How to markup an email with the Apple Pencil

Even though tools like Slack promise to eliminate it from the office, email is still the communication channel of choice for many people, especially for more official occasions or longer information. To sort or file important information, people have been printing out emails for ages to mark them up using a highlighter or a pen. Now the iPad and the Apple Pencil offer a much easier way to markup emails.

Apple has greatly improved the way how iOS and most apps work together with the Apple Pencil. In the Mail app, for example, you‘re able to add sketches and markup to emails you‘re currently composing. However, that doesn‘t help a lot with incoming emails, which likely represent a majority of the emails that you want to markup. So here is a fast and convenient way to write directly on an email with the Apple Pencil:

What you need:

• GoodNotes
• an iPad
• an Apple Pencil
• an email that you want to markup

The first thing you’ll need to do is creating a PDF from the email that you can then later markup with your Apple Pencil. While third-party email apps make it relatively easy with a prominent share button and create PDF options, Apple’s own iOS Mail app hides this behind some buttons and a pinch-to-zoom gesture. We’ll walk you through it:

Step 1 — Hit the reply button

Open the email and tap on the reply button which — on the iPad — is usually located in the upper right.

Step 2 — Tap Print

This is the first non-obvious choice on iOS where you should usually be able to tap a share button right away. In case of Mail, “Print” is the way to go.

Step 3 — Pinch to create a PDF

This is where the magic happens. After you tap the print button, a preview of the email will show up. On that preview thumbnail pinch with your fingers as if you wanted to zoom out on the touchscreen. This will generate a PDF file from the selected email.

Step 4 — Copy the PDF to GoodNotes

The created PDF will finally show the share button from where you can easily copy the created document to GoodNotes to mark up the email with your Apple Pencil or another stylus. GoodNotes will allow you to either append the email to an open notebook or create a stand-alone document in any of your categories.

Step 5 — Mark up the email with your Apple Pencil

Voila. You saved yourself an email that is waiting to be marked up. You can use your Apple Pencil, your fingers, or any other supported stylus to write on the email as if you would have printed it out. Of course, you can either keep the annotated PDF in GoodNotes or export it to any other app of your choice.
Bonus points: You did not waste time on printing and you’ll preserve the environment. 🌳