New annotation tool to mark images

Image annotations are part of a researcher’s daily grind. In order to use images in a scientific context, scientists have to make a range of annotations again and again: All these marks and labels point out what´s important in notes, papers and publications. In a traditional paper lab notebook, one would just simply scribble by hand to get the message across and to highlight findings on agarose gels, graphs, or any other data output. For presentations or publications, most people have turn to power point, photoshop or any other sophisticated image processing tool. In these programs, processing an image can take a while, depending on how savvy you are with them – mostly also because they offer a lot of features you rarely need.

labfolder offers an easy-to-use annotation tool for scientific images.

A new annotation tool for labfolder users

We have added the most frequently used editing tools to the image annotation section.

• Annotation marker: For the annotation of your images, or for simply marking an important feature, you can now quickly drag a line, rectangle or circle in different size and color.
• Pointing arrow: For pointing out important features, you can use arrow, arrowheads and asterisks as well. And of course we added a text tool, as many of you requested.
• Freehand pencil: The freehand pencil tool has been improved, now allowing for smoothening to make your freestyle annotations even prettier.
• Selection tool: The ‘Selection’ tool allows you to select and move individual edits like rectangles, circles or text box, and change their color or size at any time.

In line with good scientific practice, your raw images and editing visuals are stored in separate layers. The original raw data remains preserved at all times, and you can always restore it by pressing the ‘Clear’ button. For all images that have been edited with the previous version of the labfolder image annotation tool, you can choose between the old and the new toolbox to optimally preserve the context of your previous work.

Video tutorial on new annotation features

In order to view the full potential of our new annotation features, you can also check out our video tutorial, giving you a visual tour over the implemented tool. In a previous post we presented our new entry layout – please check it again if you haven’t seen it! Now both, entry layout and image annotation are easy to use and ready for a trial. Besides, we welcome your feedback! Please let us know if the new annotation features help to organize your research data . After all, labfolder is here to boost your research experience!