Reading Books

Click any book's cover, then click Read to open it. By default Maktaba opens the book in its own reading window, separate from your library window, so you can keep browsing your library while a book stays open — you can even have several books open for reading at the same time. If you'd rather the book open inside the library window instead, switch to Inline under Settings → Reading → Reader window.

Reader controls

Inside the reader you can:

• Turn pages, jump to a chapter, and search inside the book.
• Adjust text size, font, and the reading theme (light, dark, sepia, and more) to whatever is most comfortable for you.
• Close the reader window at any time — your place is remembered, so the book opens back to the same page next time.

Marking your reading status

From a book's details, you can mark it as Unread, Reading, or Finished. This helps you keep track of what you're partway through and filter your library to just what you're currently reading.

Maktaba can also update this for you automatically as you read — opening a book marks it Reading, and reaching the end marks it Finished. Choose whether this happens automatically or asks you first from Settings → Reading.

Looking up word meanings

If you've set up an offline dictionary for a book's language (see Settings & Preferences), select any word in the reader and right-click it (or long-press on touch screens) to see its definition.

Supported formats

Maktaba can open EPUB, PDF, and TXT (plain text) books directly in its built-in reader — no extra software needed. TXT files have no chapters or formatting of their own, so Maktaba reflows the text into readable paragraphs automatically.

DOCX (Word document) files are also supported, but open in your computer's own word processor by default instead of Maktaba's built-in reader — a Word document's formatting, images, and tables are best viewed in the application built for them, rather than a plain-text approximation. If you'd still like to try reading a DOCX file inside Maktaba (as reflowed plain text, the same as TXT), switch its reader to Internal under Settings → Reading → DOCX reader.

Choosing internal vs. external readers

For any format, you can choose whether Maktaba opens it with its own built-in reader or hands it off to an external application instead — see Settings → Reading for the per-format switch (EPUB, PDF, DOCX, and TXT are each independent). Maktaba warns you when an external reader is selected, since what happens next is outside Maktaba's control.