Help
How to find books and read them here, and how to keep what you save.
Finding books
- Type a title or an author in Telugu or in English letters: వేమన and vemana both work, and so do spellings that differ a little.
- Searching for a writer shows their own books first, then books about them.
- Choose a type (Books, Newspapers and magazines, Palm-leaf manuscripts…) or open Filters for the collection, the years and the order: best match, most read, newest or oldest first, or by title.
- In a book's details, tap the author's name to see only that author's books. Remove the “Author” chip to see everything again.
- Writers known by a pen name are found by either name: చలం or గుడిపాటి వెంకటచలం, శ్రీశ్రీ or శ్రీరంగం శ్రీనివాసరావు.
Reading
- Read here opens the book. It remembers your page, and “Continue at page …” takes you back.
- Scroll down to read, or choose Page by page in the ⋯ menu and swipe.
- Pinch to zoom, or use − and + in the ⋯ menu. Tap the page to hide or show the bar.
- The bookmark button marks the page; the magnifier searches inside the book; Text and read aloud shows the page as text and can read it out.
- On a computer: ← and → turn pages, + and − zoom, B bookmarks, / searches, T shows the text, P switches the view, N is night mode.
Highlights and notes
- Press and hold on a line for a moment, then drag over the lines you want: they turn yellow. With a mouse, in the scrolling view, just drag.
- To highlight several passages in a row, choose Highlight lines (the marker button, or the ⋯ menu on a phone): every drag then highlights, and a tap marks one line. Choose Done highlighting to read normally again.
- Tap a highlight to add a note, change it, or remove the highlight. Removed one by mistake? Choose Undo.
- Your highlights and notes are listed under Bookmarks in the side panel (Pages and bookmarks in the ⋯ menu).
Reading without a connection
- Choose Save for offline reading in a book's details, or in the ⋯ menu while reading. The pages are saved on this device, about a quarter of a megabyte each; you can stop and continue later.
- A saved book then opens with no connection. My library lists them under On this device, with the space each takes; remove one there, or from its details.
- Searching inside a book and its text need a connection.
- If the device runs short of space, the browser may remove saved books. The list shows what is still there.
Opening the PDF
- Open PDF shows the file's size. It opens in your browser's PDF viewer, which stays blank until the file has loaded; save it from there.
- To save PDFs straight away instead: in Chrome or Edge, Settings, then Privacy and security, Site settings, PDF documents, “Download PDFs”; in Firefox, Settings, then Applications, Portable Document Format, “Save File”.
- The PDF comes from the Internet Archive; some books have none. My library lists the PDFs you opened here.
Installing it as an app
- Installed, the site opens from your home screen like an app, and searching works without a connection.
- On Android, and in Chrome or Edge on a computer: choose Install in the bar at the bottom of the screen, or Install as an app at the foot of any page.
- On an iPhone or iPad, in Safari: tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
Keeping your library safe
- Your favourites, reading status, the page you reached, bookmarks, notes, highlights and history are kept only in this browser, on this device. Nobody else sees them, and there is no account.
- That also means they can be lost: clearing the browser's data removes them, and on an iPhone or iPad Safari may clear them after a week without a visit, unless the site is on your Home Screen (see above).
- So now and then, in My library, choose Export: it saves your library as a file. Import that file to restore it, or to move it to another phone, computer or browser; it is added to what is already there.
- Books saved for offline reading aren't in the file: save them again on the other device.
Reporting a mistake
Many titles were written in Telugu letters from English-letter titles, some by computer, and are still being checked. If a title, author or year is wrong, choose Report a mistake in the book's details. What has changed is on the Updates and corrections page.
