Review and approval

Draw on the frame.
The note shows which logo, and both sides see the same thing.

A circle on the frame ends the argument about which logo, which lower third or which shadow a client meant. Here is how a drawing is saved with its note, how to ask a client to use it well, and the honest limits: notes sit at a time in seconds, and a busy room only shows the drawings on its newest notes.

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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026

Why draw at all

A sentence needs interpreting,
a circle does not need reading.

“Make the logo bigger” is a clear note until the frame holds two logos. A client who can circle the one they mean saves you the round trip where you guess, send a new cut and learn you guessed wrong.

The drawing is not a screenshot pasted into an email. It is saved on the note itself, next to the note’s time, its version and the name of the person who left it. When anyone opens that note later, the player goes to the same version and moment, pauses and puts the drawing back over the picture. The client sees what you see, and you see what they meant.

Sentence in an email

Screenshot with arrows

Drawing saved with the note

Says where

Only if they type a time

Only if they add one

Time and version stored on the note

Says what

In words, open to reading

Yes, on a still

Yes, laid over the playing film

Who sees it

Whoever is on the thread

Whoever finds the attachment

Both sides of the same room

Tracks done

Yes, per note

The two left columns describe common habits, not any particular product.

The workflow

Four steps,
from the client's side.

Share the cut

Create a share for the client from the film. The link opens the review room; they need no account.

Pause and draw

They turn drawing on and use a pen, an arrow or a rectangle, in a colour and width they choose. Undo, redo and clear are there. The first stroke pauses the film and records the time.

Add a few words

A drawing can go alone, but a line of text next to it survives every limit on this page. Circle plus "swap for the white version" is the note that works.

Send and work it

The note lands in your side of the room and, if you use them, as a marker on your timeline. Mark it done when it is fixed.

In the shared room the drawing surface is fitted to the picture itself rather than the player box, and strokes are recorded relative to it, so a mark made on a laptop lines up with the same part of the frame when you open it on a larger screen. A film’s own page, when you switch feedback on there, has a simpler pencil: drag on the video to draw, click to play or pause, six pen colours and a thickness slider.

Notes arrive in your editor through the free NLE tools, which place a marker at each note’s timecode, red while open and green once done. Keep the room open beside the timeline to look at the drawing itself.

The honest limits

Three things a drawing will not do,
and what to do about each.

newest notes

carry their drawing in the page

200

newest notes

and replies load in the room

0.1 s

time step

in the shared room; not a frame count

ink tools

pen, arrow and rectangle

A busy room drops older drawings from view

The room loads the newest 200 notes and replies, and keeps drawings on the newest 25 only, so a heavy page stays quick for every viewer. Past that, an older note shows its text and time without the image, and replies count toward the 25. The drawing is still saved with the note; the page just does not load it.

A note sits at a time, not on a frame

Times are stored in seconds. The shared room rounds to a tenth of a second from the moment the first stroke starts, which at 24 fps spans two or three frames. Describe a single-frame problem in words as well.

A drawing is one still

It is laid over the paused picture. It does not follow a moving object or describe pacing, sound or a change over a whole shot. For those, a sentence with a start and end time is the better note.

Very dense drawings are refused

A drawing has to stay under a size cap of roughly 900 KB. If a client scribbles past it, the room says so and asks them to undo a few strokes; their text and drawing stay in the draft.

How to stay inside the 25

Ask for one drawing per issue, with text on every one. Work the round and mark notes done as you fix them. Discuss a note in its replies rather than in new notes, but remember replies are rows too, so a long thread also pushes older drawings out of view. If a round runs past 25 notes, write down or capture the drawings that matter before the next pass.

Drawings and sign-off

A drawing is a note,
so it counts against approval.

Approval is recorded per version under the reviewer’s name. A new note on a version, drawn or typed, removes that version’s approval, while a reply under an existing note does not. A client who circles something on a cut they already approved has, in effect, taken the approval back, and the room shows it. When you upload the fix as the next version, the old notes stay on the version they were left on, so the record of what was asked and what changed is still there.

For the full loop, rounds, done flags and markers in the timeline, read timecoded video comments and how to collect client feedback on a video edit.

Questions

Frequently asked

Does the client need an account to draw on the frame?

No. A share link opens the review room for that client, and possession of the link is their access. They switch drawing on, mark the frame, add a line of text if they want, and send. The note is signed with the name or email the share was created for.

Where does the drawing end up?

It is saved with the note as an image. When either side opens the note, the player jumps to that note's version and time, pauses, and lays the drawing over the picture. Your side of the room in the dashboard reads the same notes as the client's link, so there is one record, not two copies.

Why can't I see the drawing on an older note?

To keep a busy review page light, the room loads the newest 200 notes and replies, and only the newest 25 of those carry their drawing. An older note keeps its text and its time, and the drawing stays saved with it, but the page no longer loads the image. That is why every drawing should come with a few words.

Can a drawing be pinned to one exact frame?

No, and we do not claim it. Notes are stored by time in seconds. In the shared room the time is taken when the first stroke starts and rounded to a tenth of a second, which at 24 frames per second covers two or three frames. For a one-frame problem, say it in words: the flash frame on the cut into the wide shot.

Does a drawing reopen an approved version?

Yes. A drawing is a note, and a new note on a version removes that version's approval. Replies under an existing note do not. That keeps a signed-off cut from sitting beside a fresh circle that says otherwise.

Send one cut and let the client point

Drawings, timecoded notes, replies and per-version approvals are part of the review room on every plan, including the free one with 5 GB. The person reviewing needs no account and never takes a seat.