Document View for PDFs and images

Use Document View to read and annotate textual PDFs, scanned PDFs, and image files. These formats support the full set of page ink tools as well as bookmarks, highlights, tags, and comments. The viewer adds your review marks and source links; it does not edit the document’s original wording or image content.

This guide uses PDFs and images as the reference for annotation features. See Annotation differences for text-preview documents for the tools that do not apply to TXT/TEXT, DOCX, Markdown, RTF, ODT, HTML/HTM, EML/MSG email, ICS/VCS calendar, and CSV previews.

Open and focus the document

1. Select the Case, Global Lib., or library subhead containing the file.
2. Open it from the left-pane Documents list. In the center-pane browsing list, use the row’s Open document action; selecting its name there only selects it for Rename.
3. If several documents are open, click or tap the pane you want to work in. Search and the left-pane indexes, Bookmarks, Highlights, Tags, Comments, and Structure-Legal Indexes follow the focused document.

The first document normally opens in the center pane. Further selections open or replace the right-pane document; selecting an already-open document focuses its existing pane. See Document navigation from the left pane and Compare passages.

Find the viewer controls

The toolbar shows the document name and the actions available in the current pane. On a narrow or portrait pane, some actions move into More document actions, the three-dot menu. Widen the pane or open that menu when an action is missing.

If the toolbar has auto-hidden, Document View expands into the released top space. Use the pane’s top-center notch, Show document toolbar, to reveal it. The delay is controlled through the hamburger menu’s Toolbar auto-hide setting.

Screenshot placeholder: PDF viewer toolbar in a wide pane and the More document actions menu in a narrow pane, with the document name and key annotation controls labelled.

Read and navigate pages

Scroll through the PDF to read successive pages. On a PDF with more than one page, a small page slider notch on the right edge lets you drag through the document. Touch or drag it to reveal the current page and total page count. This page slider is separate from the top-center notch that reveals the toolbar.

With the PDF viewer focused, Page Up and Page Down move to the preceding or following PDF page. Image previews use a scrollable image area; use its scrollbar when the image extends below the pane.

Use Full-screen document for more reading space. Its top-right controls provide Landscape document, Portrait document, and Exit document full-screen view. Exiting full screen restores the workspace layout; Close document closes the document pane itself. See Full screen modes for the whole-workspace controls.

To jump directly to a passage, use search, a saved annotation, a Structure or AI Legal index entry, or a Canvas source link.

Textual PDFs, scanned PDFs, and images

The viewer chooses selection behavior according to whether it detects a native PDF text layer. An image or a PDF treated as a scan uses area selection. OCR supplies searchable text separately; completing OCR does not turn the scanned preview into an editable text page.

For a PDF mixing scans and native text, selection follows the viewer’s detected mode, and selectable text can vary by page. If a page has no selectable text in textual-PDF mode, use the closed-loop visual copy when you need an image of that region.

Select text or a page area

First choose Disable Annotation if a drawing tool is active. Drawing and ordinary text/area selection use the same page surface, so an active ink tool receives those gestures.

Select text in a textual PDF

Drag across the required text and adjust the selection as needed. The floating actions offer Copy and Copy to Canvas. Copy stores an internal app selection for later Paste into a PDF/image document and also places plain text on the operating-system clipboard. Copy to Canvas creates a text excerpt in the receiving Canvas/PenPad. You can also use the toolbar to add a bookmark, tag, comment, or source link, or to read the selection aloud.

Ordinary PDF text selection copies the selected words. For a visual copy, choose Select region in the document toolbar, then drag a rectangle in any direction. Text selection is temporarily disabled while Select region is active. The visual copy includes existing ink and pasted overlays by default. Copy stores the source-aware selection inside the app and also places a flattened image on the operating-system clipboard; Copy to Canvas creates a source-linked image node.

