The Draw tab is a freeform canvas for figures you would otherwise sketch by hand — a schematic, an apparatus diagram, a concept sketch — with shapes, arrows, and text you place directly.
Sketch on the canvas
Draw rectangles, ellipses, arrows, lines, and freehand strokes, add text labels, and arrange them on an open canvas. It suits the figures that don’t come from data: an experimental setup, a block diagram, or a quick illustration to make a point.
Keep your work
Your drawing is saved with the figure, so it survives closing the tab and reopens exactly as you left it for further edits. Saving updates the figure in place rather than creating a duplicate.
Export or insert
Export the drawing as a figure — PDF for a vector result, PNG for a quick preview — or Insert it straight into your paper with a label.
Note: For marking up an existing image — arrows, callouts, region highlights on a micrograph or a screenshot — use the Annotate tool instead, which is built for annotating an imported picture.