Any recommendations for FOSS alternatives to notability? (for intel mac) (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by first_ad4972@sh.itjust.works to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The main features I want are:

Import PDFs and annotate them in the app’s native format (so that I’ll still be able to remove previous changes after I save and re-open it)
Quickly add text boxes anywhere on the PDF
Draw some basic shapes and lines with different colors (can either be notability-style “draw and hold to make shape” or just a classic “insert shapes” option from the toolbar)
Have a page thumbnail option and can search text in the PDF file and quickly go there

all 19 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] gratux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 year ago

Xournal++

[-] first_ad4972@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I tried this app before, but on Mac this app has a weird layout and I can’t even find the toolbar that is in the screenshot on the official site. How do I make the toolbar show?

[-] gratux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

I don't know, I use it on Linux and it works fine there. What exactly do you mean by "weird layout?"

[-] first_ad4972@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don’t have the tool selection menu on top of the document, instead there’s a menu called “tools” that I have to click in, and the tools are listed by names instead of icons which is confusing and hard to find.

Screenshot on my computer (after I clicked open the "tools" menu):

Screenshot on the official site (note that there's a tool selection menu on the top, inside the red rectangle, which is missing on my computer):

[-] gratux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You can toggle the toolbars with F9. Alternatively, View->Show Toolbars

[-] first_ad4972@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks, that worked

[-] anzo@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

Zotero.org has a pdf reader, but it's a reference manager to use in more academic world

[-] janguv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

This was gonna be my recommendation also.

[-] ipacialsection@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I know Okular can do at least most of that. Don't think it's available for Mac OS X, though.

[-] anzo@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

Not long ago, I installed Okular on Windows for a friend. I was surprised that the version available officially was pretty old.

It would be great if Mac and Windows could have access to flathub.org daydreaming

[-] nicman24@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

there are nightlies bins in their ftp - they are a bit hidden

[-] janguv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

Think it's possible if you can install via KDE/Macports

[-] pexavc@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Honestly, building a Notion level FOSS alternative, probably in the lines of Obsidian as well, would be a fun project. Especially with the features you mentioned.

[-] heartlessevil@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PDF,_PS_and_DjVu#Graphical_PDF_editing

[-] first_ad4972@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

But which of these is available for Mac OS?

[-] PuppyOSAndCoffee@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Doesn’t MacOS do this natively?

[-] first_ad4972@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

But MacOS's pdf editor saves the file as PDF, which means I can't change a text box or drawing I already did once I save the file and delete previous versions. And I'm planning to switch to linux in the future so I want something open source.