In various implementations, a first computing device (such as a cloud-based server) receives, from a second computing device (e.g., a notebook computer, tablet computer, or smartphone) a graphical annotation for a document displayed on the second computing device. The first computing device stores the graphical annotation in a database in a graphical annotation data entity and creates an association between an entity containing the portion of the document to which the graphical annotation is to be anchored and the graphical annotation entity.