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Boox templates: PDF planners in NeoReader and templates in Notes

By Graphite Planner · Last updated 8 October 2026

A Boox tablet can use a planner in two places: NeoReader, the built-in PDF reader, and the Notes app. They treat templates in very different ways. Here is which one keeps a hyperlinked planner working, what the noteTemplate folder is for, and how to write without setting off links by accident.

NeoReader or Notes

The rule of thumb: a hyperlinked planner belongs in NeoReader. A single page design that you want behind every page of a notebook belongs in Notes.

Putting a PDF planner in NeoReader

1. Download the PDF to your computer or phone and unzip it if it came in a zip file.
2. Copy it to the Boox by USB, with BooxDrop or with Push, into a normal folder.
3. Find it in the library and open it with NeoReader.
4. Write with the scribble tool. To follow a link, leave that tool, or tap the link with a finger.

Boox describes NeoReader as a reader where you can highlight, annotate and scribble directly on a file; its post How to Read Actively on BOOX ePaper Using NeoReader walks through those tools. For a planner, what matters is that the PDF stays a PDF: every page and every link exactly as drawn.

Keep the original PDF on your computer as a clean backup. To start again with empty pages, or to begin a second copy for another purpose, copy it to the Boox once more under a new name.

What the noteTemplate folder is for

The noteTemplate folder in the Boox storage holds custom page templates for the Notes app, as PNG images. Copy a PNG there, open a notebook, and pick it from the template list among the custom templates. Make the image the same size in pixels as your screen, so it is not scaled.

A template in Notes is a background picture. It has no links. Put a page of a planner there, and its month tabs and day squares turn into a drawing of buttons that do nothing. The Boox Help Center community has a long-running request titled Import full PDF templates with hyperlinks, which describes exactly this gap. That is why our setup guide says to keep the planner in a normal folder and open it in NeoReader.

noteTemplate is the right place for a page you want to repeat inside a notebook: a meeting sheet, a lined page with your own margin, a daily page you fill in without needing to jump anywhere.

Finger, pen and scribble mode

In NeoReader the pen draws while the scribble tool is active. In that state a pen tap on a link leaves a dot instead of jumping. There are two ways round it: tap the link with a finger, or leave the scribble tool, tap the link, and pick the tool again. Most owners settle on writing with the pen and navigating with a finger, which is the habit that carries over to almost every e-ink tablet.

The scribble toolbar can be docked on one side of the screen. Put it on the side away from the month tabs. Graphite files keep nothing tappable on that side, and the right- and left-handed files swap sides to match your hand.

Which file for your Boox

A Large page on a 7 to 7.8 inch screen still fits, but every line and button comes out about a quarter smaller. The Compact layout is drawn for those screens instead.

Troubleshooting

The pen draws on the buttons.

Leave scribble mode, or tap the link with a finger.

The planner does not appear in the Notes template list.

That list shows PNG backgrounds from noteTemplate. Open the planner in NeoReader instead.

I used a planner page as a Notes template and the tabs do nothing.

A Notes template is an image, so it has no links. Use the PDF in NeoReader for navigation.

There are white bars, or the page looks small.

Use Large 3:4 on the 10.3 inch and larger models and Compact 3:4 on the 7 to 7.8 inch ones.