Setup

Zettlr is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It can be installed directly from our website or via one of many supported package managers.

Minimum System Requirements

• Operating System:
  • Windows 10 or newer
  • macOS 12.0 or newer
  • Debian 8 or newer
  • Ubuntu 12.04 or newer
  • Fedora 24 or newer
  • Arch Linux
  • Any distribution supported by AppImage or Flatpak
• Processor: 1GHz Dual-Core Intel 64-bit or better (32-bit is not supported)
  • On Linux, an equivalent ARM 64-bit processor is supported
  • On macOS, Apple Silicon (M1, M2, etc.) is supported
  • Windows on ARM (e.g., "Copilot+" branded machines) is not supported
• RAM: 1 GB
• Disk Space: At least 500 MB free disk space

Windows

To install Zettlr on Windows, download the app from the download page and double click to open the installer. By default, the installer will request administrative permission during setup to install the app for all users on the computer.

If you do not have administrative privileges on your computer or do not wish to install the app for everyone, you can choose to install it just for the current user. In this case, no privileges are required, but some features may not work as expected.

Zettlr is also available on the chocolatey package manager.

macOS

To install Zettlr on macOS, download the DMG-file from our download page and mount it by double-clicking it. Then, drag the Zettlr icon into your Applications directory and wait for the application to be copied over.

Zettlr is also available via Homebrew. To install it, run the following command:

brew install --cask zettlr

Linux

Linux distributions are legion, and many have their own preferred way of installing software. We aim to provide Zettlr as conveniently as possible for you, also thanks to community efforts.

AppImage

Zettlr is available as an AppImage bundle for Linux. To install it, download the package from our download page. To install the AppImage, place the file into a directory of your choice, make it executable, and begin using it.

Flatpak

Zettlr is available as a Flatpak. To install the Flatpak version, download it from Zettlr's FlatHub page and follow the setup instructions.

Ubuntu/Debian

To install Zettlr on Debian and Ubuntu as well as derivative distributions, we recommend installing Zettlr using our APT repository. You can find all install instructions on apt.zettlr.com. Simply add our repository:

curl -s --compressed "https://apt.zettlr.com/KEY.gpg" | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/zettlr_apt.gpg > /dev/null
sudo curl -s --compressed -o /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zettlr.list "https://apt.zettlr.com/zettlr.list"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install zettlr

If your distribution does not support aptitude, or you want to manually install the file, you can download the deb-package from our download page and execute the file.

Fedora

To install Zettlr on Fedora or Red Hat derivatives, download the rpm-package from our download page and execute the file.

Arch Linux

Thanks to community efforts, Zettlr is available as a regular package for Arch Linux in the "Extra" repo. Therefore, you can install Zettlr regularly using pacman or derivatives. Read more on the Zettlr Arch Wiki page.

Updating Zettlr

Zettlr will periodically check for updates. If an update becomes available, it will show you a prompt asking you whether you would like to download the new update. You can also choose to install the update later. In that case, Zettlr will show a "Download available" button in the right corner of the toolbar. Lastly, you can check manually for an update using the "Help" menu.

Regardless of which method you choose, once you click the corresponding button, Zettlr will show you an update dialog. The dialog shows you a series of information:

• Which version of Zettlr you are currently running
• The version number of the update
• A changelog with everything that has changed since the last version
• A button to download the new update

Once you click the "Download" button, Zettlr will download the correct file for your operating system. During the download, the dialog will show you an estimate for the remaining time until the update has been downloaded. After the update has been successfully downloaded, the dialog will display a button to start the update. Click it to start the update process. The app will first verify that the downloaded file is the correct one by calculating the installer's checksum, and then close the app. If you have any unsaved changes, Zettlr will show you a dialog allowing you to save your progress before the app quits. It then starts the installer, allowing you to install the update. How installing the update works depends on your operating system. On Windows, the update will guide you through a setup guide, while on macOS, it will allow you to drag and drop the update into your Applications folder.

After the update is complete, you can start the app again, and you will be greeted by an onboarding dialog confirming the successful update.

After any update, be prepared to wait a few minutes for Zettlr to launch. After each update, the file cache is being cleared, and when the newer version of Zettlr boots for the first time, it has to recreate this file cache. The more files and folders you have opened, the longer this process may take.

If you installed Zettlr via a package manager, you don't have to check for updates. Simply update your packages using your package manager, which will automatically install any available updates for Zettlr. In these cases, you can disable the automated update checks.

Manual Updates

If automatic updates don't work for you, you can always manually update by downloading the appropriate installer for your system (see above). There is no (technical) difference between the first setup and an update; the files are the same.

Beta-releases

You can opt in to beta releases. To do so, activate "Notify me about beta releases" in the settings. We sometimes offer beta versions to test out brand new features that could still have some quirks.

Uninstalling Zettlr

If you are unsatisfied with Zettlr or need to remove the app, follow these instructions to fully remove Zettlr.

In case you installed Zettlr with a package manager, consult your package manager's documentation on how to uninstall software. If you installed the app directly from our homepage, follow the correct steps for your platform below:

On Windows, go into the software settings and uninstall it according to Microsoft's instructions. If you wish to remove the settings and user data as well, you can find those in the directory C:\Users\<your-user-name>\AppData\Roaming\Zettlr.

On macOS, head over to the Applications folder and move Zettlr.app to the trash. If you wish to remove the settings and user data as well, you can find those in the directory /Users/<your-user-name>/Library/Application Support/Zettlr.

On Linux, the uninstallation procedure depends on your distribution and how you installed the app. Please consult the appropriate manual on how to do this. If you wish to remove the settings and user data as well, you can find those in the directory /home/<your-user-name>/.config/Zettlr.

Nightly Releases

Since 2.0.0, we offer so-called nightly releases. Nightlies are releases that are being built automatically every Monday at noon (UTC) (but sometimes we build them manually). They contain the most recent changes to the code base. This means that they are even more recent than the beta releases, but this also means that they may contain serious bugs which we haven't found yet.

Nightly releases are for advanced users only who understand the risks in using these. If you keep your settings, the writing statistics, and your files backed up regularly, it might be safe to use nightlies. We do appreciate every one who uses nightlies and informs us about bugs they encounter.

To install a nightly release, you need to manually download them from https://nightly.zettlr.com/. Your updater will not notify you about nightly releases, but since they are being automatically built every week, you can be sure that there will be a new release.

Please also note that we do not retain any previous nightly builds. Each week's nightly will simply replace the previous one. If a nightly is unusable, feel free to notify us so we can manually schedule a new build after we have fixed the bug.