Limelight
What is Freehand Annotation?
Freehand annotation is marking up content by drawing strokes by hand, rather than inserting preset shapes, straight lines, or text labels.
Freehand annotation means the marks follow your hand exactly, the way a pen moves on paper. You drag the mouse or trackpad and the line traces that motion. There is no shape recognition, no snapping, and no typed text. It captures emphasis and gesture, which makes it feel natural and fast during a live explanation.
It contrasts with structured annotation tools that insert perfect rectangles, arrows, or text callouts. Those are tidier for documents and design review. Freehand is looser and more immediate, which suits live presenting, teaching, and walkthroughs where you want to point and move on, not produce a polished diagram.
Limelight is a macOS menu-bar overlay built around freehand annotation. You press a hotkey and draw directly over any app, then clear the screen with ⌃⌥C. It intentionally stays freehand and live, so there are no shapes, text boxes, or saved files, just quick hand-drawn emphasis layered on top of whatever you are showing.
Why Limelight
- ▸Strokes trace your hand exactly, with no shape snapping or typed text
- ▸Feels natural and quick for live emphasis
- ▸Less structured than arrow, box, and text-callout tools
- ▸Limelight is freehand only and live, cleared instantly with ⌃⌥C
7-day free trial · no card required · macOS 14+
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One-time payment, no subscription. 7-day free trial, then $15 once. macOS 14+, notarized by Apple.
FAQ
- How is freehand annotation different from inserting arrows and boxes?
- Freehand follows your hand with no presets. Shape tools insert perfect geometry. Limelight is purely freehand, so every mark is hand-drawn.
- Are Limelight freehand annotations saved anywhere?
- No. They are live overlay ink only. You clear them with ⌃⌥C, and nothing is recorded or uploaded.