Settings & Preferences

Open Settings from the sidebar to adjust how Maktaba looks and behaves. Settings is organized into tabs:

• General — app language, appearance (theme and color scheme), Urdu font, the title bar's menu button, and whether periodical issues show up in the main book grid.
• Libraries — see every library you've ever opened, switch between them, rename, move, or remove one, re-scan a library's folder if you've added or moved files outside of Maktaba, and turn the Periodicals feature on or off per library.
• Reading — how the reader window opens, which reading engine is used for EPUB/PDF, and whether reading status updates automatically as you read.
• Dictionaries — set up an offline dictionary per language so you can look up word meanings while reading, without needing an internet connection.
• About — the version of Maktaba you're running, and whether an update is available.

This help documentation lives in its own window instead of a Settings tab — click the Help button (the "?" icon) in the title bar, or use the Maktaba Help item in the app menu, to open it. The Help window also has a Replay Getting Started Tour button.

Switching languages

Maktaba's own menus and this help documentation are both available in English and Urdu. Change the app's language any time from Settings → General; the whole app switches immediately, no restart needed.

Appearance

From Settings → General you can pick:

• Theme — Organic, Maktaba's default warm, rounded design, or White, a plain, unstyled look for anyone who prefers it.
• Color scheme — toggle between a light and dark version of whichever theme you've chosen, using the sun/moon button.
• Urdu font — which font is used to display Urdu text throughout the app and in the reader.

Menu bar and periodical display

Also under Settings → General:

• Menu bar — shows the File/Edit/View menu in reader windows and a menu button in the title bar, for anyone who prefers a traditional application menu.
• Show issues in the main grid — when off, periodical issues only appear under Periodicals in the sidebar, keeping your main book list to standalone books; when on, issues are mixed in with the rest of your books too.

Reading preferences

From Settings → Reading you can choose:

• Reader window — whether opening a book pops out its own window (the default) or opens inline within the library window.
• EPUB reader, PDF reader, DOCX reader, and TXT reader — each format can independently use Maktaba's built-in reader engine, or an external one if you've configured one; Maktaba warns you when an external engine is selected, since it's outside Maktaba's control. DOCX defaults to External (your computer's own word processor), since Maktaba's built-in reader can only show a DOCX file as reflowed plain text, not its real formatting — the other three formats default to Internal.
• Reading status — choose whether starting or finishing a book in the reader updates your reading status automatically, or shows a notification with the option to apply it (Ask me first) instead.

Setting up offline dictionaries

From Settings → Dictionaries, add an offline dictionary for any language so you can look up what a word means right inside the reader — no internet connection required.

Maktaba uses the StarDict dictionary format, the same format used by the free GoldenDict dictionary application. Many free StarDict dictionaries are available online, usually packaged as a single .zip file containing everything the dictionary needs.

To add one:

1. Download a StarDict dictionary for the language you want (searching for "StarDict dictionary download" or "GoldenDict dictionaries" turns up plenty of free ones).
2. In Maktaba, open Settings → Dictionaries, choose the language, and select the downloaded .zip file.
3. Click Save — the dictionary is unpacked and ready to use immediately.

Once a language has a dictionary configured, open any book in that language, select a word, and right-click it (or long-press on touch screens) to see its definition. See Reading Books for more.

Everything stays on your computer

Maktaba doesn't use accounts or the cloud. Every library, book, and setting lives in files on your own computer, in the folder you chose when you set up that library.