How to turn Smart Annotation off???

Try:

• Settings > Pages > Select and Scroll with Apple Pencil ---> enable (green)
• Settings > Numbers > Select and Scroll with Apple Pencil ---> enable
• Settings > Keynote > Select and Scroll with Apple Pencil ---> enable

I have this problem too. I found the view options and turned off Smart Annotations, however, as soon as I touch the screen with my Apple Pencil, it immediately goes back to Smart Annotations and starts drawing on the page. I am waiting on a call from Apple Support to see if I can resolve this problem or whether I can revert to the previous version of Pages. I most likely will have to restore my iPad as new then restore a backup prior to upgrading. Sure hope I don't have too!!! Ugh!!

Reboot the device and try again. Smart annotations is staying off for me once I have set it off. I can still use the pencil to tap but it doesn't try to insert a drawing any more.

Actually it seems it works with tools, but not for selecting an insert point or scrolling, and you can still end up drawing when you don't intend to. 😟

tt2

Tried a hard reset (home + power button) as well as just a power off and restart. Neither was effective. Just got off the phone with the 3rd level of Apple Support, and the problem is known but as of yet, there is no solution. I guess in the meantime, the pencil will still work with Solitaire and Mahjong. Back to fingers for productive work!!!

Hi guys

I am having the same problem with the new Smart Annotation with my Apple Pencil as well.

I have a problem with using my finger to select a word, insert letter, highlight a sentenc, etc.

I will get a sharp pain with my hand, if I was doing it for 15min.

That was the reason for me to get iPad Pro, so that I would be able to use Apple Pencil as a stylus, pointer, and input device.

Now after the new apdate last week, I am no longer able to use Apple Pencil as I used to be able to. On Pages and Numbers, everytime I tap the iPad’s screen, it will bring out the drawing / annotation function.

This is terribly inconvenient because if I split the screen with other Apps like Safari, I can use the Apple Pencil as a normal stylus. I can highlight words, scroll the page, and insert a keyword in a search engine. As soon as I tap Pages, it will leave dots and lines because it automatically bring up the Smart Annotation.

I am finding this smart function not very smart. I now have to carry two pencils, Apple Pencil for drawing and another stylus as a normal input device. I wish if there is way to disable the Smart Annotatio, or even better, if I would be able to turn it on and off depending on tasks I will be working on.

Thanks

Yes, I also found to my absolute horror after upgrading to Pages v4.0 and Numbers v4.0 that the Apple Pencil has become useless overnight for anyone who wants to use Numbers/Pages with the keyboard + split screen...which is the only reason I bought the iPad Pro and the Pencil! I suffer from RSI and neck problems, and my neck pain came back literally within 10 minutes of using Pages v4.0 without the aid of the Pencil. (Anyone tempted to argue that the Pencil is a graphics/annotation tool and I shouldn’t expect to use it as a stylus, well, I would be very interested to see numbers on how many users use it as a stylus and how many actually use it as a graphics tool beyond the initial few days of novelty.)

I restored my iPad Pro from a backup in the hope of retreiving older versions of Pages/Numbers, which was a silly move given that the iPad backup only backs up settings and content but not the apps themselves... the apps are automatically downloaded as the latest versions. So there is no way to go back to a previous version of Pages or Numbers. I guess this is where Microsoft-bashers like me need to stop being hypocrites and admit that it is Apple, not Microsoft, who lock users into a ”take it or leave it” platform and do not give users the leisure of choice.

I can still navigate/select/scroll and draw/annotate in Notes, so clearly this is not a technically challenging implementation for Pages/Number. These are native Apple apps, not third party apps. So I am hoping the issue is a temporary one. I have left Apple feedback on this. Who knows, if enough people complain, Apple even take notice!

I have also had the same problem, as soon as I touch the screen it reverts to the smart annotate feature which I had previously turned off. Not so SMART annotate has left me binning the pencil. Now I have fought with apple for over a week three days of which they stonewalled me.

I am being told the engineers cannot replicate the problem, they have insufficient complaints or instances to make it even an issue for them, and their only suggestion was to revert to back up. I cannot as the last saved one is post update since they took so long to even make this basic suggestion.

