Looks like a lot of work per function. Though may be justifiable for security focused distro or library.

Quick question: Why can't I write, with a pen, in the margins of PDFs I read?

At first glance it sounds like a dopey question. But think about it. Writing in margins has been one of the most useful tools in human history, and for some reason we can't make it happen digitally.

I'm thinking either a browser extension or a standalone electron reader might work well, but only if there are iOS and android apps too. That's a lot of work! And then it's unclear anyone else will be able to read your notes.

Maybe one solution would be to rasterize out a new PDF whenever you draw on it, and just destructively update all your PDFs.

Why not type comments? Almost any PDF reader provides the feature.

They do, but is it searchable?

The best solution I've found till now is to just create a text file with the same name as the pdf.

> They do, but is it searchable?

Yes:

Acrobat searches the PDF body text, layers, form fields, and digital signatures. You can also include bookmarks and comments in the search.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/searching-pdfs.html

Other PDF applications do it too.

Xournal can do this.

Thanks!