Select region exits after Copy or Copy to Canvas. Choose Select region again, press Esc, or tap/click inside or outside a completed selection to cancel and return to normal PDF text selection. Selection action buttons and the resize gesture remain interactive.

Select an area in a scanned PDF or image

1. With annotation drawing disabled, drag from one corner of the required area to the opposite corner using the primary mouse button, one finger, or a stylus.
2. A shaded rectangle and bottom-right handle show the selection. Drag within the selected rectangle or from its handle to adjust its bottom-right corner; the top-left corner remains the anchor.
3. Use the floating Copy or Copy to Canvas actions, or a toolbar action. Right-click or long-press the selected rectangle to open the same selection actions.
4. Tap outside the rectangle or press Esc to clear the area selection.

The Include ink & copied overlays choice controls whether the visual copy contains only the clean underlying page region, or also committed Pen/Highlighter ink and previously pasted document overlays inside the rectangle. When the selected region contains ink, use its palette action to recolor only that ink; the document annotation color for future strokes does not change. Strokes crossing the edge are clipped to the selected area. Selection borders, handles, search highlights, annotation labels, and action buttons are excluded. Readable OCR text may also supply a source excerpt for navigation and notes.

Screenshot placeholder: Scanned PDF or image with an area rectangle, bottom-right resize handle, and floating Copy to Canvas button; beside it, a textual PDF with selected words.

Pen, Highlighter, Eraser, and Lasso Ink

Open Document annotation tools and choose Enable Annotation. Enabling starts with Pen and a 2.8 px width. Open the menu again to choose another tool. On a compact toolbar, the same choices may appear in More document actions.

Lasso Ink removes ink as soon as the gesture finishes. Use Undo document change to reverse an unwanted removal. Eraser and Lasso Ink act on your page ink; they do not remove printed page content or delete saved bookmarks, tags, and comments. Erasing any Highlighter stroke in a grouped Highlight removes that whole highlighted section; Pen strokes are not grouped as Highlights.

Choose Stroke width for Pen, Highlighter, or Eraser. Available sizes are 1.5, 1.8, 2.3, 2.8, 4, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, and 32 px. The menu shows five widths at a time; scroll inside it for the rest. The control is disabled while drawing is off or Lasso Ink is selected.

Choose Disable Annotation to return to ordinary selection and navigation. The existing ink stays visible. Use Undo document change and Redo document change to step through recent drawing, erasing, and document paste additions in the order they occurred.

Choose an ink color

Use Color in Document annotation tools, Annotation Color in the compact menu, or the color selector when it is shown. Enable annotation first if the document color control is disabled. The menu’s Edit color dialog accepts a shade, brightness, Hex, or RGB value; choose Set color to apply it or Cancel to close it. The selected color applies to new Pen and Highlighter strokes.

The top-left palette offers 11 presets and a final + swatch for custom colors. A shared preset applies to document and Canvas/PenPad ink. In the shared custom editor, Set Color - Doc and Set Color - Canvas/PenPad let you choose their colors separately. See Annotation color selector for Hex, RGB, and the custom editor.

Bookmark, tag, and comment markers use their own type colors. Changing the ink color does not recolor those markers or existing strokes.

Copy a visual region with an ink loop

With Pen or Highlighter active, draw a closed loop around the required page content. When the viewer recognizes a suitable loop, it offers floating Copy and Copy to Canvas actions for about six seconds. Copy stores the source-aware selection inside the app and places the flattened image on the operating-system clipboard. Copy to Canvas creates a source-linked image node and asks for a shape when applicable.

This copies a visual region, including previously committed ink and pasted text/image overlays inside it, even in a textual PDF. The newly drawn loop acts as the boundary and is excluded from the copied image. This action is separate from Lasso Ink, which removes enclosed ink.

Screenshot placeholder: PDF with Pen and Highlighter marks, Annotation tools open, and a separate example of a closed loop offering Copy to Canvas.

