About Penslide

A free screen annotation tool, built out of frustration with the alternatives.

Why Penslide Exists

I needed a simple tool to draw on my screen during presentations. Circle a button, highlight a paragraph, point to a menu item. That is the entire job. Five seconds of drawing, then back to the conversation.

So I searched for one. And I found plenty of websites offering exactly that. Small toolbar, transparent overlay, basic drawing tools. Simple enough. Until I tried to actually use them.

One wanted a subscription. Another offered a "free version" that locked the highlighter behind a paywall. A third let you draw for 30 days before demanding payment. And nearly all of them had installers, background services, and upgrade prompts that interrupted the very workflow they were supposed to support.

I was annoyed. Not because these tools were bad, but because the basic task of drawing on your screen is so simple that charging for it felt unreasonable. Especially when the free versions were designed to frustrate you into paying.

So I built Penslide.

What Penslide Is

Penslide is a free screen annotation tool for Windows and Mac. The Windows version runs from a single portable executable, and the Mac version is available as a DMG. No account. No subscription. No feature locks. No upgrade prompts. Every feature is available from the moment you open the app.

The toolbar is compact. It floats at the edge of your screen and stays out of the way. You get a pen, a highlighter, colour selection, undo, clear, and screenshot capture. That is the complete feature set, and it covers every annotation need I have encountered in real meetings, training sessions, and support calls.

Who It Is For

Penslide is for anyone who shares their screen with other people and needs a way to point at things clearly. That includes:

• Teachers who run online classes and want to highlight content during lessons.
• Trainers who walk people through software tools and need to mark up the interface.
• Support technicians who guide users through troubleshooting steps.
• Presenters who want to emphasise key data points during meetings.
• Anyone who has ever waved their cursor at a screen and wished they could just draw a circle.

The Principle

Drawing on your screen should be free. Not "free with limitations." Not "free for 30 days." Actually free. Penslide is built on that principle, and it will stay that way.

If you find it useful, that is the best outcome I could hope for. If you want to help, share it with someone who needs it. That is the only ask.

Based in the United Kingdom

Penslide is developed and maintained from the United Kingdom. For legal information, see our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.