Welcome to Chaptera

⬆️ Uploading Books

📘 Uploading EPUB files

1. From My Books, click the Upload button (top-right, with a cloud icon).
2. Drag and drop your .epub files directly onto the upload zone, or click Browse files to pick them from your computer.
3. You can upload up to 10 files at once. Each file can be up to 100 MB.
4. Watch the progress bar for each file — uploads that finish successfully show a green checkmark.
5. Chaptera will start processing and indexing your book automatically (see below).

📄 Uploading PDF files

1. Click Upload, then select your .pdf file(s). The process is identical to EPUB uploads.
2. PDFs take slightly longer to index because Chaptera extracts text, detects columns, and extracts figures automatically.
3. You'll receive an in-app notification when processing completes.

⏳ What happens after upload

After you upload a file, Chaptera runs it through several automatic steps in the background:

• Text extraction — reads all the text from each page or chapter
• AI indexing — creates embeddings so the AI can answer questions about the book
• Figure extraction — identifies and saves images and diagrams (PDFs)
• Metadata detection — tries to auto-fill title, author, and cover image

This usually takes 1–2 minutes for EPUB and 2–5 minutes for large PDFs. The book card shows a spinning indicator while processing. You can start reading immediately, but AI features activate once indexing finishes.

🗂️ Organizing Your Library

Grid, List, and Table views

Use the view toggle (top-right of My Books) to switch how your books are displayed:

• Grid view — shows cover images in a visual gallery. Best for browsing.
• List view — shows books as rows with title, author, and progress. Best for large libraries.
• Table view — spreadsheet-style with sortable columns. Best for metadata review.

Sorting and filtering

• Click the Sort dropdown to sort by Recently Added, Title A–Z, Author, or Reading Progress.
• Use the Filter button to show only books by format (EPUB/PDF), processing status, or collection membership.

Editing book metadata

1. Hover over a book card and click the three-dot menu (⋯), then choose Edit Metadata.
2. Update the Title, Author, and Description fields as needed.
3. To change the cover image, click Change Cover and upload a JPEG or PNG (recommended 600×900 px).
4. Click Save — changes appear immediately in your library.

🗃️ Creating Collections

Collections work like folders — group books by subject, course, or reading project.

1. In My Books, click Collections in the left sidebar, then New Collection.
2. Type a name (e.g., "Machine Learning", "Book Club") and choose an optional emoji icon.
3. To add books, open the three-dot menu on any book card → Add to Collection → select one or more collections.
4. Click a collection name to filter your library view to just those books.

Deleting books

1. Open the three-dot menu on the book card → Delete.
2. Confirm the deletion in the popup. This cannot be undone — all annotations and AI-generated content for that book will also be removed.

🧭 Navigating Pages

Click a book in your library to open it in the EPUB reader. Use any of these methods to move through the book:

• Arrow buttons — the left (←) and right (→) arrows on screen flip pages.
• Progress bar — the slim bar at the bottom of the reader shows your position. Click anywhere on it to jump to that location.
• Table of Contents — click the TOC icon (≡) in the toolbar to open a chapter list. Click any chapter to jump there instantly.
• Page input — click the page number display in the toolbar and type a target location.

Keyboard shortcuts

🖥️ Display Settings

Font size

Use the A− and A+ buttons in the reader toolbar to decrease or increase font size. Your preference is saved per book.

Themes

Click the Theme icon (☀ / 🌙) in the toolbar to switch between:

• Light — white background, dark text (default)
• Dark — dark background, light text (great for night reading)
• Sepia — warm tan background, softer on the eyes for long sessions

Advanced Display Settings

Click the Display Settings panel (the sliders icon ⊟ in the toolbar) to access more options:

• Font family (Sans-Serif, Serif, Monospace, Dyslexia-Friendly)
• Font weight (Light → Bold)
• Letter spacing and line height
• Text column width (Narrow, Normal, Wide, Full)
• Paragraph spacing

🔍 Zoom Controls

PDF books display page by page. Use the zoom controls in the top toolbar:

• Fit to Page — shows the full page in the viewport (default).
• Fit to Width — stretches the page to fill the reader width.
• Custom % — type a percentage (e.g., 125%) in the zoom input box for precise control.
• + / − buttons — zoom in or out in 10% increments.