Bookmarks, highlights, tags, and comments

These actions work whether page drawing is enabled or disabled. Select the intended text or page area first to make the saved location precise.

The action uses the current selection, or the last readable selection if one is retained. If neither exists, it saves a page-level location at the current page, falling back to page 1. After saving, check the entry’s page and source excerpt so that it refers to the intended passage.

Add Bookmark

Select Add Bookmark to save immediately. There is no naming dialog at creation: its label comes from the selected source text when available, otherwise Bookmark. Use Edit in the annotation panel to change that label later.

Add Tag

Select Add Tag, enter the label in Tag, then choose Save Tag. Use consistent names such as Payment, Notice, or Admission to collect occurrences under the same tag. Cancel closes the dialog without creating an entry; an empty entry does not save.

Add Comment

Select Add Comment, enter the note in Comment, then choose Save Comment. Use comments for observations attached to the passage, such as a date to verify or a question for the next review. Cancel discards the dialog; an empty entry does not save.

Saving opens Annotations & Structure-Legal Indexes, shows the annotation marks, and navigates to the saved source. A scan or image can still have a region bookmark, tag, or comment before OCR provides a readable excerpt.

Review, hide, and delete annotations

Open Annotations & Structure-Legal Indexes from the document toolbar. Scroll inside this panel to reach more entries. Entries are ordered by page, then type and creation order, and show their saved text, page number, and any available source excerpt. Continuous Highlighter ink is grouped into one Highlight entry, even when the visible mark was drawn with multiple strokes. Accepted Structure and AI Legal index entries are included as read-only navigation entries. This list belongs to the document in that pane.

• Click or tap an entry to navigate to its location.
• Use Edit to change a bookmark label, tag, or comment, then Save. Editing the text preserves its saved source location. Highlight entries are navigable and deletable, but not text-editable.
• Editing a tag changes that saved occurrence. Other occurrences with the old tag name keep their labels.
• Use the row’s Delete icon to remove that one entry immediately. There is no confirmation dialog, and Undo document change does not restore deleted bookmark, tag, or comment entries. Deleting a Highlight removes the grouped Highlighter ink strokes for that highlighted section. Deleting a tag occurrence leaves other occurrences of the same tag in place.
• Close the panel, or select its toolbar button again, to regain page space. Closing the panel preserves its entries and their page marks.

Deleting an annotation removes its saved marker and its entry from annotation navigation/search. Deleting a Highlight removes the grouped Highlighter ink for that highlighted section. It keeps the source document, other annotations, unrelated page ink, and Canvas source links. To delete an entire document, use Delete Items.

Navigate with bookmarks, highlights, comments, and tags

1. Click or tap the document pane you want to review, including when several documents are open in comparison mode.
2. In the left pane, click or tap Bookmarks, Highlights, or Comments to move to the next saved location of that type. Repeated clicks/taps continue in document order and wrap to the first entry after the last. Each type has its own position in the sequence.
3. For tags, first click or tap an individual tag name beneath Tags. This chooses the tag and changes the heading to Tags - [name]; choosing the name alone does not jump to a passage.
4. Click or tap Tags - [name] to visit its next occurrence. Keep using that heading to cycle through the selected tag’s locations, wrapping after the last one. Choose a different tag name to change the sequence.
5. Click or tap Structure-Legal Indexes repeatedly to cycle through accepted Structure and AI Legal index entries for the active document, wrapping after the last entry.

If no tag is selected, clicking Tags chooses the first available tag and opens its next occurrence. The names are listed alphabetically. Scroll the left pane to reach names lower in the list. To go directly to a particular saved entry, use the document toolbar’s annotation panel instead of cycling.

The numbers beside Bookmarks, Highlights, Comments, and Structure-Legal Indexes count entries for the active document. The unselected Tags heading counts distinct tag names, rather than every tagged location. Empty types have no count and their navigation action is disabled. Focusing another document refreshes the controls for that document; these are not counts across the entire Case.

