You'll soon be able to annotate PDFs with ink signatures directly in Google Chrome

An overnight update of its Canary channel points out

Reading time icon 2 min. read


Readers help support MSpoweruser. We may get a commission if you buy through our links. Tooltip Icon

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more

Key notes

  • Google Chrome: annotate PDFs with ink signatures soon.
  • A new Chrome Canary update hints at ink annotation flag.
  • Microsoft Edge, on the other hand, offers similar features, updates AI capabilities.

Google Chrome has been undergoing a few interesting changes here and there. And now, as folks in the insider’s community have pointed out, you’ll soon be able to annotate PDFs with ink signatures directly in the browser’s built-in PDF reader.

As pointed out by @Leopeva64 on X (formerly known as Twitter) & on Chromium Gerrit, a recent update in Chrome Canary, the browser’s experimental channel, has a new flag. It says that once allowed, it “enables the ability to annotate PDFs using a new ink library.” 

While there isn’t a notable change after activating the flag for the time being, folks over at Windows Report also said that Chrome possibly gets a drawing tool to make this possible. You can activate this flag by downloading Chrome Canary and then going to chrome://flags/. Then, scroll down a bit until you find PDF Ink Signatures (#pdf-ink2).

Google Chrome, as we mentioned earlier, has been going through some changes and tests in recent weeks. Tab group syncing, a feature that’s exclusive to the desktop version, will apparently arrive on mobiles. We’re also getting some updates for its AI-powered “Help Me Write” feature and the “Search Video Frame” functionality. 

Microsoft Edge, Chrome’s number-one rival, has a similar feature, so it’s safe to say that Google has some catching up to do for the time being.

Microsoft’s popular browser has also recently added new flags that could potentially boost the use of its Copilot AI, alongside generative erasure in its image editor and an AI enhancer for zooming into pixelated images.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *