They say a photo is worth a thousand words and in PIM it can help to tell a story of the condition of the property. With the latest version of PIM v4.4.7+ (Check your version in PIM Settings) the app now includes annotation editing tools that allow you to easily highlight areas with the use of symbols, lines, arrows, and text, which can highlight any items requiring attention on your photos. A perfect way to add that extra piece of information for your owners and tenants to highlight maintenance issues. Available for PIM Premium customers only.
So let's look at how to annotate your photos in PIM!
Watch the video below covering how to take photos and annotate, or head over to our Youtube Channel - Taking Photos and Videos in PIM Cloud.
Getting Started
Expand the relevant Inspection Area (or Sub Inspection Area), you can then tap directly on the Camera symbol on the right-hand side. You can also tap the Photos row, as before. Both methods will launch the camera window ready for you to take your photos.
If you want to take your photos and then annotate them at a later stage, you can do this by navigating to the inspection area where you took the photo, tap on the photo bar, then tap the thumbnail of the image and you can then tap the Edit to begin annotating. This also includes annotating photos added from the camera roll!
Once you take your photo and tap Edit (top right corner) you will see the Annotation screen:
Annotation Features Include:
1 - Tool selection: This allows you to select a tool you wish to use to markup/annotate the image. This includes objects like (Arrow, Text, Line, and Rectangle)s and freehand drawing with the Pen, or select specific objects with the Selection tool or erase aspects of your annotations using the Eraser tool.
2 - Line Width: you can change the size of your object using this menu
3 - Colour Palette Menu: select the colour of your object or drawing
4 - Redo
5 - Undo
6 - Done to save your annotated image
7 - Cancel
Let's Annotate |
| 1. Tool menu |
You need to tap the tool menu, which allows you to add a number of objects. ARROW: To add an arrow tap the Tool menu and tap Arrow, then place your finger on the screen and drag your finger to draw the arrow  TEXT: Tap the Tool menu to change your selection to Text: Once you have typed the text you need to tap the screen (outside of the Text object) to save the text object
LINE: Tap the Tool menu to change your selection to a Line: RECTANGLE: Tap the Tool menu to change your selection to Rectangle: All these objects (Arrow, Line, Text, Rectangle) can be changed in colour, size or position by tapping "Selection" and then tap the Line Width menu or Colour Palette menu PEN: The Pen tool is slightly different as it allows you to draw freehand on the image. To select the Pen tap the Tool menu and then select Pen: you can then freely draw on the image using the set Colour and Line Width.  ERASER: The erase tool can be selected from the Tool menu and then used to delete part of or all of your annotations, it works like an eraser and you just rub your finger across the annotation you wish to delete. For whole deletions, it's easier for you to use the Undo function. Refer to option 5 or the half arrow on the far left of the Annotation toolbar  |
2. Width Tool |
You can select the width for any of the Annotation objects before creating them, or if you want you can use the "Selection" option from the Tool menu to highlight the "Object" ie arrow, text, line, rectangle to enlarge the size of it. (see below the dotted lines around the arrow as the selected object).
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| 3. Colour menu |
| You can change the colour of your object (arrow, line, text, rectangle etc) by selecting your colour before creating it, or from the"Selection" and then tap on the Colour Palette and change the colour. To change the colour of your existing arrow, tap "Selection" (1) from the Tools option highlight the arrow (2), then tap the colour palette (3) and select the preferred colour  The arrow is changed from yellow to red  |
| 4. Redo & 5. Undo |
| If you have made an error you can undo your last steps by tapping the "Undo" (5) option and if you change your mind revert it back by tapping "Redo" (4) |
| 6. Done |
| Tap Done to save your changes, which takes you back to the camera screen, then tap Use Photo and follow the on-screen prompts. |
| 7. Cancel |
| To discard your annotations and revert back to your original photo taken just tap Cancel |
