---
title: Annotating documents
description: "Annotations allow you to highlight and add notes to specific sections of documents within a matter. You can annotate directly on a document or across multiple documents using a court book. ## Making annotations **Option 1 — Annotate directly on…"
url: "https://ebriefready.legalready.ai/knowledge/how-to-make-annotations/"
updated: "2026-08-13"
category: Annotations
---

# Annotating documents

Annotations allow you to highlight and add notes to specific sections of documents within a matter. You can annotate directly on a document or across multiple documents using a court book.

## Making annotations

**Option 1 — Annotate directly on a document**

1. Click into your matter and open the document you want to annotate
2. Click the **A button** in the top menu to activate the annotation tool
3. Click and drag to highlight the section you want to annotate
4. Add any tags, comments or dates on the right hand side
5. (Optional) Tick **Private**, to make the annotation visible only to yourself (see **Making an annotation private** below for further information)

![](https://ebriefready.legalready.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-2.59.21-pm-1024x658.png)

![](https://ebriefready.legalready.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-3.12.14-pm-1024x658.png)

**Note**: To view all your annotations, click the **Annotations button** on the right hand side of the screen. This opens a panel listing all annotations for easy navigation.

![](https://ebriefready.legalready.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-3.14.21-pm-1024x658.png)

## **Option 2 — Annotate using a court book**

If you need to annotate multiple documents at once, create a court book first to compile them in one place.

1. Click **Actions** and select **Create Brief/Court Book** from the menu
2. Add the folders containing the documents you want to annotate
3. Click on the document within the court book that you wish to annotate
4. Use the **A button** in the top menu to annotate as above

## **Deleting annotations**

You can easily delete annotations from a document by clicking the annotation directly on the page or within the Annotations panel, then clicking the **Recycling Bin** icon.

![](https://ebriefready.legalready.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-3.33.47-pm-1024x658.png)

## **Making an annotation private**

When creating or editing an annotation, you will see a **Private** checkbox in the annotation panel on the right hand side.

- **Unticked** — the annotation is visible to all members of the matter who have access to that document
- **Ticked** — the annotation is private and visible only to you

**Note**: Annotations in a Multiparty matter are private and accessible only to the party that created them. They are never shared between opposing parties.

## **Automatic syncing**

One of the benefits of annotating in eBrief Ready is that all your annotations will automatically sync into any court book or brief that contains that document. You do not need to do anything — the syncing happens in the background.

When an annotation syncs into a brief, the page number updates to reflect the brief pagination rather than the original document page number. For example, an annotation made on page one of a document may appear on page six of the brief, and will be referenced as page six to the court.

You can also add annotations directly within a compiled brief or court book without going back to the original document:

1. Open the brief or court book
2. Navigate to the document you want to annotate using the **index hyperlink** or by selecting a **document thumbnail** from the left
3. Add the annotation directly to the selected document

![](https://ebriefready.legalready.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-4.20.16-pm-1024x658.png)

For further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to our dedicated Support Team via [support@legalready.ai](mailto:support@legalready.ai) or +61 3 9020 4456.