Kami - PDF and Document Annotation for Windows

A free productivity tool for better collaboration

Kami - PDF and Document Annotation is a useful, easy-to-use, and free productivity program. This online PDF tool is an educational program that allows teachers and students to collaborate in real-time, and integrates with a range of learning management systems (LMS). It’s also effective in reducing paper usage, and thus, proves to be eco-friendly. The software is available as a web application as well as a browser extension that will work on most OS including Windows 11.

Compared to Inky, Microsoft Whiteboard, and Qlearly, this tool has been immensely popular among users around the world. Currently, the Kami app is used by more than 27 million students and educators to collaborate, learn, and engage on a daily basis. Apart from the free version, the application is available with three pricing plans.

A hassle-free digital classroom application

In the Japanese language, the term ‘Kami’ means God, Paper, or Hair, depending on the intonation of the term. It also depends on the way you write the character. For the official development team of the app, the term means ‘Paper’. It has strengthened the vision for the application and has allowed the team to bring various important changes.

Originally, Kami was designed as an intuitive PDF annotation tool. Over time, the application has grown to become more focused on children’s education and has even been revamped as a powerful online education platform.

What are the benefits?

Kami - PDF and Document Annotation functions like a digital classroom program. It’s an excellent way to go paperless. Whether if you need properly organized reading materials or wish to make copies of your work, this app can prove to be quite effective. The program comes with a range of functions allowing you to annotate, write, comment, draw, augment, type, and enhance documents.

Students can enjoy a hassle-free way of editing documents and annotating text. With this kid-friendly application, students can easily annotate on worksheets, publisher-supplied PDFs, ebooks, and other materials.

With a range of tools, the Kami extension or web app can boost creativity among students. It allows them to annotate with a choice of text sizes, shapes, and colors. Students can also draw freely, complete tasks faster, and save everything automatically due to Kami’s integration with popular Learning Management Systems.

Teachers can discuss, markup, and offer feedback as well with the use of multiple annotation tools, including video, audio, and text. These tools focus on collaboration and encourage real-time, active participation in a digital classroom. It’s quite obvious that teachers and students can greatly benefit from Kami.

How to use Kami?

When you first start using the Kami app, it turns out to be a hassle-free experience. First of all, you need to choose a license based on your needs. The options include the customizable ‘School and District’ plan, the annual payment ‘Teacher’ plan, and the free ‘Basic’ plan. 

The free version comes with only basic annotation features, freehand drawing functionality, and some formatting options. The other two options allow you to insert signatures and images, integrate Kami download with Canvas, Schoology and Classroom, and share comments via videos and voice recordings. 

All versions of the program work with Google Drive. It even lets you leverage the auto-save function. However, you need to manually save the file in the end to avoid any errors or discrepancies. Kami for Windows comes with a built-in OCR functionality for scanned documents. It can also convert file formats to PDF, but only when you upgrade the plan.

If you’re planning to use Kami - PDF and Document Annotation for schoolwork, you can pair the application with various educational tools. This allows you to make the most of your learning experience. For instance, you can present documents on a digital whiteboard via screencast.

The perfect way to optimize a digital classroom

Without a doubt, the Kami app is an excellent choice for students as well as educators, especially those associated with K-12 and higher grades. The PDF and document annotation tool is easy to use, offers multiple features, and integrates with a range of learning management systems. This is a versatile PDF annotation program, which works with other tools and applications to maximize your learning efficiency.

If you’re looking for a simple yet powerful PDF application, Kami - PDF and Document Annotation is a great choice. However, the program comes with limited features for mobile devices. Thus, if you’re looking to use a tool extensively on your smartphone or tablet, you should consider alternative programs, and that’s the only drawback with Kami. Otherwise, it's a useful and hassle-free software.