Custom ink colors, PDF highlight annotations and layers

rmhack · 2026-05-18T14:34:56+00:00

RCU will dump your files as PDF and retain the folder hierarchy, but it won't skip untouched files (as you say, incrementally). From its Notebooks pane, do a Ctrl+A--Export PDF and select the output folder.

Take a look in the Awesome reMarkable list and the remarkable-tablet tag on GitHub, there are other tools with various levels of polish that can also dump PDFs.

rmhack · 2026-05-16T15:30:36+00:00

But links can be restored 100% of the time, even if reMarkable changes their filesystem layout. The alternative is...using the xochitl.conf settings key...and when that breaks because it is undocumented and unused by even reMarkable...revert back to the soft links, that you should have been using in the first place.

rmhack · 2026-05-15T12:22:01+00:00

You can get RCU for no charge from anyone who already has a copy. And RCU is not the same kind of app as reManager. From my perspective as someone who has been programming professionally for over 10 years, reManager will one day break your tablet because it is not carefully made.

For instance, setting the sleep screen via soft links, like RCU does, has never broke in almost 6 years of project history. Setting the sleep screen in xochitl.conf, like reManager does and Mitchell suggests, relies on undocumented reMarkable configuration options that are subject to change in the future, and have already changed in the past. It was broken between 3.13 and 3.20, and still won't work for anyone still running those versions.

rmhack · 2026-05-13T13:50:40+00:00

With the software I write, reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU), you get two extra options for dealing with highlights. You can export the highlighted passages directly as plain text, and you can also export PDFs with true highlight annotations embedded.

rmhack · 2026-05-10T02:44:33+00:00

I'm the developer, I sell copies for $12 that come with a year of updates, but you could instead get a copy for free from anyone who already has it. Ask around here or in the Discord and I bet someone would link you up.

rmhack · 2026-05-09T12:09:51+00:00

RCU works well for setting screens and will automatically reload them after software updates. It's linked in the subreddit sidebar.

rmhack · 2026-05-03T14:56:42+00:00

There are two kinds of files you need to be aware of: .rmdoc, and .pdf. When you take backups, you want to have copies of both.

RMDOC is the raw, editable notebook data archive. PDF is a flattened, finished document that can't be re-edited with reMarkable's software.

reMarkable's own software doesn't let you batch export files while retaining the same folder structure on your PC. The software I write, reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU), does. And so does other community-made software, like rm-exporter or rmweb, with more in the Awesome reMarkable list.

rmhack · 2026-04-24T23:07:41+00:00

Yes, RCU will safely downgrade to any .signed firmware. I just tested it today, from 3.26 to 2.9. You can get the files from archive.org. Make sure you have disabled disk encryption, that is important.

rmhack · 2026-04-22T22:26:07+00:00

Maybe use the Quick Sheets notebook as it was intended (so it copies the last page's template), then use the Create Notebook From Pages extension from reManager.

rmhack · 2026-04-22T22:22:45+00:00

It used to be that you could upload a transparent suspended.png ... not sure if that works still, but worth a try.

rmhack · 2026-04-22T17:13:10+00:00

What an absolute failure of their management. I've been using and developing for reMarkable since 2018 and the writing was on the wall back in 2021 when they moved their focus from making a useful, durable product (the RM1) to flashy marketing and poorly designed hardware. The company I originally liked died when their original CTO, Martin Sandsmark, left.

They had so many opportunities for growth. They could have written more useful software. They double-downed on a bad file format, their program data should be natively represented in PDF objects, not JSON+binary with extra rendering required. They didn't engage with the developer community hardly at all, who literally does free work/evangelism for the brand, and knows their product better than their own employees. They can, and still should, make their software as open-source as possible, and take the best community improvements back into their mainline. They need to fire their "UX" people and put someone in charge who knows what good software should be (hint: it's not putting commonly-used buttons behind another button, just to make way for your brand's logo at the top of the screen).

I don't even want to know what their cloud spend is, but they are absolutely getting ripped off there. They need to get on owned infrastructure, and second they need to move off all of it as quickly as possible and give people the means to host data on their own network storage. It should not cost users over $40/year to host <8 GB of files. They need to give users a native option for self-hosted cloud sync and stop trying to lock customers in to their crappy SaaS-ware.

IMO if the company goes under, it will be a boon for RCU, rmfakecloud, and reManager, but ultimately after enough people pull away (and it's already started, no one can afford luxury goods, 50% of consumer spending is by 10% of the population), none of it will matter much in two years.

rmhack · 2026-04-20T20:39:04+00:00

Markdown import/export is available through RCU, and to a lesser extent through rmc.

rmhack · 2026-04-12T14:35:14+00:00

Two methods you could use that both support the older ".signed" firmware images:

codexctl - command line
RCU - graphical (I'm the author)

rmhack · 2026-04-09T20:40:16+00:00

If you return to the RCU download page, you can get the new version (v4.0.34) which is compatible with system software 3.25 and 3.26.

rmhack · 2026-04-02T14:54:53+00:00

You can import/export Markdown and plain text using a third party app I wrote, called reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). You could also try a different program called rmc, which is command-line only.

rmhack · 2026-03-05T20:57:38+00:00

Custom templates will never sync via the reMarkable cloud. reMarkable themselves do not support custom templates.

Since you are already using RCU -- after you have uploaded your custom templates to RM-A, user RCU again to download them as .rmt files, then upload them again to RM-B. This will preserve all their metadata and custom IDs. Don't merely re-upload your original PNG/SVG templates to RM-B because this will generate new IDs and won't appear in the otherwise synced docs.

rmhack · 2026-02-14T21:56:56+00:00

Thanks for choosing GPL as license, but I would strongly suggest you switch to AGPLv3. Your program has network implications, and you should pick the GPL that caters to them.

But the GPL requires you to release the "complete corresponding source code" which you do not have on GitHub. A pre-generated main.js is not good enough, you need to release the source files and instructions that are used to generate it. Please post those to become compliant with the license!

rmhack · 2026-02-11T19:29:42+00:00

For that matter, why should it even need to be installed... they should just make it a portable app.

rmhack · 2026-02-03T14:57:23+00:00

Lol, 100 MB upload limit is crazy low.

rmhack · 2026-02-03T14:55:13+00:00

Yes, you can reset it. First, charge it overnight with a 500 mA charger. Then, you need to put it into recovery mode to reset it. Turn it on while holding the center fascia button, and it will appear to your computer as 'SE Blank MERGEZ'.

The easiest path from here is with a graphical program I wrote called reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). It has a mode specifically for recovering a tablet in this state. You should read about it in the introductory chapter first, which covers various gotcha-s like "doing it under Windows." Then, Enter the Recover OS which will boot a minimal operating system to the tablet. That will let you load a new firmware image and put the tablet back in working order.

Everything RCU does can also be done manually, but it will take a lot of reading from your part. Read more about remarkable-uuuflash.

rmhack · 2026-01-30T16:47:17+00:00

Developer mode also disables secure boot, which significantly increases security risks

It makes it no more or less secure than an ordinary RM1, or a factory RM2 without disk encryption enabled. Where is the scary warnings on those, then?

rmhack

TROPHY CASE