Xournal++ adds handwriting, highlighting and typed notes on top of PDF pages, while keeping an editable journal for later changes. This guide builds a small document-review workflow, from a provider-linked installer to a checked PDF export. Official installation pages listed stable version 1.3.8 when reviewed on October 22, 2026. AltStack has not installed the application or performed these steps in it. The existing genuine provider screenshot shows an earlier interface; controls and package support can differ with your version.
1. Choose a task that the free desktop app actually covers
Use Xournal++ for handwritten notes, diagram sketches and annotations over a PDF you are entitled to use. The application is free software under GPL-2.0-or-later. Ordinary desktop note-taking does not require a hosted subscription or an AI API. Your computer, storage and optional pen tablet still have their own costs. Optional LaTeX input requires a separate working TeX installation; it is not needed for this basic workflow.
For a paid PDF-editor comparison, start with the specific job. Adding review notes is different from rewriting the original PDF's text, preserving interactive forms, certified signing or securely removing confidential material. Xournal++ uses the PDF as a background for your own elements. This guide does not promise every commercial PDF-editing feature or a shared cloud notebook. Make a folder containing a harmless practice PDF and keep its untouched original. A two-page document that you created yourself is enough to evaluate the complete process before using important material.
2. Install the Windows stable build for your processor
Open the provider's Windows installation page. It separates the stable Intel EXE, stable ARM EXE, Microsoft Store option and unstable nightly. At review, the stable choices are labeled 1.3.8. Choose the build matching your machine's processor, follow its official Download link, run the installer and follow its prompts. The provider describes the Microsoft Store route as an option for automatic updates. Check the release notes before replacing an existing installation.
Keep the package origin and version in your setup notes. A nightly is a development build and is unnecessary for the annotation exercises here. Start the installed application from Windows and confirm that a blank journal opens. If installation or launch fails, retain the exact error and your Windows version before trying a different package. Do not assume that an ARM package, an Intel package and a download supplied by an unrelated website are interchangeable merely because their application names match.
3. Use the documented Linux package route
The Linux installation page links stable AppImage, Flatpak, Snap and DEB packages. For an existing Flatpak setup with Flathub configured, the project's README documents flatpak install flathub com.github.xournalpp.xournalpp. Review the package prompt and complete the installation, then launch Xournal++ from your applications. If Flatpak is not set up, follow Flathub's instructions for your distribution before using that command.
The README also documents sudo apt install xournalpp for supported Debian and Ubuntu repositories. Repository versions can differ from upstream, so record the actual installed version rather than assuming that command always selects 1.3.8. For a provider DEB download, match the distribution version indicated by the package; the project explicitly warns that its binaries are built for particular releases. Choose one installation source and use its update mechanism. This walkthrough does not require building source code, adding an unofficial package repository or switching to a nightly to annotate an ordinary PDF.
4. Read the current macOS launch caveat before relying on it
The provider's macOS page offers separate Intel and ARM stable downloads, both labeled 1.3.8 at review. Select by your Mac's processor and inspect the linked release information. The current project README also points to a code-signing issue, number 6185, concerning launch on newer macOS versions. A download being available does not establish that it will launch successfully on your particular Mac.
This guide has not verified macOS installation or the project's signing workaround. Read the current issue and release notes before making it your only document workflow, and keep your working application available if compatibility remains uncertain. The desktop document steps below are source-based instructions, with platform-specific behavior still to check on your machine. The separately developed mobile application is another project with different maintenance and functionality; the README reports stalled development. These desktop steps should not be advertised as a supported Android, iOS or browser installation route.
5. Make a small journal and check your input device
Use File > New for a blank journal. Choose the Pen tool, press the mouse button or stylus tip on the canvas, drag a short line and release. Pick a second color and thickness, then draw another line. You can begin with a mouse; a pressure-sensitive pen is optional hardware. Add a new page using the Insert Page toolbar button or a Journal > New Page option. Use the Save toolbar button and keep the journal in .xopp format.
If drawing or typing does not respond, open Edit > Preferences and inspect Input System. The provider describes device-class overrides when automatic detection is wrong, including a combined mouse and keyboard device or a stylus recognized incorrectly. Change only the relevant device and retry the same small action. Avoid changing several pressure, touch and button settings together: you need to know which setting produced the difference. Save this harmless practice journal before moving on to a PDF.
6. Open a PDF and keep the background with the journal
Choose File > Annotate PDF and select your practice PDF. Xournal++ creates a journal whose pages use that file as the background. In this dialog, Attach file to the journal enables the documented attach mode: when saving, the PDF is copied beside the .xopp journal and referenced relatively. Save into your practice folder and inspect the files that were created. Attach mode does not mean the entire PDF is embedded inside the .xopp file.
Keep the background and journal together when backing up or sharing editable work. Without attach mode, the saved journal ordinarily refers to the PDF through an absolute path. If you move or remove that PDF, the application can ask you to identify it again. Test a copy of the pair in a second folder while preserving the working originals. Treat this as a portability check you perform on your installation, not an outcome that AltStack has already established.
7. Add a small set of readable review marks
Select the Highlighter tool and drag across one important line. Choose a color and thickness that leave the text legible. Switch to Pen for a short underline, arrow or handwritten comment. The pen and highlighter tools can also draw shapes through their shape controls, but freehand marks are enough for the first review. Use two meaningful colors, such as one for a question and another for a confirmed point, so the page remains understandable later.
