01.2 · Core Concepts

Tools vs the Select Mode

Spark has two fundamentally different cursor modes: a drawing tool or the Select tool. Understanding the difference prevents a lot of early frustration.

Drawing Tools

A drawing tool is any tool that creates a new annotation: Rectangle, Circle, Polygon, Arrow, Freehand, Text Box, Highlight, Stamp, Cloud, etc.

While a drawing tool is active:

The cursor shows a crosshair or tool-specific icon.
Clicking on the page starts drawing a new annotation — it does NOT select existing ones.
Right-click usually cancels the in-progress drawing.
Esc cancels the current draw and returns to the Select tool.

Tip

Warning — If you click on an existing annotation while a drawing tool is active, Spark will start a new overlapping annotation instead of selecting the one you clicked. Switch to Select first.

The Select Tool

The Select tool (arrow / cursor icon on the toolbar, or V / Esc shortcut) is the editing mode. Use it to:

Click an annotation to select it (shows resize / rotate / move handles).
Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click to multi-select.
Drag the handles to transform.
Right-click to open the context menu (color, opacity, delete, group, flip cloud, insert / delete point, etc.).
Double-click a text box or callout to edit its text.
Press Delete to remove the selected annotation(s).

Switching Between Them

Action	Shortcut
Activate Select tool	`V` or `Esc` or click Select on toolbar
Re-activate last drawing tool	(click the toolbar button again)
Cancel in-progress drawing	`Esc` or right-click on canvas

The Persistent Tool Pattern

Drawing tools stay active after creating one annotation, so you can rapidly add several in a row. Switch back to Select when you want to edit.

Tip

Tip — To add just one annotation and immediately edit it, draw it, press Esc to return to Select, then click it to select. Many users do this so often they rebind it.

Double-Click Finalisation

Polygon and Polyline tools are multi-point: each click adds a vertex. Finish with:

Double-click on the last point, or
Press Enter, or
Esc to cancel without saving.

See 03.3 for more on polygon / polyline drawing.