Once you open a book, you will see tools at the bottom and on the right side of the page. Note: This help page describes tools you see when you read a book; the tools that are available when you record a book are slightly different.
Bottom Toolbar
- Play - Plays the audio for the book (unless teachers have turned off the audio option). If audio is playing, this button turns into a Pause button (
) instead.
- Volume - Opens the volume control so that you can make the audio louder or softer. Move the circle up to make the audio louder or down to make it softer.
- Back 10 Seconds - Goes back 10 seconds in the audio (when audio is playing).
- Start Audio Here - Move the circle in the slider to choose where you want audio to begin again. (Notice that the highlighted word changes as you move the circle.)
- Page Selector - Shows you the pages in the book; click a page that you want to go to.
- Zoom In or Out - Opens a zoom control. Move the circle up to make the page bigger. When the page is zoomed in, you will only see a part of the page; click and drag to move the page to see other sections. Move the circle down in the zoom control to make the page smaller.
- View Full Screen/View Windowed – Changes between full-screen and windowed mode.
- Add to Favourites - Adds the book to your favourites. After you select this button, it changes to
to show you the book has been added. To remove the book from your favourites, select the button again.
Teachers and Administrators also have a link button so that they can share a link to the book.
As you read books, you can press K to open the keyboard shortcuts menu if the keyboard shortcuts have not been disabled in the settings described below. If keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you can use these keys while reading:
- K to show or hide the keyboard shortcut menu.
- F to enter or close full screen mode.
- S to show or hide the settings.
- D to show or hide the dictionary.
- J to show or hide the journal.
- C to focus on the current page (when focused, zoom and pan shortcuts will be available).
- P to play or pause audio.
- the left arrow to go to the previous page if you have not zoomed in or to move left if you are zoomed in.
- the right arrow to go to the next page if you have not zoomed in or to move right if you are zoomed out.
- Shift + up arrow to zoom in. (When you do so, the zoom out and pan shortcuts will be available.)
- Shift + down arrow to zoom out if you have zoomed in.
- the up arrow when zoomed in to move up.
- the down arrow when zoomed in to move down.
Side Toolbar
- Exit – Exits the book and returns you to the dashboard (main page).
- Other Pages - Opens other resources for the book, such as the copyright or the table of contents. The available resources depend on the book. Some books include pages with more information about the book's topic.
- Dictionary - Enables you to look up a word or shows the meaning of a word that you selected in the book.
- Tools – Opens the toolbar with the Brush, Highlighter, Sticky Notes, Shapes (square or circle), Lines, Arrows, Eraser, Delete and Colour icons.
Brush – For drawing in the book using a paintbrush.
Highlighter – For highlighting text on the page being read.
Sticky Notes – For creating and editing sticky notes on the page being read. Students move the pin to where they want the note and then click to create one. Then they can enter text. In the note, students can click the button to choose a different icon for the top of the note to show what kind of comment the student is making, such as a question or something the student wants the teacher to look at. Students can also change a note color when they select
.
Shapes – Used to mark areas of the page.
Arrow - Used to point out areas of the page.
Eraser - Used to erase other items the student has added to the page, such as brush marks, highlighting, shapes, lines and arrows. (Sticky notes are deleted using the delete icon in the note.)
Delete – Opens a menu to choose the item(s) you want removed from the page or the entire book.
Colour - Sets the colour for items you add to the page, including the brush, highlighter, shapes, lines, arrows and sticky notes.
- Journal – Opens the Journal for making entries about the current book.
Copy Text enables you to copy text from the book. This is not available for books that do not include audio.
Add Citation enables you to add a citation. It automatically adds the information from the book along with a date.
New Entry starts a new journal entry. Previous entries are listed on the left, where you can select them to open them.
Delete Entry deletes the open journal entry.
X closes the journal.
- Settings - Allows you to set audio speed and whether to show annotations you have added, whether to highlight sentences as they are read aloud in the audio, whether to highlight words as they are read aloud, whether to enable or disable keyboard shortcuts and whether to put the side toolbar on the left instead of the right.
Audio Speed: Move the circle to the right to speed up the audio, or move it to the left to slow down the audio. The arrow above the slider will show you if you are playing audio at normal speed (), at a faster speed (
), at the fastest speed (
) or at a slower speed (
).
Show Annotations: If this is ticked, you will see any brush marks, highlights, shapes, lines, arrows or sticky notes you added. If it is not ticked, they will be hidden.
Highlight Sentences: If this is ticked, sentences are highlighted as each sentence is read on a page (if audio is being played). If it is not ticked, sentences are not highlighted.
Highlight Words: If this is ticked, words are highlighted as each word is read on a page (if audio is being played). If it is not ticked, words are not highlighted.
Keyboard Shortcuts: If this is ticked, the keyboard shortcuts described in the tip box above are available while reading books. If it is not, the keyboard shortcuts are not available. It may be helpful to turn keyboard shortcuts off while using some screen readers.
Buttons on Left: Moves the side toolbar to the left instead of the right.