I am a mobile repair trainer from Silchar, India. When I teach online, I need to draw on my screen all the time: circle a part, underline a step, highlight a line. The tools I tried needed too many clicks or keyboard shortcuts in the middle of a class, so I built my own. It is called PenX.
What PenX does
It lets you draw on top of anything on your Windows screen: slides, PDFs, videos, live classes.
- Pen, highlighter, shapes, text, whiteboard, spotlight, zoom and a big pointer
- Everything can be controlled with just the mouse: a wheel-click opens a tool ring, and right-click gestures turn drawing on or off or tuck the toolbar away
- Save or copy a screenshot of your drawing, and customise the shortcuts
Good to know
- Windows 10 and 11 only
- Free right now with unlimited use. It needs a free account (a browser sign-in on first run)
- The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show a warning. Click More info, then Run anyway
Try it
Download and install guide: https://tools.localmobileengineer.com/penx
I also wrote this story on Medium: https://medium.com/@localmobileengineer/i-built-a-free-screen-annotation-tool-for-windows-teachers-epic-pen-alternative-05c821d9ff7d
I would love your feedback. What would you add next?
