I'd like to apologise in advance if I absolutely failed at the search function. I found one post asking for the same thing, but over a year old and without constructive answers, so I thought I'd try to repeat it:

I use the pencil tool for my work. (I draw freehand, with a wacom tablet.) In Inkscape, this is awkward/annoying/challenging, because I can't find a way to disable the little square boxes (node handles?) which appear at the start/end of every line I draw. Please tell me it's possible to get rid of them permanently, and not just by workflow-disruptive methods like pressing esc between every move I make?

Crossing my fingers!

What you're actually asking for is to deselect the object after it was drawn so the next pencil move will be a new object and not a subpath of the existing one. The "squares" are there while the object is selected to show you that you can continue drawing the same line (extend it).

There is a "Select new path" option for Calligraphy tool, but there isn't for Pen and Pencil, I guess that would solve your problem. You can ask for it on the bug tracker https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/

prkos wrote:What you're actually asking for is to deselect the object after it was drawn so the next pencil move will be a new object and not a subpath of the existing one.

Actually, I don't want the selection to be active even when I make the object - so deselect afterwards is only halfway there, for me.

Yes, that's what I meant, try it with Calligraphy tool when Select new path option is off.

Please forgive me interrupting, but I'm curious. prkos, you said

What you're actually asking for is to deselect the object after it was drawn so the next pencil move will be a new object and not a subpath of the existing one.

I've never used a tablet, but I thought every time the pencil is picked up, it started a new object. Is each new line not a new object when using a tablet? (Because with a mouse, each new line starts a new object, which automatically deselects the last line drawn (which removes the nodes from view)).

Yes, you're right, I shouldn't have said "subpath", you only get subpaths if you hold Shift while drawing.

The purpose of having the object highlighted after drawing is so you can expand the one already drawn, not as a subpath but as drawing more of the existing one.

I still think it might help to get that functionality in Pen and Pencil, I think it's been requested before but I can't find the actual request. One of the benefits is that you can change the color of the object before you draw it (if you have Last used style on). Now it changes the last drawn object's color too, unless you deselect it first.