rnote

Rnote is a free, open-source drawing and note-taking application designed primarily for people who use a stylus or drawing tablet. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and the Linux version is available through Flathub, which is a common app store for Linux systems.

The main use cases are handwritten notes, sketching, and annotating PDF files or images. The canvas can be set to a fixed page size, a continuous vertical scroll, or an infinite workspace in any direction, depending on how you prefer to work. You can import PDFs and images, draw over them, and then export your annotations back out as PDF, SVG, PNG, or JPEG files. The app also supports a typewriter tool for typed text alongside handwriting.

Stylus input is the primary focus. The app responds to pen pressure and has configurable stroke styles. Stylus button shortcuts can be reassigned to your preference. The README notes that the app works best on Wayland (a modern Linux display system) and that the older X11 display system is not well supported.

A few practical details: the file format saves as a compressed JSON file with the .rnote extension. The README warns that the file format is still considered unstable and may change between versions in a way that breaks older files. Tabs let you work on multiple documents at once, and autosave is included.

The app is written in Rust using the GTK4 interface toolkit. A command-line tool ships alongside the graphical app for automation tasks involving .rnote files. Translations are community-contributed through Weblate.