# Draw on your windows

> Point things out with the pen, highlighter, arrow and laser, on the Studio preview or right on your real windows.

Source: https://curtains.app/help/draw-on-your-windows/

You can draw on what viewers see, either on Studio's preview or straight on your real windows, and your ink appears in the share as you draw.

## Two places to draw

- **The Studio preview.** Pick a tool and draw on the preview. This works whether you're Live or Paused, and in a draft.
- **A real shared window.** A small toolbar sits under each shared window on your desktop. Pick a tool there and draw on the real app, without opening Studio.

Both draw the same ink in the same place. Viewers can't draw, and you can't draw in the Curtains Presenter window itself.

## Draw on the preview

The ink toolbar sits under the preview. From left to right: **Move**, **Pen**, **Highlighter**, **Arrow**, **Laser**, six colors, **Fading** or **Persistent**, **Undo** and **Clear**.

*Image: The ink toolbar under the preview: the Pen tool is selected, followed by the Highlighter, Arrow and Laser, six color dots with red selected, a Fading button, Undo and Clear.*

1. Click a tool. The pointer now draws on the preview.
2. Click a color if you want something other than red.
3. Drag over the preview.
4. Pick **Move** to arrange windows again.

*Image: A red pen stroke drawn in a loop around a block of color in the Google Chrome window on the preview.*

The stage bar's **Draw** menu has the same tools and colors, and a **Fading ink** switch. The **Tools** panel lists every tool with its name, and adds the fade delay.

*Image: The Tools panel, Draw section: the tools Move, Pen, Highlighter, Arrow and Laser with a line of help each, six colors, Fading and Persistent buttons, a Fade after slider set to 3 seconds, and Undo and Clear all buttons.*

Choosing a color while Move or Laser is selected switches you to the Pen.

## Draw on a real window

Each shared window has a toolbar attached just below it, lined up with its outline. It has the same tools as the preview, plus **Blur** (see [Blur and hide](https://curtains.app/help/blur-and-hide/)). Only you see it; viewers never do.

*Illustration: A shared Google Chrome window with a pen stroke on it, a Live tab at its top left, and a toolbar attached underneath. The Pen tool is filled.*

Picking a tool or a color in a window's toolbar **arms** that window: a see-through layer covers it and takes your mouse or pen, and a faint colored frame reminds you the app isn't clickable for the moment. Other windows and your desktop are unaffected. To go back to the app, do any of these:

- Press `Esc`.
- Pick **Move**, in this toolbar or in Studio.
- Click another app.

If a window would leave no room for the toolbar below it, because it touches the bottom of the screen, the toolbar moves above its top-right corner, or, for a maximized window, inside its bottom edge. The toolbar stays clickable while you draw.

The toolbars and the outline can each be turned off. **Show tools under shared windows** and **Highlight shared windows** are in **Settings › Windows**. The **Draw** button on the [floating remote](https://curtains.app/help/floating-remote-and-menu-bar/) shows or hides the toolbars during a session. The toolbars are hidden while a window is minimized, on another Space, or when no session is running.

## The tools

- **Pen** draws a line. A pressure-sensitive pen gives lines that vary in width; otherwise the width is constant.
- **Highlighter** draws wide, see-through strokes, for marking text.
- **Arrow** points at something.
- **Laser** is a dot with a short trail that is never kept. Use it to follow along while you talk.

The six colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and white. Red is the default.

## Fading or persistent ink

**Fading** ink disappears a few seconds after you lift the pen. It's the default, and it keeps the canvas tidy. **Persistent** ink stays until you undo or clear it. Click the button in any toolbar to switch.

The delay is **Fade after** in the Tools panel, from 1 to 10 seconds, 3 by default. **Fade delay** and **Fade ink by default** in **Settings › Presenter** do the same job.

Content inside a window can scroll under your ink, and Curtains doesn't track that. Fading ink is the easiest way around it.

## Undo and clear

**Undo** removes your last stroke. **Clear** removes all ink. They work on all ink, wherever you drew it, from any toolbar or from the keyboard: `⌃⌥Z` undoes and `⌃⌥C` clears, from any app. You can change both in **Settings › Shortcuts**.

## Ink stays with its window

Each stroke belongs to the window you drew it on, or to the canvas if you drew over the background. If you change the layout or move the window, the ink moves with it. If you resize the real window, persistent ink on it is cleared, because its content has reflowed.

## Draw with the keyboard

You can draw without a pointer. With a drawing tool picked, press `Tab` to focus the preview. A pen point appears.

1. Move the point with the arrow keys. Hold `Shift` for bigger steps.
2. Press `Space` or `Enter` to start a stroke.
3. Move with the arrow keys to draw.
4. Press `Space` again to end the stroke. `Esc` ends it too.

## Related

- [Blur and hide](https://curtains.app/help/blur-and-hide/): the toolbar's other job.
- [Floating remote and menu bar](https://curtains.app/help/floating-remote-and-menu-bar/): the Draw button.
- [Keyboard shortcuts](https://curtains.app/help/keyboard-shortcuts/)
- [Settings](https://curtains.app/help/settings/)