Navigation uses the saved text range, page region, or page. If an exact passage cannot be located, the available page reference can still bring you to the source page. See Source highlights and returning to reading for the temporary locator highlight.

Screenshot placeholder: Left-pane Bookmarks, Highlights, and Comments counts, an expanded tag-name list with one name selected, and the Tags - [name] heading; show the corresponding passage in the active pane of a two-document view.

Show or hide annotation marks

Use the document toolbar’s eye button, Hide annotation marks, to hide bookmark, highlight, tag, and comment page marks for this viewer. Show annotation marks reveals them again, with floating labels that hide automatically after about five seconds while the marks remain. To reveal the labels again, hide and then show the marks.

Hidden entries remain available in the annotation panel, left-pane navigation, search, and annotation export. The eye button hides Highlight page marks, but does not hide the underlying Highlighter ink or clear the separate temporary source-navigation highlight. No annotation marks indicates that this control has no saved annotation entries to toggle.

Screenshot placeholder: Bookmarks, Highlights, Tags, Comments panel with page/source excerpts and Edit/Delete icons, alongside page markers and a floating comment label.

Source highlights and returning to reading

Opening a saved annotation, index entry, related passage, or Canvas source link brings the viewer to its available text, region, or page reference. A temporary locator banner near the top shows the document location/page and the source or linked item being reviewed.

Use its Clear source highlight button to clear both the locator banner and the temporary highlight. The banner also hides automatically after about three seconds; that timeout alone does not clear the highlight. A click/tap on the document area hides a visible banner; a later click/tap, once the banner is gone and Search is closed, clears the remaining navigation highlight. These actions preserve saved annotations and source links.

Esc can dismiss an open viewer overlay, such as the source banner, Search, Related, or the annotation list, or collapse the expanded Canvas links rail. If more than one overlay is open, another Esc may be needed. Use Close document when you want to close the pane itself.

Screenshot placeholder: Document source passage or selected image region with the temporary locator banner, document/page reference, and Clear source highlight button.

Search Text and Tags

Open Search Text/Tags, or press Ctrl+F with the document focused. Enter a word, phrase, or tag. The search includes available extracted document text and saved annotation labels, comments, and source excerpts, without requiring matching capitalization.

Use Next match or Previous match to navigate. Enter advances through matches in the current direction; after using the up or down control, later Enter presses continue in that direction. The panel shows the current match count and a page/snippet when available. Choose Close search when finished.

Search depends on extraction or OCR for page text. Saved annotation text can still be searchable when document text is unavailable. If the viewer reports Text search will be available upon OCR completion, allow processing to finish. Text extraction failed for this document indicates a processing failure; see OCR troubleshooting.

Search highlights are temporary navigation cues. To keep a review mark, add a saved annotation or draw Highlighter ink.

TXT/TEXT, DOCX, Markdown, RTF, ODT, HTML/HTM, EML/MSG email, ICS/VCS calendar, and CSV files use extracted text previews. Their search runs against the extracted preview text and saved annotation text. PDFs and images use extracted text or OCR for search while retaining their page surface for ink and area selection.

Related passages

Select Related to open Related passages for the document. These matches can connect passages within the same document or with other indexed documents. This panel uses the document’s indexed content; it is not limited to the words currently selected.

Use Related Scope in the hamburger drawer to choose where Related may look:

• Within Doc shows only matches inside the current document.
• Within Case is the default. It shows matches inside the current document and documents in the current Case.
• Global Lib. shows matches inside the current document, documents in the current Case, and Global Lib. documents. It excludes documents from other Cases.

Read the Related list

Each result shows the related document name and page when available, a similarity score, a preview of the related passage, and a This doc: excerpt identifying the passage in your current document. The score expresses similarity; it is not a finding that either passage is correct or legally decisive.

Scroll inside the Related list, or use its scrollbar, to reach additional results. Use Refresh related passages after more indexing has completed. Close related passages, or selecting Related again, closes the list.

