Chrome on Windows is finally getting a PDF inking tool Chromebooks have had for years

It only took 5 short years for a feature to migrate over to Windows that we ChromeOS folks have been used to using in the PDF Viewer: pen annotation. When I was made aware of this change, I at first thought the article in question was misinformed. Surely there was no way after all this time that Chrome on Windows didn’t have the ability to write on PDFs in the native PDF Viewer, right?

As it turns out (thanks to a tip from Windows Report), Chrome for Windows never got this feature. So, I wiped the dust off of Chrome on our Windows PC (the one we use for our Proof Golf Club stuff – more on that new project here), opened up a PDF, and was immediately surprised to find that it doesn’t have the same little pen icon in the top-right corner I’ve become accustomed to seeing on Chromebooks for half a decade at this point.

If it sounds like I’m gloating a bit, just humor me. As a die-hard Chromebook guy, I always feel ChromeOS should get the latest, greatest features before Chrome on other platforms, and many times it doesn’t. So to see us get this sort of thing so far in advance makes me a little bit happy for all those who choose to use Chromebooks on a daily basis.

You can try it right now if you want

For now, this upcoming feature is still in only the Canary Channel that you can download at any point and install on your Windows device with this link. Once you install the Canary version of Chrome, simply head to chrome://flags/pdf-ink2 (or search for PDF Ink), enable the PDF Ink Signatures flag, click the restart button, and you’ll have access to test it out on your own.

Do note that you’ll likely need a touchscreen for the new annotation icon to show up. If Windows and Chrome don’t detect a touchscreen, they know you won’t be inking anything and the icon (for now, at least) won’t present itself. Our setup is sans-touch, so even though I have “annotation” as a menu item in the PDF viewer now, the icon to take action isn’t there.

Once this does arrive for Chrome across the board, it will make signing documents and notating PDFs far simpler for Windows folks. I don’t use this tool on a daily basis by any stretch of the imagination, but it is wildly handy to be able to open up a PDF from the web, sign, save and deliver it back to where it needs to go. When I’ve needed it, I’ve loved having this feature. And soon, those on Windows devices will be able to leverage it as well.