Navigating to a specific page

1. Click the page number display in the toolbar (e.g., "Page 12 of 347").
2. Type the target page number and press Enter.

⚖️ PDF vs EPUB — Key Differences

🎛️ Reading Modes

Normal Mode

The default reading experience. Standard text rendering with no modifications. Use this as your baseline.

Bionic Reading

Bionic Reading bolds the first few letters of each word, guiding your eyes to read faster by anchoring to key visual fixation points.

1. Open the Reading Modes panel from the toolbar (the eye icon 👁).
2. Click Bionic Reading to enable it.
3. Adjust the Intensity slider (1–5) — higher values bold more letters per word.

Dyslexia-Friendly Mode

Switches the font to OpenDyslexic — a typeface specially designed to improve readability for readers with dyslexia. Letter spacing and line height are also increased automatically.

Focus Mode

Dims the header, sidebar, and toolbar to give you a distraction-free reading surface. Press F to toggle Focus Mode on or off, or find it in the Reading Modes panel.

Speed Reading (RSVP)

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) flashes one word at a time in the center of the screen at a speed you control.

1. Open the Reading Modes panel and click Speed Reading.
2. Set your target Words Per Minute (WPM). Beginners start at 250 WPM; experienced readers often use 400–600 WPM.
3. Click the Play button to begin. Use Space to pause and resume.
4. The reader automatically pauses at punctuation and paragraph breaks.

🎨 Display Customization

Open the Display Settings panel (⊟ icon in the toolbar) to fine-tune your reading experience:

🖊️ Highlighting Text

1. Click and drag to select any text in the reader. A small toolbar appears above your selection.
2. Click a color dot to apply a highlight in that color.
3. The highlight is saved instantly and will appear every time you return to this page.

Available highlight colors

🔖 Notes, Bookmarks, and Annotations

Adding a note to a highlight

1. Select text and apply a highlight color as above.
2. Click the pencil icon ✏️ in the selection toolbar (or click the highlight itself).
3. Type your note in the text box that appears.
4. Click Save Note — a small note indicator (✏) appears on the highlight.

Creating bookmarks

1. Click the bookmark icon 🔖 in the reader toolbar to bookmark the current page.
2. Optionally, add a label (e.g., "Stopped here" or "Chapter 5 key scene").
3. Milestones are auto-created at 25%, 50%, and 75% of any book.

Viewing and managing annotations

1. Click the Annotations tab in the right sidebar (the speech bubble icon).
2. Use the filter buttons at the top to show only highlights, notes, or bookmarks.
3. Click any annotation to jump to its location in the book.
4. Hover an annotation and click Edit or Delete from the options that appear.

Exporting annotations

1. In the Annotations sidebar, click the Export button (download icon).
2. Choose format: Markdown, Plain Text, or CSV.
3. Your annotations download as a file you can import into Notion, Obsidian, or any note-taking app.

💬 AI Chat

The AI Chat panel lets you have a conversation with your book — or with your entire library.

1. In the reader, click the AI Chat tab in the right sidebar.
2. Type any question in the chat input. For example: "What are the main arguments in Chapter 3?" or "Explain the concept of cognitive load in simple terms."
3. The AI responds with an answer grounded in the book's text. Citations appear as highlighted passages you can click to jump to the source.
4. Use Library Chat (toggle at the top of the panel) to ask questions across all your uploaded books simultaneously.

📝 Generating Summaries

1. Open the AI Generation tab in the reader sidebar.
2. Click Summarize from the Quick Actions bar, or select text first for a passage summary.
3. Choose your scope: Selection, Current Chapter, or Full Book.
4. Choose a length: Short (1–2 paragraphs), Medium (3–5), or Long (detailed).
5. Choose a pedagogical approach: Key Concepts · Main Arguments · Real-World Application · Critical Analysis · Narrative Flow · Study Review.
6. Click Generate. The summary appears in the panel within 10–30 seconds.

