HandWrite Pro — Quick start
HandWrite Pro — Quick start
1. Introduction
HandWrite Pro is a vector-based note-taking and drawing application for Android. Draw with your finger or a stylus, organize documents in folders, add tags, and sync everything to Google Drive or your own Nextcloud server.
Because your drawings are stored as vectors, they remain sharp at any zoom level and export beautifully to PDF or SVG.
Coming from HandWrite Pro 9? There is no side menu and there are no toolbars any more. Folders and tags are chips under the title, and the rest of the side menu is in the
menu and the
button. In the editor the controls float around the page. The eraser sits next to the pen: long-pressing the pen no longer switches to the eraser.
2. Document Screen
When you open the app you land on the Document screen. This is where all your notes live. The title shows where you are: Documents, or the name of the open folder.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
 Search |
Search all documents by name, tag, folder and the text in them. |
 Sort |
Sort by date or by name, newest or oldest first. |
| Menu |
Select, sync, Premium, Settings, About & help. |
| Tags chip | Filter by a tag. While a tag is active, the chip shows it; tap × to clear it. |
| Folder chips | All shows everything; tap a folder to open it; New folder creates one. |
| button (bottom right) |
Create a new document or folder, start from a PDF or SVG, or import a .hwsm file. |
Every document card has its own menu: Rename,
Copy, Move to folder and Delete.
3. Creating & Organizing Documents
Creating a new document
- Tap the button in the bottom-right corner.
- Choose New document — it opens immediately in the editor.
- To rename it, open
Pages & layers in the editor and
tap the name at the top.
Folders
Folders let you group related notes (e.g. Work, Sketches, Shopping).
Create a folder — tap New folder in the folder chips (or
→ New folder), enter a name and tap Create.
Open a folder — tap its chip, or its card in the document list. The back arrow next to the title takes you back to all documents.
Move documents into a folder
- Long-press a document card to start selecting (or → Select).
- Select more documents if needed.
- Choose Move to folder.
Choose <No folder> as the destination to take a document out of its folder.
Rename or delete a folder — use the menu on the folder's
card, or long-press its chip to delete it. When deleting a folder you can delete its contents
as well, or keep the documents and move them to the main list.
Importing files
Tap and choose New from PDF, New from SVG or Import HandWrite
file (.hwsm).
Tip: You can share any PDF, SVG, JPG or PNG file to HandWrite Pro from another app's share sheet — it is imported automatically.
4. Tags
Tags are free-text labels. Unlike folders, a document can carry several tags at once.
Add a tag — in the editor, open 
→ Document settings
and tap + Tag. Type a new tag, or tap one that another document already uses.
Remove a tag — tap the × on the tag chip in the document settings.
Filter by tag — on the document screen, tap the Tags chip and pick a tag. Tap the × on the chip to show all documents again.
5. Cloud Sync
HandWrite Pro can sync your documents with Google Drive or your own Nextcloud server ★. Only one of them can be active at a time.
- Open → Settings → Sync.
- Tap Cloud sync and choose Google Drive or Nextcloud.
- Sign in when prompted (for Nextcloud: server address, then the login in your browser).
Sync runs automatically in the background while the app is open. For an immediate sync,
tap → Sync with Google Drive (or Sync with Nextcloud) on the
document screen.
Settings → Sync shows when the last sync ran.
Inside the editor, → Document settings has a Sync
group while sync is on: with Google Drive a Sync this document switch, with Nextcloud a
Sync with Nextcloud button that saves the document and syncs right away.
If a document was changed on two devices, HandWrite Pro keeps both versions: the other one appears as a document with "(conflict)" in its name.
6. The Editor
Open any document to enter the editor. The page fills the whole screen; the controls float around it.
Top left
| Icon | Function |
|---|---|
 Back |
Save and return to the document screen. |
| Pages & layers |
Page overview, layers, and the document name. |
| More |
Insert image, export, present, document settings, Settings, save now, discard changes. |
 /  |
Undo / redo. Greyed out when there is nothing to undo or redo. |
Top right
‹ and › go to the previous and next page; › on the last page adds a new one. Tap the page number to jump to a page.