Use the Text tool for a short typed note beside the passage. Keep it away from the original paragraph and check it at a comfortable reading zoom. These new elements sit over the background; they do not replace the source text. The online PDF-tools chapter describes a separate text-selection toolbox and marks it nightly-only. This guide uses ordinary strokes and text instead of requiring those development controls. Before processing a long document, save and reopen the small example to check that your chosen marks remain positioned as intended.
8. Move annotations with the selection tools
Choose Select Object and touch a note or stroke to select it. Use Select Rectangle when you need several elements together; the documented rectangular selection includes objects fully inside the region. Move the selection away from a paragraph it obscures, or resize it with the selection handles. Work on the practice page until you can distinguish selecting an existing object from drawing another mark.
The selection chapter distinguishes your elements from the background PDF: ordinary object-selection tools do not select the PDF itself. If a source sentence will not move, that does not mean you chose the wrong bounding box. A background page and an annotation are different objects with different editing capabilities. For an aligned diagram or repeated marks, grid and rotation snapping can help; change that only after the basic selection behaves predictably. Keep a saved checkpoint before reorganizing a crowded page, and inspect all selected objects before moving a group.
9. Correct strokes without mistaking whiteout for redaction
The Eraser tool has three documented modes. Standard removes parts of strokes you pass over. Delete Stroke removes the complete touched stroke. Whiteout paints a white stroke over what you want to hide. Try them on separate practice marks so you can see which kind of correction each performs. A wide eraser can affect more than you intended, especially when handwriting lines are close together.
White paint over text is a visual cover, not evidence that underlying information has been removed from the PDF. Do not use this technique to prepare a confidential document for public release. Choose material you can safely share throughout this tutorial. After a correction, inspect the full page and save the editable journal again. For a large revision, retaining an earlier named copy is often easier to reason about than depending on an unknown amount of undo history across application sessions.
10. Export a separate PDF and inspect the deliverable
Keep the .xopp journal as your editable source. Use the File menu's PDF export action to create a separately named PDF. The introductory tour labels it Export to PDF; the PDF chapter uses Export as PDF, so follow the PDF export entry in your installed version. File > Export As provides other documented formats and export options. Do not overwrite or discard the background file while making a review copy.
Open the exported PDF in a reader and inspect every annotated page: text visibility, page order, margins and whether a note covers something important. The provider documents that exported marks lose their original Xournal++ editability, and built-in PDF annotations such as pop-up notes and forms are not preserved by this export workflow. Keep that limitation in mind when choosing your practice source. A PDF that looks correct on the first page may still omit an interactive feature elsewhere. Share the checked export when the recipient needs a reading copy; retain the journal and background for revisions.
11. Configure recovery and understand where copies remain
Open Edit > Preferences and review Load / Save and its autosaving settings. The documentation lets you enable automatic saving and choose an interval. Once a journal has a saved location, its autosave is a hidden file beside it; for example, review.xopp has a .review.autosave.xopp recovery file. An unsaved document instead uses the application's cache location. Autosave supports recovery but does not replace a separate backup of the journal and its background PDF.
The File Locations page lists common configuration and cache directories for Linux, macOS and Windows, with package differences to consider. Inspect your installation instead of assuming a path from another operating system. Retain dated copies of the working document folder in your chosen backup location and verify that both source and journal are included. Hidden recovery files, exported PDFs and copied backgrounds can all retain document content. Review those copies before handing a computer to someone else or attaching a folder to a public support report.
12. Troubleshoot the basic workflow before adding extras
For missing background pages, first confirm that the expected PDF is still available and has not been replaced with a different revision. Changing or removing pages in the background can misalign existing annotations; keeping one unchanged source copy makes diagnosis easier. For pen trouble, return to the small blank-journal test and inspect device classification and pressure settings. For an export problem, repeat it with the harmless two-page example and record the exact menu, package version and result.
LaTeX is optional. If you later need formulas, install a TeX distribution through its own supported route and use Test configuration in the LaTeX tab of Edit > Preferences, as the provider documents. External packages and downloaded plugins introduce additional setup, storage and code you choose to trust. Local notes do not require uploading a document to an AI service, but AltStack has not audited network traffic or every plugin. Adopt the workflow after your own import, saved-source, reopened-journal, backup and exported-PDF checks succeed.
Official instructions and sources
Official desktop installation choicesWindows stable Intel, ARM and Store routesLinux stable package linksmacOS architecture-specific downloadsStable release 1.3.8Provider README: package commands, file format and mobile limitationsRelease licenseRelease copyright and component termsCurrent macOS code-signing issueBeginner tour: journals, basic controls and exportPreferences: input devices and autosavingPen, highlighter, thickness and shape controlsSelection and snapping capabilitiesStandard, whole-stroke and whiteout erasersPDF backgrounds, attach mode and export limitationsPDF text toolbox marked as nightly functionalityDocument, hidden recovery, configuration and cache locationsOptional LaTeX dependency and configuration testOriginal AltStack guide by Sushil Kumar Sah. Installation steps follow provider documentation; they do not imply testing on every supported device.