Rnote — The Complete Guide: Free Sketching, Handwriting and PDF Markup
Rnote is an open-source vector drawing app for sketches, handwritten notes and marking up documents and images. With a tablet and a pen it replaces the scratch pad: solve an exercise, sketch a concept detail or write comments on a drawing you received as a PDF.
Rnote
Rnote project
Sketches and handwritten notes on an infinite canvas — mark up PDFs and images with a pressure-sensitive pen.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Pressure-sensitive pen support — natural strokes, like a pencil.
- Geometric shapes — straight lines, rectangles and circles for a tidy sketch.
- Selection tool — move and resize parts of the drawing.
- Three page modes — fixed pages, a continuous layout or an infinite canvas.
- Import and export — import PDF, SVG and images, export to PDF and SVG.
What to know
According to the developers, the Rnote file format is not yet stable and may change between versions. So for important work — comments on a drawing, a solution sent to students — export to PDF and keep that file as well.
Related tools
For handwriting on PDFs with a long-established format — Xournal++. For a whiteboard in lectures — OpenBoard. For tidy diagrams in a sketch style — Excalidraw.
Xournal++
Xournal++ team
Handwriting and PDF annotation with a stylus — markups on drawings, lecture notes and problem solving.
Get it from the vendor
OpenBoard
OpenBoard (Canton of Geneva education department)
Interactive whiteboard for teaching and presentations — write on screen with a pen or mouse, for classrooms and lectures.
Get it from the vendor
Excalidraw
Excalidraw
A virtual whiteboard with a hand-drawn look — for quick concept sketches, explaining ideas in calls and shared design reviews.
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Inkscape
Inkscape project
Vector graphics editor — schematics, technical illustrations, report figures and SVG, PDF and DXF editing.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Rnote is comfortable for quick sketches and pen markup on drawings. Open source and free for commercial work too — just remember to export to PDF.