iPad Crayon

Where to begin with the Crayon...

Getting started with Notes

Apple’s Notes app is the perfect way to start using the Logitech Crayon. Create a new note, then tap the Markup icon at the top right of the screen.

Notes displays a set of tools at the bottom of the screen. You can now begin to draw or even write text. The iPad Pro offers excellent palm rejection so it doesn’t think you’re writing with your entire hand.

There are four drawing options: from left to write they are a pencil for handwriting recognition, a pen, a felt-tip pen and a pencil. To the right of that is an eraser, then a selection tool. Tap one of these to activate them. Tap again and you can choose the thickness of the lines and the saturation of the color.

If you want to use Scribble for handwriting recognition, tap the pencil with the A. Start writing, and Scribble will convert your handwriting to text. Use the gestures presented in the video above to erase, select, and edit text.

To add drawings in your notes, switch to one of the other tools. You have a choice of colors with black and the primary colors immediately available; tap the color wheel to choose a different color.

If you want to draw perfect shapes, such as circles and squares, draw the shape you want, and, at the end, don’t lift the pencil right away; you’ll see the shape snap into a perfect circle or square.

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You can use the eraser tool – either by tapping it in the tools palette or by double-tapping the second-generation Apple Pencil if you’ve set that option – to erase anything you’ve drawn.

And you can use the selection tool to select an element, then tap and drag it to a new location. The selection tool doesn’t give you a fine selection; it selects entire objects that you’ve drawn. Note that the undo and redo buttons at the bottom left of the screen allow you to step backward and forward in your actions.

Here’s a great tip if you use Apple Notes. If your iPad is locked, tap it to wake up the screen and display a new note, the last note you viewed or the last note you created. You can choose which you prefer in Settings > Notes > Access Notes from Lock Screen.

But you can also use it as a stylus

While the Logitech Crayon isn’t intended to be used as styluses to control the iPad, you can use them as such. For some apps, this can be very practical. You can tap buttons, drag sliders and select objects. This is great for editing photos, for example, because it is a lot easier to tap some of the small icons in complex editing apps with the Pencil than with a finger.

You can navigate the iPad with the Logitech Crayon performing just about every action with the stylus. The only things you cannot do is return to your home screen or switch apps (you need to swipe up from the bottom of the device with your finger), or display Control Center (swipe down from the top right).

Annotate PDFs

You can annotate PDFs using the Logitech Crayon either using the iOS Markup tools or with one of the many such apps available for iOS. Open a PDF, tap the Markup icon and draw. You can also sign PDFs using these devices.

Edit text

One of my favorite uses for the Logitech Crayon is editing text. Text editing on an iOS device is clumsy at best; it’s hard to select items and it’s even harder to drag the little lollipops at the beginning and end of a selection. With the Apple Pencil, I can easily edit texts I write, select and move text, or select text for deletion. I sometimes use the pencil to tap letters on the keyboard when I’m fixing typos or adding short words.