What is Annotator used for?

Annotator is a Windows screen markup app that overlays your display so you can draw, blur, measure, screenshot and record with annotations baked in. It is a good fit for annotating the screen during video meetings, redacting sensitive data before sharing screenshots, and recording tutorials with arrows and callouts.

Is Annotator open source?

No. Annotator is proprietary (closed-source) software. In the Productivity category, open-source options include ShareX, BetterShot and MarkerOn.

What are some alternatives to Annotator?

Other SaaS products in the Productivity category include BlurScreen, AI Renamer and AWNA.

Annotator: features, pricing and alternatives

About Annotator

Annotator, sold as Screen Annotator Pro, is a desktop tool for Windows 10 and 11 that places a transparent overlay across the whole screen. With a hotkey you can draw on top of any running application without touching what is underneath, which makes it useful for presentations, tutorials and video calls in tools such as Zoom and Teams.

Drawing tools include straight, double and curved arrows, lines, outlined and filled shapes, a pressure-sensitive pen, rulers, text, speech bubbles, stamps, numbered callouts and highlights. Marks can be moved, resized or recolored after drawing. Redaction tools offer Gaussian blur, pixelation and solid black boxes, and the vendor notes that only a solid fill is truly safe for passwords. The app also takes annotated screenshots, measures pixels, performs OCR and records the screen with annotations included. It runs fully offline on 64-bit Windows with no subscription, and is sold through the Microsoft Store as a one-time purchase.

Key features

Transparent live drawing overlay on any screen
Arrows, callouts, shapes and highlights
Blur, pixelate and black-box redaction
Annotated screenshots to clipboard or PNG
Screen recording with annotations baked in
OCR and pixel measuring tools

Good fit for

→Annotating the screen during video meetings
→Redacting sensitive data before sharing screenshots
→Recording tutorials with arrows and callouts

Tags: screen-annotation; windows; screenshot; screen-recording; redaction; ocr; desktop-app

Annotator: questions and answers

What is Annotator used for?: Annotator is a Windows screen markup app that overlays your display so you can draw, blur, measure, screenshot and record with annotations baked in. It is a good fit for annotating the screen during video meetings, redacting sensitive data before sharing screenshots, and recording tutorials with arrows and callouts.
Is Annotator open source?: No. Annotator is proprietary (closed-source) software. In the Productivity category, open-source options include ShareX, BetterShot and MarkerOn.
What are some alternatives to Annotator?: Other SaaS products in the Productivity category include BlurScreen, AI Renamer and AWNA.