Advanced
Power-user features and reference material.
Gestures
Quick reference for touch and mouse interactions in the reader. For keyboard users, see Keyboard shortcuts below.
| Gesture | Action |
|---|---|
| Tap / click center of page | Toggle the top and bottom toolbars |
| Tap / click left edge | Previous page |
| Tap / click right edge | Next page |
| Swipe left / right | Turn page (mobile) |
| Long-press / double-click | Start text selection and open the popup toolbar |
| Pinch | Zoom in / out (PDF and image-based books) |
Selection-popup actions (Copy, Highlight, Translate, etc.) are listed under Reading → Gestures & shortcuts.
Keyboard shortcuts
Complete reference. On macOS, Cmd replaces Ctrl.
General
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
S | Toggle sidebar |
N | Toggle notebook |
Ctrl+F | Search in book |
Ctrl+B | Toggle bookmark |
Shift+J | Toggle scroll mode |
Shift+S | Toggle select mode |
Shift+P | Toggle paragraph mode |
Ctrl+, / Shift+F | Open settings |
Ctrl+Shift+P | Command palette |
? | Show keyboard shortcuts |
Ctrl+O | Open books |
Shift+R | Reload page |
Navigation
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
← / H | Previous page |
→ / L / Space | Next page |
↑ / K | Scroll up |
↓ / J | Scroll down |
PgUp / PgDn | Previous / next page |
D | Scroll half page down |
U | Scroll half page up |
Alt+← | Previous chapter |
Alt+→ | Next chapter |
Shift+← | Go back (history) |
Shift+→ | Go forward (history) |
Text-to-speech
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
T | Toggle TTS |
Space (while playing) | Play / Pause |
Ctrl+] | Next sentence |
Ctrl+[ | Previous sentence |
Ctrl+Shift+} | Next paragraph |
Ctrl+Shift+{ | Previous paragraph |
Shift+M | Highlight the sentence being read |
Selection actions
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+C | Copy |
Ctrl+H | Highlight |
Ctrl+U | Underline |
Ctrl+N | Annotate |
Ctrl+T | Translate |
Ctrl+D | Dictionary |
Ctrl+W | Wikipedia |
Ctrl+R | Read aloud |
Ctrl+P | Proofread |
Adjust a selection. With text selected, Shift+← / Shift+→ grows or shrinks it by a character; add Ctrl (or Opt on macOS) to move by whole words. In paginated mode the page turns automatically when a selection runs past the edge.
Zoom
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+= | Zoom in |
Ctrl+- | Zoom out |
Ctrl+0 | Reset zoom |
Window
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
F11 | Toggle fullscreen |
Ctrl+Q | Quit app |
Also see the Keyboard Shortcuts wiki page.
Hardware page-turn buttons
Page-turner remotes, e-ink hardware buttons, and stray keyboard keys can all drive page turns. Open Settings → Behavior → Page Turner:
- Use Volume Keys (mobile) — map the volume up / down buttons to page turns.
- Custom Page Turner — bind your own keys. Switch it on, then for each action — Previous Page, Next Page, Previous Section, Next Section — tap Set key and press the button you want. A key can drive only one action.
On Android e-ink devices, a fifth bindable action — Refresh Page — forces a full-screen e-ink refresh to clear ghosting.
Pairs well with turning off Swipe to Paginate (same Behavior tab) so you navigate purely by button.
Proofread rules
Proofread rules are user-defined find-and-replace patterns. They're useful for:
- Fixing OCR artifacts in older scanned EPUBs
- Expanding abbreviations so TTS reads them correctly (e.g., "LLM" → "large language model" for audio only)
- Applying a consistent typographic pass (dumb quotes → smart quotes)
Open Book Menu → Proofread. Each rule has:
- Pattern — plain text or a regular expression
- Replacement — what to substitute
- Match options — case-sensitive, whole word only
- Scope — Selection, Book, or Library
- Apply to — Display, TTS-only, or both
Rules run in priority order (lower number first). TTS-only rules are the right choice when you want the audio to read "LLM" as "large language model" while keeping "LLM" in the visible text.
Test a rule on a selection first (scope = Selection) before promoting it to the whole library.
File associations
Setting Readest as the default app for EPUB/PDF/etc. lets you double-click a book from your file manager to open it in Readest.
- macOS — right-click a book → Get Info → Open with → pick Readest → Change All.
- Windows — right-click a book → Open with → Choose another app → pick Readest → check Always use this app.
- Linux — depends on desktop environment. GNOME: right-click → Properties → Open With → set Readest as default. KDE: similar.
On mobile, the OS handles file associations through the share sheet — "Open in Readest" appears wherever a book file can be shared.
App lock (PIN)
Readest can require a 4-digit PIN every time the app launches — useful on a shared device, or when your library contains anything you don't want a casual passerby to see.
Open Main Menu → Advanced Settings:
- Set PIN… — pick a new 4-digit PIN. Readest asks you to enter it again on every launch.
- Change PIN… — replace the current PIN.
- Disable PIN… — turn the lock off (current PIN required).
Unlock with biometrics. On phones and tablets, once a PIN is set you can unlock with Face ID, Touch ID, or a fingerprint instead of typing it — turn on Unlock with Face ID / Touch ID / biometrics in the same Advanced Settings menu (it's on by default when you set a PIN on a device that supports it). The PIN stays as the fallback if biometrics fail or you cancel. Biometric unlock is mobile-only; desktop and web always use the PIN.
The lock screen gates the app shell only; it doesn't encrypt anything on disk. For at-rest protection of book files, rely on your OS's full-disk encryption.
Manage cache
On mobile, Readest builds up temporary files over time — streamed pages, copies left behind by "Open in Readest," and the like. Open Main Menu → Advanced Settings → Manage Cache to see how much space they take, then tap Clear Cache to remove them. It never touches your books, reading progress, or annotations.
Privacy & telemetry
Readest can share anonymous, aggregated usage statistics to guide development — never personal information, book content, or reading data. New installs start with this off (a small share of new users see a one-time prompt to opt in). Change it any time with the Help improve Readest toggle in the Main Menu.
Nightly builds
Want new features before they're finished? Turn on Nightly Builds under Settings → Behavior → Update to point the in-app updater at the early-access channel — daily builds cut straight from the latest code. The next update check then offers the newest nightly for your platform; leave it off to stay on stable releases.
Nightly updates are available on the desktop apps (macOS, Windows, Linux) and Android. iOS updates come through the App Store and the web app always runs the latest, so neither has a nightly toggle. On Linux, self-updating builds are the AppImage — .deb, .rpm, and Flatpak installs update through their package manager instead.
Verify release files
Desktop releases are signed with minisign. Verifying confirms the installer came from the Readest maintainers and wasn't tampered with in transit. Each download on the Releases page has a matching .sig file.
Full platform-specific examples and key-extraction steps are on the Verifying Readest Release Files wiki page.