🧠 Creating Quizzes

1. From the AI Generation tab, click Generate Quiz (or select a passage first for a targeted quiz).
2. Choose the scope — Selection, Chapter, or Full Book.
3. A quiz of multiple-choice and short-answer questions is generated based on the content.
4. Click Take Quiz to start. For each question, choose your answer and click Submit to see if you were right.
5. At the end, you see your score and explanations for any incorrect answers.
6. Access your quiz history from the AI Study Tools tab → Quiz History.

🃏 Creating Flashcards

1. Highlight a passage or open the AI Generation tab, then click Flashcards.
2. Chaptera generates a set of question–answer cards from the selected content.
3. Click Study Now to enter the flashcard study session.
4. For each card, read the question, think of your answer, then flip the card to see the answer.
5. Rate your recall: Hard, Good, or Easy. Chaptera uses the SM-2 spaced repetition algorithm to schedule the next review.
6. Cards rated "Hard" reappear sooner; "Easy" cards are reviewed less frequently.

📚 Study Guides

1. From the AI Generation tab, click Study Guide.
2. Choose scope: Current Chapter or Full Book.
3. Select sections to include: Overview, Key Concepts, Summary by Section, Vocabulary, Discussion Questions.
4. Click Generate Study Guide. The guide is created and saved under the AI Study Tools tab → Study Guide Viewer.
5. The guide has its own progress tracking — check off sections as you work through them.

🔬 AI Study Tools Pro

These advanced tools are available to Pro and Team subscribers in the AI Study Tools tab.

Character Tracker (Fiction)

Automatically extracts character profiles from fiction, including name, role, traits, key scenes, and relationships. Great for complex novels with large casts.

1. Open the AI Study Tools tab → Character Tracker.
2. Click Extract Characters. Processing takes 30–60 seconds.
3. Browse character cards; click any character to jump to their first appearance in the book.

Plot Timeline (Fiction)

Generates a chronological timeline of major events from the story. Click any event to jump to the relevant passage.

Concept Extraction (Non-Fiction)

Identifies and explains the key ideas, terms, and frameworks in a non-fiction book. Each concept includes a definition, context, and supporting passages.

🖼️ Using the Figure Gallery

The Figure Gallery is available for PDF books and provides a visual index of all images, diagrams, charts, and illustrations automatically extracted from the PDF.

1. Open any PDF book in the reader.
2. Click the Gallery icon 🖼️ in the reader toolbar (top row).
3. The Figure Gallery opens as a panel showing thumbnail previews of all extracted figures, with their page number below each one.
4. Click any thumbnail to jump directly to that page in the reader — the figure will be centered in view.
5. Use the search box at the top of the Gallery to filter figures by page range or caption text (if captions were detected).

🔊 Read Aloud

Read Aloud generates high-quality audio narration for your books. The text is highlighted word-by-word in sync with the audio.

1. In the reader toolbar, click the headphones icon 🎧 to open the Read Aloud player.
2. Click the Play ▶ button to start narration from the current position.
3. Use the speed control (0.5×, 0.75×, 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×) to adjust playback speed.
4. Click Pause at any time — the reader remembers your position.
5. Words are highlighted in real time as they are spoken, making it easy to follow along.

📈 Reading Progress

Chaptera tracks your progress automatically — just read, and it handles the rest.

• Automatic tracking — reading position is saved every few seconds. Close a book and reopen it to pick up exactly where you left off.
• Progress percentage — shown on each book card in your library and on the progress bar inside the reader.
• Continue Reading shelf — the top section of your My Books page shows your most recently read books, sorted by last-read time.

📊 Analytics Dashboard

Go to chaptera.io/analytics (or click Analytics in the main navigation) to see your full reading picture.

What's on the dashboard

• Reading Streak — consecutive days you've opened Chaptera and read for at least 1 minute. A flame 🔥 indicates your current streak.
• Reading Heatmap — a GitHub-style calendar showing reading activity intensity for every day of the past year.
• Books Completed — total count with a chart over time.
• Pages / Minutes Read — weekly and monthly totals.
• Goals — set a monthly target (books, pages, or minutes) and track progress with a circular progress indicator.
• Achievements & Badges — unlock milestones like "Read 10 books", "7-day streak", "Night Owl" (read after 10 PM), and more.