Click or tap a result to compare both passages

1. Choose whether Open side by side should be on or off.
2. Click or touch anywhere on a result row. You do not need to select text or use the separate Compare Passages picker first.
3. The viewer opens a two-view comparison. With Open side by side off, the views are stacked in the center document area: the upper view shows the current document at the This doc: passage; the lower view shows the related passage. With Open side by side on, the current passage opens in the center pane and the related passage opens in the right pane.
4. Both views navigate to their own source locations and highlight the available text or region. When the match is within one document, the same file appears in both views at its two different passages.
5. The related-passage view is initially active. Click or tap either view to focus it before using Search, the left-pane indexes, Bookmarks, Highlights, Comments, or Tags. Each view can be scrolled independently.

When the same document is open in more than one comparison view, the first copy you modify becomes the editable copy. The first attempt to edit another copy shows one message during that open-comparison session identifying the editable top, bottom, left, or right pane. Ink drawn or erased in the other copy remains visible there as a temporary working draft, including its local ink Undo and Redo, but is not saved. Permanent actions such as Paste, Delete, Bookmark, Tag, and Comment remain available only in the editable copy. All copies remain available for independent reading, scrolling, search, and navigation.

This applies whether the duplicate was opened from Related/Compare Passages or by clicking or tapping the same document again in the left document list.

To switch editing to the other copy, close the edited copy. CogniVenue-Legal saves it before closing, reloads the remaining copy with those saved changes, returns that copy to the page it was viewing, and makes it editable. If you close the non-edited copy, the edited copy remains visible and editable.

In another open copy, you may also temporarily move or resize a pasted item, or use its show/hide control, to inspect the page. Those view-only adjustments are not saved. Deleting a pasted item and other permanent document changes remain available only in the editable copy.

Selecting a Related result replaces the current document comparison with that passage pair. To review another pair, use Related in the relevant view and choose another result. The view’s toolbar actions may move into More document actions when the comparison leaves little space.

Copy to Canvas is available for a selection in comparison views. Link selection to selected node or PenPad page is disabled in those views; return to a single document in the center pane before attaching a new reference to an existing Canvas/PenPad item.

Use Close document on one comparison view to return the remaining document to normal single-document viewing. Close that remaining document, or select Documents in the left pane, to return to browsing. Closing views does not delete the files or their saved annotations.

If document full screen is active, opening a Related result does not automatically leave it. Use Exit document full-screen view to restore the workspace controls while keeping the comparison open.

Related can open two locations in the same file automatically. The separate Compare Passages picker lets you choose two to four different documents yourself.

Screenshot placeholder: Related passages list with related document/page, similarity score, related excerpt, This doc excerpt, and scrollbar; mark the whole clickable/touchable row.

Screenshot placeholder: Two-view comparison opened by a Related item, with the originating passage in the upper view, related passage in the lower view, both source highlights, the active-pane border, and each Close document control. Include a same-file example if useful.

When Related cannot show a match

No semantic matches yet. can mean indexing is still running or no qualifying matches are available. Semantic matches unavailable. indicates a loading failure. Allow indexing to finish and use Refresh related passages. Related document is unavailable. means the selected result’s document could not be found locally.

If a view reports Open related passages from the main document view., return to the normal workspace document viewer and open the result there.

Review the source wording before relying on a suggested connection. See Processing status and Ask Docs for a separate question-based search across a chosen scope.

Read out loud

Open Read out loud, or use its choices in More document actions:

• Read whole doc from start reads the available document text from the beginning.
• Read selection reads the selected words or readable text found in the selected area.
• Read selection area onwards starts from the selection and continues through the available document text.
• Stop reading stops playback.

The selection choices require a selection. Scans and images need readable OCR text; drawing a rectangle alone does not make its contents readable. No readable text found. means no suitable text was available. Playback also depends on the device’s speech support.

