Microsoft Edge inking improvements arrive for Dev and Canary channels

Surface Book 3 Review Pen Side
Surface Book 3 Review Pen Side (Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft Edge Dev and Canary recently received inking improvements.
  • Ink strokes on PDF documents should now be smoother.
  • The browser can now switch off inking with touch automatically when a pen is in use.

Microsoft Edge Dev and Canary have several inking improvements following a recent update. The improvements result in a smoother inking experience on PDF documents and an option to turn off inking with touch when you're using a digital pen. Microsoft outlines the changes in a Tech Community post.

Many have complained to Microsoft about "jittery ink strokes" when drawing or writing on PDF documents. Microsoft explains that it fixed these jittery strokes by adopting the latest Microsoft inking library on the web. The smoother writing and drawing experience is now available in both the Dev and Canary Channels of the browser.

The ability to disable inking with touch will come in handy for anyone using a digital pen to mark up content within Edge. The browser can now automatically turn off inking with touch when it detects that a digital pen is in use. This means that you can navigate pages with touch rather than accidentally adding marks.

Latest Videos From

Microsoft also added a "Draw with touch" button that manually enables or disables inking with touch. This is useful for people who don't use a digital pen but still want to be able to navigate pages with touch, rather than inking. It also provides the ability to swap the setting on the fly.

Sean Endicott
News Writer

Sean Endicott is a News Writer at Windows Central, where he covers Windows 11, Surface hardware, Microsoft 365, AI, apps, and the broader PC ecosystem. Since joining the site in 2017, he has written well over a thousand articles across the Microsoft landscape, covering breaking news, analysis, and feature reporting.

He writes Windows Wrap, a weekly column covering the biggest stories in Windows and the PC industry, and what they mean for the platform going forward.

Before joining Windows Central full-time, Sean worked in journalism and media production after earning a First Class degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. Outside of tech, he is an award-winning American football coach based in Nottingham, England, and was named BAFCA Youth Coach of the Year in 2024.