Presenters
Circle the figure that matters, underline the line on the slide and press W to sketch the flow that never made it into the deck. It works on PowerPoint, PDFs, the browser or a BI dashboard.
Draw on screen · Windows 10 & 11
Draw on your screen.
Arrows, circles, highlights and text on top of the slide, the spreadsheet, the dashboard or the video. Ctrl + Shift + D opens the pen on every monitor, and Esc closes it.
Download free for WindowsSee how it worksWindows 10 & 11 · drawing is free, unlimited and works offline
Sales dashboard · 2026
Sales by region — September
Monthly revenue compared with August
Total
$1.25M
+4.2% vs. August
$412K
East
$296K
South
$262K
West
$198K
Central
$77K
North
down 41% here
Draw here
Hold Shift for a straight line, Ctrl for a rectangle and Ctrl + Shift for an arrow.
Draw on screen · Windows 10 & 11
How do you draw on your screen in Windows?
To draw live on top of any window in Windows, you need an app that puts a transparent layer over the screen. The tools that ship with Windows and Office draw either on a screenshot (Snipping Tool) or inside one app: PowerPoint's slide show, Teams, Zoom and Google Meet each have their own pen, and it only works there.
In Sincron Screen Tools, Ctrl + Shift + D opens the drawing layer on every monitor. You mark up with a pen, a highlighter and text, hold a key to get straight lines, rectangles, arrows and ellipses, and close it with Esc or a right-click. The app underneath keeps working.
Drawing is free, unlimited and works offline. By default your drawings show up when you share your screen in Teams, Meet or OBS; if you want them visible only to you, turn on ghost mode in Settings.
Reviewed on October 3, 2026
Step by step
How to draw on screen with Sincron
Five moves cover almost everything you do in a live explanation. Every shortcut can be changed in the app's Settings.
Open the pen: Ctrl + Shift + D
Your screen stays as it was, with a toolbar you can drag anywhere. The layer covers every monitor, so you can mark the slide on your main display and the spreadsheet on the second one without switching modes.
Pick a tool and a color
The pen is the starting tool, T switches to text and Shift + a color key turns it into a highlighter; the eraser lives on the toolbar. The main colors have keys: R red, O orange, Y yellow, G green and B blue. There is also pink, white, black and a free color picker. The up and down arrow keys, or Ctrl + mouse wheel, change the thickness.
Hold a key for shapes
While dragging, Shift draws a straight line, Ctrl a rectangle, Ctrl + Shift an arrow and Tab an ellipse. It is the fastest way to circle a number or point at a button without a wobbly stroke.
Switch to a whiteboard or blackboard
W covers the screen with a whiteboard and K with a blackboard, so you can sketch an idea from scratch in the middle of a class or meeting. Ctrl + Z undoes the last stroke and E clears everything.
Capture the screen with your drawings
The capture button on the toolbar grabs a region or the full screen, with your drawings or just the image underneath. In the Screenshot Studio you set the background, padding, corners and shadow, then copy the image or save a PNG to drop into chat.
Try it
Mark it up without leaving the app
The panel below uses the same toolbar as the app. Draw an arrow or circle a number, the way you would on your own spreadsheet or slide.
Sales dashboard · 2026
Sales by region — September
Monthly revenue compared with August
Total
$1.25M
+4.2% vs. August
$412K
East
$296K
South
$262K
West
$198K
Central
$77K
North
down 41% here
Draw here
Hold Shift for a straight line, Ctrl for a rectangle and Ctrl + Shift for an arrow.
Who it is for
Where drawing on screen pays off
Teachers and trainers
Write over the exercise, the code or the map, on a classroom projector or in an online class. K opens a blackboard when the explanation needs a clean space, and E wipes it for the next question.
Support and onboarding calls
Point at the right field in the customer's system while they follow along in Teams or Meet. At the end, capture the screen with your drawings and paste the steps into the meeting chat.
Comparison
What each way of drawing on screen does
Built-in options work well inside their own app. To draw over any program, you need a layer on top of the whole screen.
| Option | Where it draws | Shapes and boards | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| PowerPoint slide show pen | Only on slides, in slide show | Pen, laser pointer and eraser; black (B) or white (W) screen | Included with PowerPoint |
| Annotate in Teams, Zoom or Meet | Only on content shared in the call | Zoom: lines, arrows and shapes. Meet: pen, shapes and sticky notes. Teams: pen, highlighter and laser in PowerPoint Live | Included; in Meet, only on some Google Workspace editions |
| Snipping Tool | On a screenshot you already took, not live | Pen and highlighter; shapes on Windows 11 | Free with Windows |
| ZoomIt | Any app, zoomed in or not | Line, rectangle, arrow, ellipse, whiteboard and blackboard | Free |
| Sincron Screen Tools | Any app, on every monitor | Line, rectangle, arrow, ellipse, whiteboard and blackboard, with an on-screen toolbar | Free and unlimited for drawing |
Features checked on the official Microsoft, Zoom and Google pages on October 3, 2026.
Real limits
What the drawing layer does not do
No zoom
Sincron does not magnify the screen. If you need zoom while presenting, Microsoft's free ZoomIt does it very well. The default shortcuts of the two apps do not clash, so you can run both.
No video recording
The layer captures images, not video or GIFs. To record a lesson with your drawings, use a recorder such as OBS: with ghost mode off, your strokes show up in the recording.
Share the screen, not the window
In Teams, Meet and Zoom, sharing a single window sends only that window, without the layer drawn on top of it. For your drawings to show up, share your entire screen.
Windows only
The app runs on Windows 10 and 11. There is no Mac, Linux or mobile version for now.
Common questions about drawing on screen
How do I write on my screen in Windows?
Open the drawing layer with Ctrl + Shift + D, press T and click where you want the text. To write by hand, use the pen, which is the starting tool. Esc closes the layer.
Can people in the meeting see what I draw?
Yes. By default your drawings appear when you share your screen in Teams, Meet or OBS, as long as you share the entire screen. To draw only for yourself, turn on ghost mode in Settings.
Can I draw on two monitors?
Yes. Ctrl + Shift + D opens the layer on every monitor at once, and you can drag the toolbar to whichever screen you are working on.
Is there a free app to draw on screen?
Yes. In Sincron, capturing, annotating and drawing are free and unlimited, with no trial period. Microsoft's ZoomIt is also free. Sincron's paid plans ($36 a year or $89 lifetime) add unlimited translation and summaries and custom image backgrounds in the Screenshot Studio.
Does the app underneath stop while I draw?
No. The video, spreadsheet or system keeps working while the layer is open. When you are done, Esc or a right-click closes the layer.
See also
Draw on screen while presenting
PowerPoint's pen, annotation in Teams, Zoom and Meet, and drawing over any app.
ZoomIt alternative
What ZoomIt does better, what it does not do, and when to run another app next to it.
Present live with your webcam
Pick a screen area or a window, add your webcam and share one clean window in Teams, Zoom or Meet.
Your next explanation can be drawn.
Install Sincron Screen Tools and press Ctrl + Shift + D: pen, shapes, text and a whiteboard over any app, on every monitor. Drawing is free and unlimited.