Annotating in Spark!

Introduction

Annotation tools are essential to any proofing tool. They make it easy to markup any digital file and share those markups with other users to review. Spark! includes a number of annotation tools that allow you to annotate a file in a variety of ways. Below are list of these annotation tools.

Drawing Boxes on a Proof

1. Open the proof in Spark! if it is not already open.

2. Click the Box tool in the Spark! toolbar.

3. Draw a box around an area in your document by clicking, dragging, then releasing your left mouse button. The box will appear in the proof and a comment box will open. Type your comment. Unless deleted by you, comments will be visible to you and to other users of Approval Manager.

You can close the comment box by clicking the minimize button in the upper-right corner. You can re-open it by double-clicking on the box itself.

4. Delete a box by clicking on the Delete link in the comment box under the text box.

Drawing Arrows on a Proof

1. Open the proof in Spark! if it is not already open.

2. Click the Arrow tool in the Spark! toolbar.

3. Draw an arrow by clicking, dragging, then releasing your left mouse button. The arrow will appear in the proof and a comment box will open. Type your comment. Unless deleted by you, comments will be visible to you and to other users of Approval Manager.

You can close the comment box by clicking the minimize button in the upper-right corner. You can re-open it by double-clicking on the box itself.

4. Delete an arrow by clicking on the Delete link in the comment box under the text box.

Using the Pen Tool

1. Open the proof in Spark! if it is not already open.

2. Click the Pen tool in the Spark! toolbar.

3. Left click while dragging your mouse to draw. Once you have the desired line or shape, release the mouse. A comment pop-up will appear allowing you to attach a comment to your new pen line.

You can close the comment box by clicking the minimize button in the upper-right corner. You can re-open it by double-clicking on the pen line.

4. Delete a pen line or shape by clicking on the Delete link in the comment box under the text box.

Measuring Distances in a Proof

1. Open the proof in Spark! if it is not already open.
2. Click the Measurement tool in the Spark! toolbar.

3. Drag the mouse from one point to another to measure the distance.

You can hold the Shift key to make the Measurement tool snap to 90º and 45º angles.

The measurement display will show you the distance and angle of the measurement.

Units of measurement can be changed by clicking the units indicator in the measurement display and selecting either inches, centimeters, or pixels.

To delete the measurement, click the blue X in the upper-right corner of the black measurement box.

Annotation Color Picker in Spark!

1. Create a new annotation or double-click an existing one in Spark!.

2. In the pop-up comment box that appears, click on the arrow next to Line Color to choose a color.

3. From the color menu that appears, you can specify a color choice

To select a color use any of the following methods:

Color Field	Spectrum Slider	RGB Value	Hexadecimal Value	Color Palette
Move the circle inside this square to change the saturation level of the color.	Use the slider to choose a color hue.	Choose a specific RGB color value.	Choose a specific hexadecimal color value.	Choose a color from several predefined swatches.

4. When you're finished choosing your color, select Done and your annotation color will be changed.

Adding a Manager's Note via Spark! (Proof Managers Only)

You must be the manager of a proof to add a Manager's Note.

1. Open the proof in Spark! if it is not already open.
2. Click the yellow Manager's Note bar above the Spark! Toolbar. A Manager's Note dialog box will open.

3. Type and Save your note. Your Manager's Note will now be visible to other reviewers when they open this document in Spark!

You can also create a Manager's Note in Approval Manager when you're routing a proof. For more information read Trafficking Approval Processes.

Filtering Comments and Annotations

Use the Annotations Filter drop-down in the Spark! toolbar to select which annotations you want to see. Depending on your selection, comments and annotations will appear and disappear from both the proof image and the comments tab in Spark!.

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