Pencil Support Overlays Part of My Screen

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Level 1

9 points

Pencil Support Overlays Part of My Screen

I am using pencil support in a product called iGigBook. (It stores and provides ready access to musical scores.) It support Apple pencil for marking up scores but after I have used its (i.e. iGigBook's) pencil support I am left with the bottom middle section my screen overlayed. I'll try to attach a screenshot of the overlay but in case that doesn't work ... it consists of 5 icons, going left to right an undo icon, a redo icon, a keyboard icon, an enter or carriage return icon (I think) and a three dot menu icon.

I suspect that this appears because of something which iGigBook does or does not do but iGigBook support has referred me to Apple support. I'd be happy if I could just make the overlay go away but the menu provided by the menu icon does not have an appropriate entry for that and I am not able to swipe it away.

I would be grateful if someone here can help me with this. And also if the attached portion of a screenshot makes it into this message.

Bob

iPad Pro 12.9-inch, 3rd Gen, Wi-Fi

Posted on Jul 2, 2021 1:34 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LotusPilot

Community+ 2024

Level 10

289,668 points

Jul 4, 2021 2:46 AM in response to Bob12603

In responding to both Demo and yourself, my apologies for the delay in being able to reply.

Is the Scribble feature enabled on your iPad? If so, as diagnostic exercise, try disabling Scribble.

Settings > Apple Pencil > Scribble - set to OFF

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Answer 2

Jul 4, 2021 7:49 AM in response to Bob12603

Scribble operates at system level - and in its current iteration is binary, either being enabled or disabled.

Apple do invite constructive feedback, comments and feature requests via their product feedback pages. For iPad:

Feedback - iPad - Apple

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Answer 3

Bob12603 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 2, 2021 2:07 PM in response to Demo

Hi Demo,

Thanks very much for your response. I think that it may go away if I switch apps but I want to stay in iGigBook. IIRC it goes away if I switch to another app but when I switch back to iGigBook it is still there.

Thanks, Bob

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Answer 4

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Jul 3, 2021 8:57 AM in response to Bob12603

I have been experimenting with the pencil here trying to post a response to you. The only way that I can get rid of that overlay is to navigate to another tab in Safari and come back or leave Safari, go to another app and come back to this tab. These has to be a better way to do this. I spent some time this morning researching the web and I have found nothing at all.

If I use my pencil in the Notes app, there is a different set of tools when you tap on the Markup icon at the top of the screen. Tapping on that icon will dismiss the pencil overlay. I can’t find a way to dismiss the overlay when I use the pencil here. It could be something very simple we are missing, shouldn’t be this tough to find.

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Answer 5

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Jul 3, 2021 1:30 PM in response to Bob12603

I asked someone who knows much more about the workings of an Apple Pencil to chime in here. This person is very knowledgeable about all things iPad and the Apple Pencil and I’m hoping they see my call for help. The person is LotusPilot

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Answer 6

Jul 4, 2021 5:45 AM in response to Demo

Hi Demo

I’ve noticed that Scribble causes issues - of this is just one functional gripe.

Speaking solely for my own experience and needs, I’ve found Scribble to be more troublesome than it’s benefit otherwise warrants - and I have disabled it in Settings unless I have a specific immediate [rare] need for its functionality. My default is Scribble OFF.

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Answer 7

Bob12603 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 4, 2021 7:35 AM in response to LotusPilot

Thank you Demo for getting LotusPilot involved and thank you LotusPilot for your brilliant insight/knowledge. For me turning off Scribble is a perfectly ok solution. But it seems like the kind of thing which should be settable on a per app basis. Even within the iGigBook app I can imagine wanting to take advantage of the Scribble function, but the overlay is way too high a price to pay.

Again, thanks very much to you both. Bob

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Answer 8

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Jul 4, 2021 7:42 AM in response to Bob12603

You’re welcome, but LotusPilot did the heavy lifting.

Since you can access the settings from the overlay itself, it’s not a huge deal to shut off Scribble. If you want to turn it on again, then it’s more of a pain. Having the ability within the app to turn the overlay on and off would be ideal, but I don’t know if the app developers are able to implement that. I would defer again to LotusPilot on that.

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