another word (interactive whiteboards only).

  • If you want to write diagonally, write in a straight line, and then rotate it (see Rotating objects).

  • If you want to write in small letters, write large letters, and then reduce their size (see Resizing objects).

To write or draw digital ink with the Pens tool

  1. Press Pens , and then select a line type.

  2. Write or draw digital ink on the page.

To set the digital ink’s appearance before writing or drawing

  1. Press Pens , and then select a line type.

  2. If the Properties tab isn’t visible, press Properties .

  3. Press Line Style.

  4. Select a color, thickness and style.

  5. Press Fill Effects.

  6. Select the transparency of the lines using the Object transparency slider.

    Tip 

    To save the line style and fill effects for future use, press Save Tool Properties.

  7. Write or draw digital ink on the page.

Related User Help

Writing or drawing digital ink with the Calligraphic Pens tool

Writing or drawing digital ink with the Creative Pens tool

Erasing digital ink

Related Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting digital ink