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Annotate puts one picture in front of the whole room. You upload an image and ask a question, and each participant traces their answer straight onto the image from their phone. The big screen shows the same image with everyone’s drawings layered on top, so you can see where the room agrees and where it doesn’t. It’s unscored, with no points and no leaderboard.

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Annotate at a glance

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Create an Annotate slide

1

Add the slide

In the editor, click New slide, open the Poll tab and select Annotate.
2

Write your question

Type what you want people to do in Your question, for example “Label the four chambers of the heart” or “Circle the mistake in this chart”. Keep it to one clear instruction.
3

Add the image

Under Image to draw on, click Add image. Upload your own file, or pick one from My Images, Stock Photos, GIFs & Stickers or Wikimedia. Crop it to 16:9, 4:3, 2:3, 1:1 or a free shape, rotate or flip it if needed, then click Save.
4

Adjust settings

In the right panel, choose the time limit, submissions and result display. See Annotate settings.
Until you add an image, the slide shows “Add an image for your audience to annotate” and participants are told the presenter hasn’t added one yet.

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Present an Annotate slide

Click Preview in the top header to see the big screen and a participant’s phone side by side. When you’re ready, click Present. Participants join with the access code and start drawing. On their phone, each participant sees your question, the image and a short line, “Draw directly on the image”, with these tools underneath:
  • Pen colour — tap a swatch to change colour. There are up to five swatches, taken from your presentation’s colours, so they match your theme.
  • Undo — removes the last stroke, one at a time.
  • Clear — removes everything they’ve drawn that isn’t submitted yet.
  • Submit — sends the drawing. The button then reads Submitted and the image locks.
Both Undo and Clear stay greyed out until the participant has drawn something. There’s no eraser, brush size or custom colour. A drawing can hold up to 200 strokes. On the big screen, you see one image with every submitted drawing layered on it. Each participant’s marks are drawn in their own colour from your presentation’s colours, and a live count shows how many drawings have come in. Until the first one arrives, the screen says “Waiting for drawings”. If you tick Allow audience to submit more than once, a participant can tap Draw more after submitting and add to their drawing. Only their latest drawing is shown, and it includes their earlier marks. Without it, each participant submits once. Submissions stop when Close submission is on or the time limit ends, and the button reads “Submissions closed”. Changing or removing the image after people have drawn asks you to confirm first, because it erases every drawing on the slide. To start over without changing the image, reset the slide’s results.

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Annotate settings

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Ideas for using Annotate

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Classroom and training

  • Label a diagram — students name the parts of a cell, a circuit or a map.
  • Spot the mistake — circle the error in a worked solution, a chart or a contract clause.
  • Knowledge check in healthcare — mark the structure on a scan or an anatomy figure, then compare answers on the big screen.

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Meetings and workshops

  • Design feedback — everyone marks up a mock-up, so the group sees which areas draw the most attention.
  • Mark a place on a map — pick a site, a route or a region.

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Events

Show a floor plan or a photo and ask the crowd to mark where they’d go first.

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Annotate compared with similar slides

  • Draw Answer gives each participant a blank canvas for a freehand sketch. Use Draw Answer when there’s no picture to mark.
  • Pin on Image lets participants drop a single pin. Use Pin on Image when a point is enough and you don’t need outlines or circles.

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Frequently asked questions

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Can participants see each other’s drawings?

No. Participants only see their own marks on their phone. The big screen shows everyone’s drawings together.

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Does Annotate work in other languages?

Yes. The participant screen is available in all the languages AhaSlides supports, including right-to-left languages such as Arabic.

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Is the slide scored?

No. Annotate doesn’t award points or add to a leaderboard. Use it to compare answers and discuss them.

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What happens to drawings if I change the image?

You’re asked to confirm first. Confirming erases every drawing on that slide, because the marks no longer match the picture.

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Can I hide the drawings until I’m ready?

Yes. Turn on Show results manually and reveal them when you want to discuss. See hiding results. Have a question? Contact our support team — if you’re logged in, use the chat bubble in the bottom-right of your dashboard; otherwise contact us here or email hi@ahaslides.com. Want to connect with other users? Join the AhaSlides community to share tips, request features, and see how others engage their audiences.