Reading from a selected area uses a limited excerpt and may finish before the end of a long document. Select a later passage to continue, or use Read whole doc from start to read the available document text from the beginning.

Copy to Canvas and source links

Use Copy to Canvas to create a new source-linked excerpt or image in the receiving Canvas/PenPad. Ordinary textual-PDF selection produces text; a scan/image area or ink-loop capture produces an image. Open the intended Canvas/PenPad before copying so that the destination is clear.

Use Copy when you want to reuse the selection inside Document View instead. It stores an internal rich selection with source document/page/region metadata in the app’s shared staging area and also writes a best-effort OS clipboard item without metadata: plain text for text selections, or a PNG image for visual selections where supported. Canvas/PenPad Copy uses the same staging area and mirrors its flattened PNG to the OS clipboard.

Document View has one Paste action. When pressed, it uses newly changed external OS clipboard text/image when available; otherwise it uses the richer in-app staged selection. A continuous progress spinner remains visible while the pasted content is decoded, positioned, and saved. A rich document selection retains its document source metadata. A rich Canvas/PenPad selection is placed on the page as its flattened visual artifact, while source-document links belonging to copied nodes/cards remain attached as in-app metadata. Each paste is one document edit: Undo document change removes the latest pasted overlay and Redo document change restores it. Paste is disabled for text-preview documents because they do not have a stable PDF/image page surface.

Pasted document overlays sit above the page and its working ink. They are saved locally with the document and do not modify the original PDF/image file. A pasted text selection remains text-shaped with a light translucent cream background; a pasted scan/image area remains an image region. For scanned PDFs and image files, copying a selected area copies the visible region as an image rather than OCR text, so logos, marks, handwriting, and non-text content are preserved.

Pasted text and image overlays keep a visible rectangle on the page. Drag the rectangle to move it, drag it across page boundaries in a PDF to place it on another page, drag the bottom-right resize handle to change its size, and use the top-right eye notch to hide or show the pasted content while leaving the rectangle visible. These controls remain available while Pen, Highlighter, Eraser, or Lasso Ink is selected. A Canvas/PenPad artifact containing source-linked nodes/cards also shows a numbered link notch. Open it to review a scrollable list grouped by the originating node/card, then choose a source to open its document and saved location in the right workspace pane. The visual artifact remains flattened and noneditable. Dragging or resizing a pasted item pauses Pen, Highlighter, and Eraser input for that pointer. Use the delete notch to remove that pasted overlay permanently and remove its paste from working-session Undo/Redo history. The position, resize, visibility, and source-link metadata are saved with the document.

Copied text goes into a new node/card. For a Canvas destination, copying automatically sets the Canvas zoom to 50% so the new material is easier to see. Zoom further for small controls or adjust the selected node’s text size as needed. Press Center Canvas at the workspace’s top left, or in the expanded full-screen tool strip, to return to the most zoomed-out 5% overview. A PenPad destination fits the page instead. See Copy document text to a node.

Screenshot placeholder: Document text selection, Copy to Canvas, and the receiving source-linked text node at 50% Canvas zoom; label Center Canvas and its return to the 5% overview.

To attach a reference to an existing item, select the destination Canvas node/card or PenPad page, select the document passage or area, then choose Link selection to selected node or PenPad page. The control requires both a document selection and an eligible target. You can add several source links to the same item. See Create source document links for the complete linking workflow.

On PenPad, leaving nodes/cards unselected lets the link attach to the current page; selecting a node/card attaches it to that item instead. Use a normal single-document center view for this action, since comparison views disable direct linking to an existing target.

Material may come from the active Case, another Case you are browsing, the Global Library root, or a library subhead while the currently open Canvas/PenPad remains the receiving workspace. See Selection and destination rules for active context, browsing mode, and destination behavior.

