Skitch

For MAC and Android devices

Those of you who use Evernote to organise your notes and ideas may find Skitch a useful  tool. It allows you to annotate, edit and save your photos & scribbles. Everything you create on Skitch can be shared directly with Evernote, saved to a drive or emailed. Annotate an image with arrows, shapes and text. Sketch something new and markup an existing photo, then save your creations to Evernote or share them with other applications.

Skitch is available for the MAC desktop from the MAC App store, for the iPad  from iTunes app store and Android mobile devices.

A look at Skitch

Drawing attention to your images has never been easier. Here are some ways to use Skitch:

• When you’re at a conference, take a snapshot of the people you meet, annotate it with their names and save it into Evernote.
• Annotate any image, screenshot or photo saved in Evernote thanks to a streamlined Skitch/Evernote integration.
• Download a screenshot attached to email. Open it in Skitch and add your comments. Save to Evernote for later review.
• Take a snapshot of something awesome, resize it, draw an arrow, add a caption, then post the image on Twitter or Facebook.
• Grab a picture of a whiteboard in a meeting or lecture, add a comment and save to Evernote.
• Quickly sketch out a map or a diagram.

There are powerful features to help you get even more out of Skitch:

• Zoom and crop images.
• Create smooth, lines and scribbles to explain an idea.
• Add text using a special high-contrast colouring scheme for readability.
• Markup text with the semi-opaque highlighter tool.
• Re-position and delete shapes, text and drawings at any time.
• Share your work with with any application that accepts images.

Skitch for iPad

Skitch for iPad allows you to capture photos, screenshots, web pages, maps or just doodle on screen. Once captured, Skitch has a full set of annotation tools to mark up any images with lines, shapes arrows or text.

Once you’ve annotated your images, you can share via email, Twitter or save them to your camera roll. If you’re an Evernote user, you can even save then directly to your Evernote account.

With full AirPlay support on iPad 2 and 3, Skitch turns your iPad into a really useful presentation device. Annotate images in real time and have the display appear on a remote HDTV or Projector via an Apple TV.

Skitch iPad home screen

 So how could you use Skitch for genealogical research?

Locating a relative’s grave

I know what cemetery  this relative is buried in but I don’t know where the grave is. Using Skitch for iPad,  I can take a screenshot of a webpage by clicking the Web button on the Skitch home screen. In this case, I used Google within the Skitch app to search for Springvale Cemetery. Browsing through the cemetery’s site got me to Deceased Search.  I then annotated my search results  using the Skitch tools and then saved the image to my Evernote account. If I didn’t have an Evernote account, I could email the image or save it to my camera roll. I could also do the same thing using the Skitch desktop app. However, the mobility of the iPad makes this a better tool to conduct research.

 This image gives the location of the grave, and by using Skitch’s annotation tools, I can highlight information, make some notes and then save it in my Evernote account.

Another web search  and I was able to find a map of the cemetery and, using Skitch, highlighted the location of the grave and cropped the image.  The toolbar along the left provides the option to send this image to Evernote, along with other options for sharing and storing.

ipad annotation tools

When I found the grave, I took a picture of the gravestone with the iPad camera, and added some annotations to the photo with Skitch before sending it to Evernote. I now have a collection of research items in Evernote that I can organise into a notebook and use later for my research.

Grave annotated with Skitch

 How to use Skitch on the iPad

Skitch Drawing Tips and Techniques