Ghostwriter is a distraction-free, open-source Markdown text editor developed and maintained as part of the official KDE Gear application suite. Designed specifically for authors, technical writers, bloggers, and students, Ghostwriter provides a clean writing environment with real-time HTML preview sidebars, document outline navigation, customizable themes, and session statistics.
Markdown was created in 2004 by John Gruber and Aaron Swartz as a lightweight formatting language for plain text. Today, Markdown is the universal standard across major publishing and developer platforms including WordPress, DEV.to, Hashnode, GitHub, Jekyll, Hugo, and Docusaurus.
Whether you write articles for technical blogs or maintain project notes on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) or 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), here is how to install and configure Ghostwriter in 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Ghostwriter is maintained by the KDE community (org.kde.ghostwriter): providing high-performance Qt6 UI rendering and native desktop integration.
- Flatpak via Flathub is the official upstream release path recommended by KDE developers.
- Native APT packages are available directly in default Ubuntu repositories (`sudo apt install ghostwriter`).
- Install Pandoc (`sudo apt install pandoc`) to enable exporting Markdown directly into PDF, DOCX, EPUB, and HTML formats.
What makes Ghostwriter a great distraction-free Markdown editor?
Ghostwriter focuses on eliminating UI clutter so writers can maintain focus on drafting content.
Complete Feature List
- Distraction-Free Mode: Fullscreen writing mode that hides all window decorations, menus, and taskbars.
- Hemingway Mode: Disables your backspace and delete keys, encouraging continuous forward drafting without self-editing interruption.
- Focus Mode: Highlights the active line, sentence, or paragraph while softly fading surrounding text.
- Live HTML Preview: Renders styled HTML document previews side-by-side in real time as you type.
- Document Outline Sidebar: Automatically generates table-of-contents navigation based on Markdown headers (
#,##,###). - Session & Document Statistics: Real-time tracking of word counts, character counts, paragraph counts, sentence counts, reading time, and writing session stats.
- Drag-and-Drop Image Insertion: Drag image files directly into the editor pane to generate formatted Markdown image links (
). - Built-in & Custom Themes: Includes dark, light, and custom color themes tailored for long writing sessions.
- Multi-Format Exporting: Native Pandoc integration for converting Markdown files into PDF, Microsoft Word (
.docx), EPUB, HTML, and ODT formats. - Free and Open-Source: Distributed under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3).
How do you install Ghostwriter using Flatpak on Linux?
Since Ghostwriter’s integration into the KDE project, Flathub receives the fastest software updates and newest Qt6 features.
Step 1: Enable Flatpak Support
Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install flatpak
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepoStep 2: Install Ghostwriter from Flathub
flatpak install flathub org.kde.ghostwriterTo launch the Flatpak build:
flatpak run org.kde.ghostwriterHow do you install Ghostwriter using APT?
Ghostwriter is available natively in default Ubuntu package repositories for quick setup via apt or the Ubuntu Software Center.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -f ghostwriterOne-line terminal shortcut:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -f ghostwriter -yHow do you install Ghostwriter via PPA on older Ubuntu releases?
For older Ubuntu LTS releases (or to access original PPA repositories), add the PPA maintained by Ghostwriter’s original creator:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -f ghostwriterHow do you export Markdown to PDF and Word using Pandoc in Ghostwriter?
Ghostwriter uses Pandoc as its underlying conversion engine for document exports.
Step 1: Install Pandoc and LaTeX Utilities
To enable full document export capabilities on Ubuntu:
sudo apt install pandoc texlive-extra-utilsStep 2: Export Documents in Ghostwriter
- Open your document in Ghostwriter.
- Click File > Export (or press
Ctrl+E). - Select your target format: PDF, Microsoft Word (.docx), EPUB, HTML, or OpenDocument (.odt).
How do you launch Ghostwriter after installation?
Launch Ghostwriter using either method:
- Application Launcher: Open the application menu, search for Ghostwriter, and click the icon.
- Terminal Command: Type
ghostwriterand pressEnter.
Frequently Asked Questions (PAA)
Is Ghostwriter restricted to KDE Plasma desktop?
No. Although Ghostwriter is developed under the KDE Gear project, it uses cross-platform Qt libraries and runs natively on GNOME, XFCE, Cinnamon, MATE, macOS, and Windows.
How do I activate Hemingway Mode in Ghostwriter?
Click View > Hemingway Mode (or press Ctrl+Shift+H). This disables your backspace key so you write continuously without stopping to edit draft text.
Can I insert custom CSS stylesheets into the live HTML preview?
Yes. Go to Preferences > Preview, click Custom CSS, and select a .css file to style your live preview pane to match your site layout.
How do I uninstall Ghostwriter installed via APT?
sudo apt remove --purge ghostwriter
sudo apt autoremove
