5 of my favourite Kobo hacks that modified how I take advantage of my e-reader

Amazon’s made main enhancements to its Kindle lineup in the previous couple of years. First, with the addition of the Kindle Scribe and an entire new system for taking notes in 2022. And extra just lately, with the Kindle Colorsoft in 2024, the corporate’s long-awaited embrace of coloration E Ink shows. Amazon’s strategy has led to sophisticated gadgets, however it’s arduous to disclaim that it was Kobo that paved the way in which. The corporate beat Amazon to the punch with the Kobo Elipsa in 2021, its personal tackle a note-taking pill. And it began experimenting with coloration E Ink shows earlier too, with the Kobo Libra Colour and Clara Colour, in 2024. The corporate is actually main when it comes to growing new kind components.

On the whole, Kobo takes a extra lenient strategy than Amazon, too, letting its e-readers learn extra sorts of recordsdata and providing direct entry to library books. Even with all of these positives, there are nonetheless some tweaks, modifications and hacks you can also make to Kobo’s e-readers that’ll make it work higher for you. With that in thoughts, listed here are 5 of my favourite hacks you must attempt in your Kobo e-reader.

1

Learn articles from Instapaper

Pocket has been changed

Kobo e-readers clearly help ebooks and audiobooks, however they’ve additionally lengthy provided integration with the read-it-later service Pocket. When you had been a Pocket consumer, you may save an article to learn later in your cellphone or internet browser, and it will be out there to learn, offline, in your Kobo machine. No less than till Mozilla determined to shut down Pocket, breaking the mixing.

The just lately introduced different is Instapaper, an much more streamlined read-it-later service that is existed for simply as lengthy. Instapaper can equally sync your articles to your Kobo, and you may even delete, archive, or like articles immediately out of your e-reader, too. The service’s strategy to changing articles is decidedly completely different from Pocket, however should you’re on the lookout for a easy method to save issues to learn later, linking your account can drastically enhance the usefulness of your Kobo (and the quantity of free studying materials you might have).

2

Rapidly change between books and notes

The Kobo interface is not sophisticated, however it does power you to navigate via a number of layers of menus to modify between books, or between no matter you are studying and a pocket book, on e-readers with stylus help. As a Kobo proprietor, I’ve accepted this as only a reality of life, however there’s truly a built-in shortcut system for rapidly switching that would dramatically enhance this entire course of.

Inside a guide or pocket book, should you swipe down from the highest of the display screen, you’ll be able to entry a menu of current books and notes that you’ve got opened. Tapping on one in all them rapidly switches you to it, and to return to no matter you had been studying earlier than, all you must do is entry the menu once more and faucet on it. This works significantly nicely should you’re utilizing a guide as a reference whereas taking notes or if it is advisable to have a look at an annotation.

3

Modify brightness with a swipe

Having a backlit display screen is likely one of the most essential methods fashionable e-readers differentiate themselves from conventional books. You’ll be able to learn them in the dead of night. Usually, you’d must hop via menus to regulate your e-reader’s display screen brightness, however with the proper setting toggled, you are able to do it simply by swiping on the left aspect of the display screen. To verify it is enabled in your Kobo:

1. Faucet on Extra.
2. Faucet on Settings.
3. Faucet on Studying settings.
4. Make sure that Swipe left edge to regulate brightness is toggled to On.

4

Change the font measurement with a pinch

Save your self some faucets to make the textual content larger

Customizable fonts are one other large a part of what makes e-readers distinctive. Not solely are you able to select the font you learn in, however it’s also possible to change its measurement on a whim. Like display screen brightness, the font measurement is normally one or two menus deep. That is wonderful, however there’s a method to change it even sooner. With the proper setting enabled, you’ll be able to truly pinch in or out to regulate the font measurement of your present guide. The setting is perhaps enabled by default, however to verify:

1. Faucet on Extra.
2. Faucet on Settings.
3. Faucet on Studying settings.
4. Make sure that Pinch to regulate font measurement is toggled to On.

If you wish to use extra fonts than come pre-installed in your Kobo e-reader, you even have the power so as to add your individual. The font must be out there in OpenType (.otf) or TrueType (.ttf), however supplied it’s, you’ll be able to fairly simply load it onto your e-reader. So as to add your individual font:

1. Join your Kobo e-reader to your laptop over a USB-C cable.
2. Faucet Join in your Kobo.
3. In your laptop, click on on the folder referred to as KoboeReader.
4. Drag the font recordsdata into the fonts folder. When you do not see the folder, create one and add the font recordsdata to it.
5. Eject your Kobo out of your laptop.

5

Learn in Darkish Mode

Invert colours to provide your eyes a relaxation

On a smartphone and pill, you’ll be able to normally swap to dark mode to scale back eye pressure from taking a look at a brilliant display screen at night time. The same function exists on Kobo e-readers. Darkish Mode on Kobo gadgets will invert the colours on the display screen, placing white textual content on a black background, to provide your eyes a relaxation when you’re studying at night time. To change to Darkish Mode when you’re studying:

1. Faucet on the high half of the display screen.
2. Faucet on Studying settings (the gear icon).
3. Below Web page Look, toggle Darkish Mode to On.

Darkish Mode solely works within books, so this may not affect the house display screen of the Kobo. However should you’re on the lookout for a fast method to get reduction out of your display screen, it actually does the trick.