Bottom: the tool bar
| Icon | Function |
|---|---|
 Pen |
Draw and write. The icon shows the current pen type. |
 Eraser |
Erase. On phones this slot shows the tool you are using. |
| Color dot | Choose the color. The  button in the popover explains the custom color and the opacity. |
 All tools |
Phones: shows every tool. Tablets show all tools right away. |
Tap a tool to pick it. Tap the active tool again to open its settings — a small mark above the tool shows that it has some. Long-press any button to see its name.
The tools: Pen, Eraser,
Shapes, 
Text,
Connector, 
Select and
Pick color.
Bottom right: zoom
The zoom value opens the zoom menu: Full screen, Show all, fit page or page width, fixed zoom levels, and Lock zoom.
Pinch with two fingers to zoom, drag with two fingers to move the page.
7. Pen
Tap the active pen to open its settings.
Pen types
| Icon | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Normal Pen | Constant width, clean lines. |
 |
Speed Pen | Width varies with drawing speed — thin when fast, thick when slow. |
 |
Pressure Pen | Width varies with stylus pressure (e.g. Samsung S Pen). |
 |
Highlighter | Semi-transparent marker. |
 |
Fill Pen ★ | Fills the area you draw around (Premium). |
 |
Calligraphy Pen ★ | Angled nib for calligraphic lettering (Premium). |
★ Premium features — available after in-app purchase.
Width — the slider sets the pen width; the value is shown next to the heading.
Line — arrows at the start or end of a stroke, and solid or dashed lines.
Stylus only — ignore your finger and palm while writing with a stylus. Also in Settings → Pen & input, together with Line smoothing.
Presets
Presets store a complete pen: type, width and color.
- Tap a preset to use it.
- Long-press a preset (or tap an empty one) to save the current pen in it. A message with Undo confirms it.
On tablets, saved presets also appear in the tool bar.
8. Color
Tap the color dot in the tool bar.
- Palette — preset colors; the current one is ringed.
- Mixer — mix any color.
- Opacity — how transparent the color is.
- Recent — colors you used last.
The icon at the top switches to Pick color: tap any point
of your drawing to take its color.
With a shape tool active, two chips at the top choose what you color: the Outline or the Fill. ∅ turns that side off, ⇄ swaps the two colors.
9. Eraser
Tap the eraser; tap it again for its settings.
| Mode | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Object | Touch a stroke, shape or image to delete the whole object. |
| Partial | Scrub over a stroke to remove only the part you touch. A slider sets the eraser width. |
The eraser button of an S Pen works too.
10. Shapes and Stamps
Tap Shapes (on phones under ),
tap it again and pick a shape, then drag on the page.
| Shape | Description |
|---|---|
| Line | A straight line, with arrows if you like. Snap to 90° keeps it horizontal or vertical. |
| Rectangle / Square | Drag from one corner to the other. |
| Ellipse / Circle | Drag across the area it should fill. |
| Freeform | Draw any outline. |
| Stamps | 39 ready-made symbols: the drag sets size and position. |
The outline uses your pen color and width. Choose a fill in the color settings under Fill (filled shapes are a Premium feature).
11. Text
Tap Text, then tap the page where the text should start
and type. Tap the text tool again to set the text size. Later you can move or resize the text,
or change it with Edit text in the selection bar.
12. Connectors
A connector is a line between two objects that follows them when you move them — ideal for diagrams and mind maps.
- Tap Connector.
- Touch an object, drag to another one and release.
Touch a side or a corner to choose where the line leaves the object; the centre stays automatic. Tap the connector tool again to set the line style and arrowheads for new connectors.
You can also select two objects and tap Connect in the selection bar.
13. Selection
Tap Select. Tap it again to choose how you select:
- Rectangle — drag a box; it takes the objects that lie completely inside.
- Lasso
— draw a loop; it takes the objects that are
mostly inside.
A tap selects the object under your finger.
The selection box
- Drag inside the box to move the selection. It snaps to other objects and to the grid, shown by dashed guides (Settings → Pen & input → Snap to grid and objects).
- Drag a handle on the edge to resize; the handle beyond the bottom-right corner keeps the proportions.
- Drag the round handle above the box to rotate.
