
In this article, we'll focus on how to install and use QtPad on Ubuntu 18.04. Qtpad is a unique and highly customizable sticky note application written in Qt5 and Python3 tailored for Unix systems. Some of its notable features include:
- Customizable context menus and hotkeys
- Customizable actions of left and middle click on the tray icon
- Notes which can easily be organized in a single level folder system
- Locally shared notes in plain text which can be identified by name
- New notes come with customizable default styles and style presets for specific notes
- An indication of unsaved changes by an asterisk* in the note title
- Image auto detect or path from the clipboard
- Autosave when losing focus, and auto load when gaining focus
Prerequisites
Before you begin the installation of QtPad, ensure the following is installed on your system
- Python3
- Python3-pip
How to install Qtpad on Ubuntu 18.04
To install the sticky note application, run
pip3 install qtpad
Output
Collecting qtpad
Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/32/d4/d1964182ded327c1943e089d9cb09ca91fe91f8797e43dff0e3cf1df5b23/qtpad-0.0.5.tar.gz
Collecting pyqt5 (from qtpad)
Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/e4/15/4e2e49f64884edbab6f833c6fd3add24d7938f2429aec1f2883e645d4d8f/PyQt5-5.10.1-5.10.1-cp35.cp36.cp37.cp38-abi3-manylinux1_x86_64.whl (107.8MB)
100% |████████████████████████████████| 107.8MB 2.8kB/s
Requirement already satisfied: requests in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (from qtpad)
Collecting sip<4.20,>=4.19.4 (from pyqt5->qtpad)
Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/6b/46/2869369c8ec634ec9dc714b84834e9264acbe87eb7492328efccfa0c855e/sip-4.19.8-cp35-cp35m-manylinux1_x86_64.whl (66kB)
100% |████████████████████████████████| 71kB 425kB/s
Building wheels for collected packages: qtpad
Running setup.py bdist_wheel for qtpad ... done
Stored in directory: /root/.cache/pip/wheels/f4/11/03/44161665b8eb666b28a864fa4dc7f7c45f080d0eeb423ee009
Successfully built qtpad
Installing collected packages: sip, pyqt5, qtpad
Successfully installed pyqt5-5.10.1 qtpad-0.0.5 sip-4.19.8
Once installed, its time now to create a new sticky note using Qtpad. To do this, Navigate at the top right corner and located this icon as shown.

Click on 'New Note' to launch your new sticky note. And voila!

You can further customize the background by right-clicking anywhere within the sticky note and select 'Style'

You can also customize the dimensions, text, font and background color of the Qtpad sticky note by selecting the 'Customize' option. A pop up with a myriad of settings will appear. You can make adjustments to the sticky note as you deem fit.

Read also
- How to Set and View StickyBit, SUID & SGID in Linux with Examples
- 10 Twitter Clients for Linux Desktop and Command Line
In this post, we have taken you through How to install Qtpad on your Ubuntu 18.04 System. Qtpad is a handy sticky note application that helps users keep track of their to-do tasks and acts as a simple reminder. So go ahead and try out the handy application! Your feedback is most welcome.
Resource Reference
Hello!
I tried to install this program and when trying to execute from terminal, i get the following error: "FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/xxxxxxxxx/.config/qtpad/preferences.json'"
Any ideas?