BOTPLE EDUCATION
Botple Notes

How to annotate a PDF on a school Chromebook

Most PDF apps ask you to install something or add an extension — and a school-managed Chromebook usually will not let you do either. Here is what actually works, free, with nothing to install.

Open your worksheet → See how it works

Free. No account, no sign-up, no upload — your file stays on the Chromebook.

Why the usual answers don’t work here

Search for “PDF annotator” and almost everything that comes back is a Chrome extension, a Play Store app, or a program you download and run. On your own laptop, fine. On a school Chromebook, none of that is actually available.

Most schools manage their Chromebooks through Google Admin console, which typically blocks the Play Store, blocks installing new Chrome extensions, and sometimes restricts which accounts can even sign in. That is a deliberate choice by the school’s IT department, not something wrong with your device — but it does mean an “install this app” tutorial is useless to you.

What actually works on a managed Chromebook is anything that is just a website. A website does not ask the device for install permission, because there is nothing to install.

Three steps

1 Open Botple Notes in Chrome. No sign-in prompt, no extension request — it opens like any other page.
2 Drag your worksheet in, or pick it from Files. Click anywhere on the page to type an answer, or write and draw directly if you have a touchscreen or stylus.
3 Export and hand it in. You get back a normal PDF with your answers on it, ready to upload to Classroom or email to your teacher.

One honest limit

A small number of schools go further and restrict the Chromebook to a fixed allow-list of specific websites. If yours is one of them, no web app — this one included — will load until your school’s IT admin adds it to that list. That is a setting on their side, and worth asking about directly if Botple Notes will not open at all.

Outside that specific case, if the Chromebook can open a normal website, it can run Botple Notes.

Common questions

Does this work if my Chromebook is fully locked down?

If it can open any website at all, yes. The one exception is a strict site allow-list, covered above.

Is my worksheet uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything happens in the browser on the Chromebook itself, and keeps working even if the WiFi drops partway through.

Can I use the touchscreen or a stylus?

Yes, on Chromebooks that have one — you can write or draw on the page as well as type.

What if my worksheet is a scan or a photo, not a real PDF form?

That is a slightly different problem with its own answer — see typing on a scanned worksheet.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Botple Notes is free for students and stays that way.

Open your worksheet → About Botple Notes