The selection bar
While something is selected, a bar appears at the top. What fits on your screen is shown directly, the rest is under ⋮.
| Icon | Action |
|---|---|
 |
Change the color. |
|
Change the line width (strokes) — or Edit text for text. |
 |
Edit points of a stroke: drag points, tap one to delete it. ✓ when done. |
 /  |
Copy / paste. |
 ★ |
Recognize handwriting (see below). |
 |
Rotate by an exact angle. |
 |
Duplicate. |
 |
Order: bring to front, send to back, one step forward or back. |
 |
Align and distribute several objects. |
 |
Connect two objects with a connector. |
 |
Simplify / smooth strokes. |
 |
Delete — a message offers Undo. |
14. Handwriting Recognition ★
Handwriting Recognition turns handwritten strokes into text, on your device (Google ML Kit) — nothing is sent to the cloud. It is a premium feature; free users can try it 10 times.
- Select the handwriting with Select.
- Tap Recognize in the selection bar.
- The first time, the recognition model is downloaded — wait for it to finish.
- Pick the result that matches best.
- Replace with text replaces the strokes with text, Copy text copies it.
To recognize a whole page, use Recognize page in the document settings.
The original strokes are kept on a hidden layer. The language is set in Settings → Handwriting Recognition → Recognition language.
15. Pages & Layers
Tap at the top left. The panel shows the document name (tap to
rename), the pages, and the layers of the current page.
Pages
- Tap a page to go there; the + tile adds a page.
- Long-press a page, or tap its ⋮, to duplicate, move up / down or delete it.
Layers
Layers are like transparent sheets stacked on top of each other. You always draw on the active layer (the highlighted one).
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Tap a layer | Make it the active layer. |
 Eye |
Show or hide the layer. |
| Drag | Long-press a layer and drag it to a new place in the stack. |
| ⋮ | Rename, Duplicate, Merge down, Opacity, Delete (with Undo). |
16. Document Settings
→ Document settings holds the settings of this document
and its current page:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Tags | Add or remove tags. |
| Version history | Go back to an earlier automatically saved version. |
| Page size | Endless, A4, A5, A6, Executive, Letter, Legal |
| Orientation | Vertical, Horizontal |
| Page ruling | None, Ruled, Graph |
| Background color | Any color |
| Snap shapes to grid | Shows grid points (spacing in mm, independent of the ruling). Lines, rectangles, ellipses and stamps snap to them, and so do moved objects. Handwriting stays free. |
| Sync | Only while cloud sync is on — see section 5. |
| Clear page… | Removes everything on this page (can be undone). |
For PDF documents, page size, orientation and ruling come from the PDF.
17. Present
→ Present shows the document full screen, one page at a
time, without anything you could draw on by accident.
- Tap the right or left side of the screen, or swipe, to change pages.
- Tap the middle to show the controls: × ends the presentation.
- Presentation clickers, arrow keys, Page Up/Down and the volume keys work too.
18. Export & Insert
Export
→ Export:
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| .hwsm (whole document) | All layers, pages and settings. Best for backups. |
| PDF (whole document) | Opens on any device. Export ruling includes the page lines. |
| SVG ★ (this page) | Vector format for Inkscape, Illustrator, etc. (Premium). |
| PNG / JPG (this page) | Choose the resolution. PNG keeps transparency. |
Insert an image
→ Insert image adds a photo from your gallery or the
camera.
Write on a PDF
Start a document from a PDF ( → New from PDF on the document
screen). Every PDF page becomes the background of a page, and filled-in form fields stay
visible.
19. Settings & Tips
Open Settings from on the document screen or from
in the editor.
| Group | What you find there |
|---|---|
| Pen & input | Stylus only, line smoothing, snapping, volume keys for undo / redo, one-finger panning, remember pen and page settings |
| Appearance | Zoom preview. Dark mode follows your system setting. |
| Sync | Cloud sync (Off, Google Drive, Nextcloud), sync now, Wi-Fi only |
| Storage | Storage location, backup and restore; Advanced for rarely needed options |
| Handwriting Recognition | Recognition language |
| About | Changelog, documentation, website, legal information |
Keyboard shortcuts
With a Bluetooth keyboard:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo |
| Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V | Copy / paste the selection |
| Ctrl + X | Cut the selection |
Tips
- Pinch with two fingers to zoom, drag with two fingers to move the page.
- Tap the page number to jump to any page.
- Full screen (zoom menu) hides all controls; the button in the corner or Back brings them back.
- Turn on Snap shapes to grid for flowcharts, and use connectors between the boxes.
- Version history in the document settings brings back an earlier state of a document.
HandWrite Pro — hand-write.com