5 of my favourite Kobo hacks that modified how I exploit 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 lately, with the Kindle Colorsoft in 2024, the corporate’s long-awaited embrace of shade E Ink shows. Amazon’s method has led to sophisticated gadgets, however it’s exhausting 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 shade E Ink shows earlier too, with the Kobo Libra Colour and Clara Colour, in 2024. The corporate is really main by way of growing new kind components.

Generally, Kobo takes a extra lenient method than Amazon, too, letting its e-readers learn extra forms of recordsdata and providing direct entry to library books. Even with all of these positives, there are nonetheless some tweaks, adjustments and hacks you may make to Kobo’s e-readers that’ll make it work higher for you. With that in thoughts, listed below are 5 of my favourite hacks it’s best to strive in your Kobo e-reader.

1

Learn articles from Instapaper

Pocket has been changed

Kobo e-readers clearly assist ebooks and audiobooks, however they’ve additionally lengthy provided integration with the read-it-later service Pocket. For those who had been a Pocket consumer, you possibly can save an article to learn later in your cellphone or internet browser, and it might be accessible to learn, offline, in your Kobo machine. No less than till Mozilla determined to shut down Pocket, breaking the combination.

The lately introduced various 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 method to changing articles is decidedly totally different from Pocket, however should you’re searching for a easy solution 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 will have).

2

Rapidly swap between books and notes

The Kobo interface is not difficult, however it does drive you to navigate by means of 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 assist. As a Kobo proprietor, I’ve accepted this as only a reality of life, however there’s truly a built-in shortcut system for shortly switching that might dramatically enhance this entire course of.

Inside a guide or pocket book, should you swipe down from the highest of the display, you possibly can entry a menu of latest books and notes that you’ve got opened. Tapping on one in all them shortly switches you to it, and to return to no matter you had been studying earlier than, all you need to do is entry the menu once more and faucet on it. This works notably nicely should you’re utilizing a guide as a reference whereas taking notes or if it’s good to have a look at an annotation.

3

Modify brightness with a swipe

Having a backlit display is among the most vital methods trendy e-readers differentiate themselves from conventional books. You’ll be able to learn them at midnight. Usually, you’d have to hop by means of menus to regulate your e-reader’s display brightness, however with the precise setting toggled, you are able to do it simply by swiping on the left aspect of the display. To ensure it is enabled in your Kobo:

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

4

Change the font dimension with a pinch

Save your self some faucets to make the textual content greater

Customizable fonts are one other huge a part of what makes e-readers distinctive. Not solely are you able to select the font you learn in, however you may as well change its dimension on a whim. Like display brightness, the font dimension is normally one or two menus deep. That is positive, however there’s a solution to change it even quicker. With the precise setting enabled, you possibly can truly pinch in or out to regulate the font dimension of your present guide. The setting is likely to be enabled by default, however to examine:

1. Faucet on Extra.
2. Faucet on Settings.
3. Faucet on Studying settings.
4. Be sure that Pinch to regulate font dimension 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 needs to be accessible in OpenType (.otf) or TrueType (.ttf), however offered it’s, you possibly can fairly simply load it onto your e-reader. So as to add your individual font:

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

5

Learn in Darkish Mode

Invert colours to present your eyes a relaxation

On a smartphone and pill, you possibly can normally swap to dark mode to cut back eye pressure from a brilliant display at evening. An identical function exists on Kobo e-readers. Darkish Mode on Kobo gadgets will invert the colours on the display, placing white textual content on a black background, to present your eyes a relaxation when you’re studying at evening. To change to Darkish Mode when you’re studying:

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

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