Fonts and languages
Which font a book is set in, where more fonts come from, and what to do when a book needs letters PaperPaw does not carry.
Choose a font
| What | Where | Starts as |
|---|---|---|
| Book text | Settings, Books, Reading, Text, Font | Book's font, which is Literata |
| Status lines | Settings, Books, Reading, Status lines, Font | As the menus (or As the book, or a font you added) |
You can also open Font and layout in the reading menu. Choose Only this book there to keep a font for one book.
Text size and line spacing sit in the same place, as Font size and Line spacing. See Reading and Settings.
The fonts that come with PaperPaw
- Literata sets the books: regular, bold, italic and bold italic.
- Source Sans 3 sets menus and lists. On the X4 and X4 Pro it is called PaperPaw Sans.
Literata bold and italic
On the X4 and X4 Pro, the bold and italic faces of Literata are a small add-on on the card, Literata bold and italic. It takes about 0.5 MB and no room in the firmware. Without it, bold and italic words look regular.
The install page puts it on the card. If it is missing, PaperPaw fetches it once by itself when it finds Wi-Fi and says Added. You can also add it in More plugins. It starts at the next start.
Two more small add-ons are in More plugins, not chosen at first: Literata, larger sizes for the largest text sizes, and Literata Bold Italic for text that is both bold and italic. Without the second, bold stands in.
More fonts
More fonts lists fonts from a free font library on the internet, each name set in its own font. It needs Wi-Fi: see Wi-Fi. A font arrives as a small plugin without code; on the X4 and X4 Pro it is a font pack made for the screen, so you need no computer.
You find it at the end of the list of fonts, in both places where you choose a font. Discover fonts, under Font size in the settings, opens it too. If the plugin is not on your reader, Discover fonts takes you to its page in More plugins. See Plugins.
Tap a font to see it larger with a sample sentence. With buttons, press Select.
Choose Download. You can leave the page while it downloads.
When it says the font is ready, choose Read with (the font's name), or Use for the status lines.
Update fetches a newer version. Remove deletes the font from the reader.
| The reader says | What to do |
|---|---|
| No connection | Connect to Wi-Fi, then tap the message (or press Select) to try again. |
| Fonts could not be loaded | The font library did not answer. Tap the message to try again. |
| The font could not be downloaded | Try again later. |
Your own fonts
A font of your own is a .ttf or .otf file. It needs the letters of your book: a font without them cannot show them. Arabic and Hebrew need a font made for the script. Your own fonts, next to More fonts, shows a short help on the reader.
On the X4 and X4 Pro
These readers read font packs, not font files. You make a pack in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.
On your computer, open the font page and add your font files. Regular is needed.
Make the pack, unzip the download and copy the folder
font-<name>into the folderpluginson the memory card.Put the card back and restart the reader. If the font is missing, check that the folder lies directly in
plugins.In the settings, under Reading, choose your font as Font.
A pack with regular, bold and italic in Latin letters takes about 1.5 MB on the card. A style you leave out is drawn in regular.
On Android and in the emulator
You need no pack. Copy the .ttf or .otf file into the folder fonts. On Android that is PaperPaw/fonts in the shared storage. Restart PaperPaw, then choose the font as Font.
Other scripts
The X4 and X4 Pro carry Latin letters. Books in Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew or Korean need a pack of letters, which is a small plugin.
When you open such a book, the reader asks This book needs more letters to show its text. Download them? It lists the packs with their sizes. Choose Download, or Not now. Without a pack the text shows question marks. See also Troubleshooting.
The download needs Wi-Fi. Without it the reader says No connection and names the packs, and it asks again the next time you open the book. If you choose Not now, it does not ask again for that book.
| Pack | For |
|---|---|
| Greek letters | Greek books, modern and with the older accents. |
| Cyrillic letters | Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and other Cyrillic books. |
| Arabic letters | Arabic, Persian and Urdu books, with their vowel marks, and keyboards for them. |
| Hebrew letters | Hebrew books, with their points, and a keyboard. |
| Korean letters | Korean books: the 2,350 Hangul syllables of everyday text, and a keyboard. |
| Korean letters, rare syllables | The other Hangul syllables, for books that use them. It needs Korean letters and takes about 30 MiB on the card. |
Arabic and Hebrew books are set from right to left. Their packs bring a font made for the script. A font you add yourself must be made for it too.
Languages of the menus
PaperPaw comes in English and German. Choose the language in the settings, under System, as Language. On Android it follows the system language unless you choose one.
More languages come as plugins in More plugins. The store has Arabic (user interface): menus and settings in Arabic, running from right to left.
It needs Arabic letters, and PaperPaw does not fetch them yet. Add both, restart, then choose Arabic as Language. Without the letters the menus show boxes.
A language is a plugin without code. If you want to add yours, see the guide for authors.
Not answered here? Ask us