However it have been a learning process in the last week I have learnt that

1. Apple care nothing for individual customers.

2. They do not have a proper complaints procedure.

3. They rely on the small print to shift any liability onto the consumer.

4. No one in their apple care department had the initiative to try their own iPad Pro and pencil to see if it was a problem there.

5. When urged to do so the last apple care manager informed me he didn’t even own and no one else in the centre would own a pencil or iPad Pro - clearly having seen the poor performance they have decided PC and Microsoft I’d the way forward.

6. They will not fix or replace faulty software

7. Despite the millions they make daily Apple uses its own customers as Guinea Pigs to test software - this Beta test was the only one they were foolish enough to call by its own name.

8. Each years millions of pounds/dollars are lost by apple customers who lose time and money due to software glitches and mistakes that are not fully tested before release.

9. Apple Care should be renamed Apple Couldn’t Care Less and refused to either fix the problem as not enough people had complained, refused to restore a working version of pages, refused to compensate me.

10. The arrogance of their staff was only matched by their ignorance of any issue they did not have scripted in front of them.

I however wish to act not speak, so for those with more technical knowledge than me is there anyway that I can restore an old pre-update version of pages. My oldest backup is after the update and I am not a user of ITunes and would not have connected the iPad Pro to the computer.

Is the only practical solution to invest in a different stylus and ditch the pencil since my finger works fine? Has anyone tried a different Apple Pencil ?

Finally for the more tech minded what another forums are there or websites / publications where I can put these views across and expose the shoddy practices of Rotten Apple?

I hear you.

Any decent IT company offers the beta version as an optio for customers.

No car manufacturer puts their prototype on the market.

How often do you sit at a restaurant and they bring out a half cooked meal?

I wish Apple spends more time to do user and field tests instead of rushing to bring out new items with a flaw and take ”fix later attitude”.

I have also sent a feedback requesting for an option to choose Apple pencil for annotation or work mode. Wonder what they are smoking in the headquarter. Wasn’t IpadPro touted as a replacement for our computer? I certainly do not like to use my finger to select objects on Keynote or Pages. It leaves finger smudges on the screen. I have switched to using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for the time being. Thank you Apple for thinking on your ‘feet’!

Hi

I was also hoping that iPad Pro can finally be a realistic replacement for a laptop.

I think one of its good features is that we can split the screen for running two apps, such as Pages and Safari. Its standard work flow for everyone that we copy images and information from the web browser and insert these on the Pages document. I can’t do this very simple task with the Apple Pencil and iPads now.

It looks like Apple is trying to market iPads and Pencil for the education sector.

All those drawings and annotation are fancy and handy things for classroom use, however, the device and software failling to meet the basic need for every day teaching work, which is typing and creating texts and worksheets, it will not meet the requirement of many teachers. At least I will not be getting a class set for my classroom.

Annoying isn’t it.

I have provided feedback on the product via the web site, and I opened a support case which is not resolved.

Around about the point the support representative started talking about backups and restoring the iPad..., I said no. Not only because I could sense several hours of wasted time with no guarantees it fixes the issue, but hey this is an iPad Pro !! Doesn’t it replace a laptop (no, not yet clearly). Why do I need a PC to fix it ? (With a lot of storage going spare).

Why are there Beta features released to the public in software that we need to be stable, as opposed to a community that opted in. The feature toggle not working is really bad form..

I have read most of the entries in the thread. In one it Apple care support said that no ticket would be generated because not enough problems have been encountered. Does anyone know the procedure to get ticket opened? I just bought new iPad with pencil. This is a ridiculous error which makes the pencil useless. This should be a high priority ticket if they want to sell this iPad and market it as a replacement in education sales.

There were some updates a few days ago but I just tested and this is still not fixed. Smart annotations just re-enables itself as soon as the pen touches the screen. So frustrating. I wish I had very pointy fingers but alas no.

Happy days!!! I just updated Pages/Numbers/Keynote to v4.1 and the scrolling/selection using Apple Pencil is back. You just need to update the apps, then go to Settings > Pages/Numbers/Keynote and finally enable ’Select and Scroll with Apple Pencil’. 🙂

Brilliant !!! . Though I hadn't found it there. Why is this setting buried in the settings and not in the app like all the others !! And I can move things on the ruler to format paragraphs.. fab !! Finally ...