Canvas rail in the document viewer

When the active Canvas/PenPad contains a node, card, or page link to the open document, the document viewer shows a small Canvas rail at its bottom-right edge. It lists those source references to this document, including links to selected text or a page area. Opening another Canvas/PenPad changes the available links; this rail is not a list across every saved canvas.

1. Click or tap the collapsed edge tab to expand the rail.
2. Check its N canvas links heading. Each row shows a page number and short source excerpt when available, or a source-link label.
3. The rail shows up to three rows at a time. If Scroll for N more appears, scroll inside the expanded list or drag its scrollbar to reach the remaining links. Scrolling the document itself does not scroll this list.
4. Click or tap a link row. The document moves to the linked source passage/area, and the associated Canvas/PenPad item is brought into focus. A node/card is selected and centered; a link attached directly to a PenPad page opens and fits that page. The associated Canvas/PenPad is opened when needed.
5. Use Collapse canvas links to tuck the rail away. Clicking or tapping the document area also collapses an expanded rail.

Collapsing the rail preserves its links. If no matching links exist in the active Canvas/PenPad, the rail is absent. To review a different canvas’s use of the document, open that Canvas/PenPad first. Hide annotation marks controls bookmarks, highlights, tags, and comments and does not remove these source links.

Following a rail link exits document full screen when necessary and reveals the receiving Canvas/PenPad if right-pane documents were covering it. If the app reports that the linked Canvas/PenPad or node is no longer available, check that the destination still exists. The rail provides navigation and collapse controls; it has no per-link Delete action.

Screenshot placeholder: Bottom-right Canvas rail collapsed and expanded beside a linked document region; show N canvas links, three visible rows, scrollbar, Scroll for N more, and the corresponding selected Canvas/PenPad card.

Open a source document from a node, card, or PenPad page

The source-link lists also work in the other direction, from your Canvas/PenPad work back to the source document:

• For a linked node or card, click or tap its bottom source-link strip. With one source, Open linked source opens the document directly. With multiple sources, Show linked sources reveals the scrollable list so you can choose a reference.
• For links attached directly to the PenPad page, use PenPad page links at the top of the PenPad area to reveal that page’s scrollable list. At zero links, it is disabled and labelled No PenPad page links.

The lists show up to three rows at once; scroll inside them or use the scrollbar to reach more references. Click or tap the required source entry to open its document and navigate to the saved passage, area, or page. One node/card or PenPad page may link to several areas in the same document or to different documents; select the intended entry each time.

Opening a source this way returns to a single source-document view and replaces any document comparison that was open. Review the source, then use its Canvas rail to focus the linked item again. These source lists provide navigation; they do not have individual link-delete controls.

If the app reports Source document is no longer available., the linked file cannot be found locally. Check the source location in Documents; a compatible backup may be needed if it was deleted. Closing a link list or clearing the document’s source highlight does not delete the underlying link.

See Review links from a Canvas or PenPad item for the matching Canvas controls.

Screenshot placeholder: A source-linked node/card with its bottom strip expanded into a scrollable source-document list, and a PenPad Page Links list; identify the entry that opens the highlighted document area.

Saving annotations

Bookmarks, tags, and comments are saved locally when added, edited, or deleted. Highlight entries are derived from saved Highlighter ink. Document ink also saves automatically as you work. There is no separate document-annotation Save button.

The saved marks belong to the document inside the app. Reopening it restores them. Undo document change and Redo document change are working-session controls for recent ink and paste additions; their history is not restored when you reopen the document. Use Backup and restore to preserve this local work with the rest of the workspace.

Export Annotations PDF

Export Annotations PDF creates a separate text summary of the document’s annotations. It does not export a copy of the original pages with your freehand ink drawn over them.

1. Select Export Annotations PDF from the toolbar or More document actions.
2. The export starts immediately. Check the reported saved location when it finishes.

