Plugins and the store
PaperPaw is made of plugins, and you can add more from the store on the reader. Here is how to find, install, update and remove them.
What plugins are
Almost everything on your reader comes from a plugin: the reader, the library, the home screen, the settings, even the keyboard. You can add plugins, switch them off and remove the ones you added.
Some plugins have code: they are small programs, made for one reader and one PaperPaw version. Others are data: fonts, language packs, themes and pictures for the sleep screen. A data plugin works on every reader.
What comes with PaperPaw and what you can add
The X4 and X4 Pro come with the basics: Reader, Home screen, Settings, Dictionary, Wi-Fi, Transfer, Update, Plugin manager and More plugins. On Android most of the plugins below already come with the app: one that is off shows Off in More plugins, and Switch on turns it on.
| Plugin | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reading statistics | How long and how much you read, with a calendar. |
| Widget pack | More widgets for the home screen: clocks, a calendar, quotes and notes. |
| Wireless library | Receive books from your computer over Wi-Fi. |
| Progress sync | Keep your place in a book on your other devices. |
| Hyphenation (German) | Hyphenation for one more language, a plugin for each. The install page adds the one for your language. |
The setup guide offers some of these under Add more. The plugin catalogue lists all plugins, with the author and the source of each. More fonts and the letter packs are in Fonts.
Install a plugin
Join Wi-Fi: see Wi-Fi. Without it, More plugins says No connection.
Open More plugins in the tools. Pick a group such as Reading, Look or Tools, or use Search. New shows the newest plugins.
Open a plugin. Its page says what it does, who made it, its version, its size and whether it has code. Press Install.
A plugin with code asks first. It runs with full access to the reader, its books and its settings, so install only plugins you trust. Press I understand, install, or Not now.
The plugin downloads. You can leave the page. The store downloads one plugin at a time, and the others show Waiting. A plugin with code starts after a restart: press Restart now.
The mark on the right of a row tells you where a plugin stands: its size (not installed yet), Installed, Update (a newer version is there), Off (a plugin of PaperPaw that is switched off), Waiting or After restart.
Update plugins
A plugin with a newer version shows Update on its row. On the start of More plugins, the row Installed counts the updates that wait. Plugins do not update by themselves.
Open the plugin and press Update, or open Installed and press Update all. The new version of a plugin with code starts after a restart. Manage plugins says when a version waits to take over.
When you update PaperPaw (see Getting started), the reader first fetches new builds of your plugins with code. If some have none yet, the update page says that PaperPaw waits for plugins and names them. Choose Keep waiting, or Update anyway: then those plugins stop working until the store has a version for the new PaperPaw.
Remove or switch off a plugin
To remove a plugin you added, open it in More plugins and press Remove, then Remove again to answer the question. Keep cancels. Some of what it changed goes after a restart. Plugins that come with PaperPaw cannot be removed: switch them off instead.
Open Manage plugins in the settings.
Tap a plugin to switch it on or off. On a reader with buttons, select it. It shows On or Off.
Press Restart now at the bottom: the change applies after a restart. Hold a plugin (on a reader with buttons, hold Select) to read how it works.
A plugin marked Always on cannot be switched off. One marked Required can go off only once another plugin does its job. A plugin with code that is off takes no room after the next restart.
Safe mode
Safe mode starts PaperPaw without the plugins with code that you added. Use it when the reader does not start. Your books and settings stay as they are.
To start it, hold Back while you switch the reader on. On the X4 Pro hold Home. The next start without the key loads your plugins again.
PaperPaw also starts in safe mode by itself after two starts that failed.
A notice says why. In Manage plugins, the plugin that caused it is off and says Switched off by safe mode: PaperPaw did not start with it. Switch it on to try again. If PaperPaw cannot tell which one it was, all plugins with code are off. Switch them on one at a time and restart after each, to find the one that causes it. Then remove it.
Plugins from paperpaw.org and from the community
The plugins in the plugin catalogue are free. Moderators look at each plugin before it is published, and its author signs it. The reader checks the signature before it installs a plugin with code, and it refuses an update signed by another key than before.
A plugin's page shows more: Source code (scan the code with a phone to read it) and, for a plugin with code, either Verified: this build matches its source. or Not yet checked against its source.
Community plugins in the settings under System is off at first. Turn it on to see plugins that others publish on GitHub too. Nobody has reviewed them: the store marks them Unreviewed, and a plugin with code has full access to the reader. Install only what you trust. If the key of an author was withdrawn, the store says Stopped and asks you to remove the plugin.
Why a plugin with code fits one reader and one version
A plugin with code is built for one reader (X4 or X4 Pro) and one PaperPaw version. The store offers only builds for your reader. After an update of PaperPaw, a plugin built for the version before may have to wait for its author to build it again. PaperPaw's own plugins are built again with each release. A data plugin has no code and fits every reader. You may see these messages:
- Needs a newer PaperPaw: the plugin is made for a newer PaperPaw than yours. Update PaperPaw first. The version you have stays.
- Built for an older PaperPaw: update it in the store. Press Update on its page.
- Built for another plugin interface of PaperPaw: it waits for a build for this one. Wait for the author, or look for another plugin.
Room for plugins with code
On the X4, all plugins with code share a limited room. If PaperPaw came through the memory card's update menu, it is about 600 KB. After the install page it is about 2 MB. The X4 Pro has more room.
A plugin's page says what it needs and what is left. If it does not fit, it says Not enough room: remove or switch off a plugin with code to make room. More in Few plugins fit on my X4.
Plugins on the memory card
Plugins live on the card in the folder plugins, one folder for each plugin. What a plugin writes while it runs is in .paperpaw/plugins.
You can install a data plugin by copying its folder into plugins and restarting the reader. Manage plugins then lists it as Local: not from the store. If the store has the same plugin, Use the store version replaces it and lets the store update it.
A plugin with code runs only if the store, the install page or a computer installed it, over the USB cable or Wi-Fi transfer, where the reader asks first. A folder you copied by hand does not run: Not installed from the store or the web flasher: its code does not run. Install it from there.
Language packs
A language for menus and messages is a data plugin, for example Arabic (user interface) in the group Look. Install it together with Arabic letters, which it needs, then choose it as Language in the settings.
Hyphenation for a language is a plugin of its own (see above). Fonts and the letter packs for other scripts are in Fonts.
Not answered here? Ask us