Reading comics

Comics (CBZ, CBR, CB7, CBT and comics in PDF) open in a reader made for them.

Getting around

• Tap the sides to turn the page (reversed for manga).
• Pinch or double tap to zoom in.
• Tap the center to show the controls: page thumbnails and a bar to jump to any page.

Comic settings

With the controls showing, tap the settings icon to open Comic reading:

• Direction: Left to right, Right to left (manga) or Vertical (webtoon).
• Fit: to Screen, Width or Height.
• Pages: Automatic, One or Two (spread). On automatic, a tablet in landscape shows two pages, with the cover on its own.
• Split double pages: in portrait, a double page is shown in two halves.
• Guided view: tap the sides to go panel by panel, with zoom. Pages without clear gutters between panels are shown whole.
• Crop margins: removes the white or black borders of scans.
• Grayscale and More contrast: for e-ink or washed-out scans.

All of this is remembered for the whole series: if you set a manga to right to left, the next issues open that way. Kevra guesses it to begin with if the comic says it's manga or if its pages are very long strips. For comics in your clouds that you read without downloading, Kevra also recognizes manga from its details (publisher, genre or its title on AniList); if you switch the direction to left to right or right to left, it's saved for that comic and the text of its panels is read again in that order.

Series and issues

In the Library, the Comics tab groups issues into one card per series, showing how many you've read. Inside a series you see the issues you have, the ones you're missing, and Continue with the next one.

• When you finish an issue, the reader offers Read the next one if you have it.
• Home shows the Next issue of each series you've started.
• You can Rate the series as a whole. Reviews of issues you haven't read yet are hidden so nothing gets spoiled.

Comics in the wrong series

In a cloud library, Kevra puts together the issues of a series even when the name is written differently («Spirou 1», «spirou 2», «Spirou España 3»). The same series in two languages shows up as two cards. If one still lands in the wrong place:

• Move to another series: press and hold a comic to select it (tap others to select several), then tap the move icon. Pick the series, search for it or create one with New series….
• Merge with…: if a series came out split in two, open one and tap the merge icon. All comics of the other one move to this one.

What you place by hand stays there even when you sync again or Kevra identifies the comic again. And Kevra learns it: the next ones with that name go straight to the right series, for other readers too. Whoever manages the library can do this.

Reading orders

For events that cross several series, the Comics tab has Reading orders: the story arcs Kevra detects in your comics and the lists you bring in with Import .cbl (the ComicRack format). Each order shows what you have, what you don't, and where to continue.

Comics without downloading

• From your clouds and Telegram: on the comic's page, Read without downloading. The first time it takes a moment to prepare; after that it opens instantly. If the file is fully compressed or password-protected, you'll need to download it (Download it all).
• Where you are: in your cloud catalog, every comic you've started has a thin bar along the bottom of its cover, and the ones you've finished have a check. Series show how many issues you've read. On the comic's page, before opening it, you see Page 17 of 24 (or Read) and can tap Mark as read or Mark as unread. It's saved to your account, so you see the same on all your devices.
• From Komga or Kavita: in your server's catalog, Read without downloading. Your progress is also recorded on the server.

New issues of the series you follow on Komga or Kavita show up under New on your servers.

To have a cloud folder treated as comics, choose Comics when picking folders. See Cloud libraries and Your home servers.

Reading the panel text

If the speech balloons are hard to read on your phone's screen, in a comic from your cloud (CBZ, CBR or PDF) tap the center to show the controls, then the settings icon (top right), and under Panel text choose how to see it:

• Off: the usual guided view, without text.
• Normal: in lowercase with proper accents, for comfortable reading.
• Original: just as it is in the comic, usually in capitals.
• Translated: only if you've already translated it. If not, the Translate into English button is right there.

The text shows in guided view, so choosing a mode turns it on. Tap the sides to go panel by panel: each one appears enlarged at the top with what it says below, in large type, one paragraph per balloon. Narrator boxes are in italics; sound effects and background signs are left out. If the text is long, swipe it up. The panels are the ones Kevra cuts on the server, in reading order (manga too, right to left).

Your choice applies to every comic in your cloud, not just that series. If you turn guided view off, the text goes off too.

If it says We haven't read this comic's text yet, Kevra is reading it: meanwhile guided view works as usual, and the text shows up as soon as it's ready.

Translating a comic

If a comic is in another language (Spanish, French, Italian…), tap Translate into English on its page. Kevra first reads the text in the panels and then translates it; it takes a while, so you don't need to wait: the button changes to We'll let you know when it's ready, and when it's done we let you know in the notifications bell and by email. Tapping the notice opens the comic. Its page will then say Translation ready.

To read it translated, in the reader settings choose Panel text → Translated. On a Kobo, in the reader settings: Panel text → Translated.

• The translation is automatic and only for you: it isn't shared with anyone, not even people who have the same comic.
• If the comic is already in your language, its page says It's already in your language and there's nothing to translate.
• If something goes wrong, the button says Couldn't translate it. Try again: tap it to ask again.
• Sound effects and signs in the background aren't translated.
• It works for CBZ, CBR and PDF comics from your clouds that you read without downloading (PDF magazines aren't included for now).

Note: comics don't have read-aloud, highlights or the reading companion.

Note: some CBR files are compressed as a whole (a "solid" RAR) or have a password, so their pages can't be opened one by one from the cloud. Their page says Can only be read once downloaded: tap Download and read it on your phone as usual.