The summary includes bookmarks, highlights, tags, comments, accepted Structure/AI Legal index entries, and their available page/source text. Pending-review and dismissed generated index entries are not exported. Highlight entries come from grouped Highlighter ink when readable text under the highlighted area can be resolved. A highlighted region without readable extracted/OCR text contributes no highlighted-text excerpt. Pen drawings and visual ink shapes are not reproduced in this summary.

Exports are saved under Documents/CogniVenue-Legal/Exports/pdf/document-annotations. If no entries qualify, the exported PDF contains a no-annotations message.

To share a marked-up copy of the whole PDF, use Export PDF with Ink. To share a visual selection containing page content and ink, use Copy to Canvas, then the Canvas export controls for that copied material.

Screenshot placeholder: Sample annotation summary PDF showing page references, an accepted generated index entry, a comment, and readable highlighted text.

Export PDF with Ink

Export PDF with Ink creates a separate PDF copy of the original PDF pages with saved Pen strokes, Highlighter strokes, and visible pasted text/image items drawn onto the pages. It is different from Export Annotations PDF, which creates a text summary of review entries such as comments, tags, bookmarks, and highlight records.

1. Open the PDF whose page ink you want to share.
2. Select Export PDF with Ink from the toolbar or More document actions.
3. Wait for the completion message and check the reported saved location.

The export first saves pending ink, then prepares the PDF in the background. While it runs, the app shows a non-blocking Exporting PDF with ink and pasted items… message with a progress indicator. Large or scanned PDFs can take longer; wait for either the saved-location message or an error message before trying the same export again.

Exports are saved under Documents/CogniVenue-Legal/Exports/pdf/document-ink. The exported file keeps the original document name; Case documents are prefixed with the Case or location name to make the output easier to identify. If a file with the same name already exists, the app adds a numbered suffix.

Export PDF with Ink is available only for PDFs. Hidden pasted items stay hidden in the exported copy. Text-preview documents do not have a page-ink surface, and image files can be shared through visual Copy to Canvas or other available export workflows.

Annotation differences for text-preview documents

TXT/TEXT, DOCX, Markdown, RTF, ODT, HTML/HTM, EML/MSG email, ICS/VCS calendar, and CSV use text previews. They retain document-linked review features but have no PDF/image page ink surface.

Disabled drawing controls in text previews do not prevent adding bookmarks, tags, or comments. Those entries can still show colored text markers in the preview.

When a viewer action is unavailable

• Missing toolbar or action: reveal the top-center toolbar notch, open More document actions, or widen the pane.
• A drag draws instead of selecting: choose Disable Annotation. To draw, enable annotation and choose Pen or Highlighter.
• Drawing/color/width disabled: confirm the file is a PDF or image and annotation is enabled. Stroke width is also disabled for Lasso Ink.
• Copy or Link disabled: select document text or an area; linking also needs an eligible Canvas/PenPad target and a single-document center view. Comparison views disable direct linking to an existing item.
• Paste disabled: open a PDF or image document. Paste uses either an in-app rich selection or supported OS clipboard text/image content.
• Related opens the same filename twice: the result compares two different passages in that document. Each view has its own source location.
• Tag name changes but the document does not move: click or tap Tags - [name] after choosing the tag name to navigate its occurrences.
• Canvas rail missing or more links expected: open the Canvas/PenPad containing the links to this document, expand the rail, and scroll inside its list.
• No source excerpt or readable highlighted text: allow extraction/OCR to finish and check whether the selected region contains recognizable text.
• Ink stays visible after Hide annotation marks: that switch controls saved bookmark/highlight/tag/comment markers. Use Eraser, Lasso Ink, or ink Undo to change drawn ink.
• Export PDF with Ink unavailable: this export is available only for PDFs.
• Export contains text but no drawn page: Export Annotations PDF is a summary. Use Export PDF with Ink for a marked-up PDF page copy with pen, highlighter, and visible pasted items, or copy the required visual region to Canvas when you need an image of selected page content and ink.

Related topics: Document processing, Workspace navigation, Canvas/PenPad, Troubleshooting.