Setting a reading goal

1. In the Analytics dashboard, click Set Goal next to the Goals section.
2. Choose your goal type: Books this month, Pages per day, or Minutes per day.
3. Enter your target number and click Save Goal.
4. Your progress toward the goal is updated in real time as you read.

Exporting your analytics

1. Scroll to the bottom of the Analytics page and click Export Data.
2. Choose format: CSV (for spreadsheet analysis) or JSON (for developers).
3. The file downloads with daily reading sessions, book progress, and achievement timestamps.

🔤 Looking Up Words

1. Double-click any word in the reader. A definition popup appears instantly with the word's meaning, pronunciation, and example sentence.
2. Click Save to Vocabulary to add the word to your personal vocabulary list.
3. Saved words are tagged with the book they came from for context.

📖 Studying Vocabulary

1. Go to chaptera.io/vocabulary or click Vocabulary in the main navigation.
2. Your words are organized by mastery level: New → Learning → Familiar → Mastered.
3. Click Study Now to begin a flashcard-style vocabulary review session. Rate each word as Hard/Good/Easy — the SM-2 algorithm schedules your next review.

Exporting vocabulary

1. In the Vocabulary page, click Export.
2. Choose CSV (word, definition, mastery level, source book) or JSON (full data including review history).
3. Import the CSV into Anki, Quizlet, or any other flashcard app.

🔄 Why Convert?

PDFs have a fixed layout — text doesn't reflow when you change font size or switch devices. Converting to EPUB gives you:

• Full font and display customization
• All reading modes (Focus Mode, Bionic Reading, Speed Reading, Dyslexia-Friendly)
• Better AI Chat accuracy (chapter-aware context)
• Smoother reading on mobile screens

⚙️ Starting a Conversion

1. From your library, hover over a PDF book card and open the three-dot menu → Convert to EPUB.
2. Chaptera shows a PDF quality analysis: whether the PDF has extractable text or requires OCR (scanned images).
3. Review any conversion warnings (e.g., complex table layouts, mathematical formulas, or scanned pages that may reduce quality).
4. Click Start Conversion to queue the job. Conversion time: 2–10 minutes depending on PDF size and complexity.
5. You'll receive an in-app notification when the EPUB is ready. It appears in your library as a linked version of the original PDF.

Cross-format sync

When a PDF and its converted EPUB are linked, Chaptera keeps your reading position synchronized between both versions. If you read to page 85 of the PDF, opening the EPUB will jump to the equivalent location automatically.

👤 Setting Up Your Public Profile

Your public profile at chaptera.io/u/username is optional and entirely controlled by you.

1. Go to Settings → Profile.
2. Set a username (3–30 characters, letters and numbers only). This becomes your public URL.
3. Add an optional bio and profile photo.
4. Use the Privacy toggles to choose what is publicly visible.

Privacy controls

💳 Managing Your Subscription

1. Go to Settings → Subscription.
2. See your current plan, renewal date, and payment method.
3. Click Upgrade Plan to switch tiers. The change is immediate and prorated.
4. To cancel, click Cancel Subscription. You keep access until the end of your billing period.

📥 Downloading Your Data

1. Go to Settings → Privacy → Download Your Data.
2. Click Request Data Export. Chaptera prepares a ZIP archive.
3. You'll receive an email with a download link within 24 hours. The link expires in 7 days.
4. The archive includes: your uploaded books (original files), annotations, AI-generated content, vocabulary lists, and analytics data.

👤 Your Public Profile

Your profile is private by default. Go to Settings → Public Profile to make yourself discoverable.

1. Set a username — availability is checked live as you type. This becomes your permanent URL at chaptera.io/u/username.
2. Add a display name and an optional bio.
3. Toggle Make profile public ON and save.

Privacy controls

Once your profile is public, five independent toggles let you decide exactly what visitors see:

🤝 Friends

Find readers with shared interests and connect — friends see each other's activity feed and can collaborate on shared reading lists.

Adding a friend

1. Open Social Hub → Friends → Find People.
2. Search by username or display name.
3. Click Add Friend — they receive a friend request notification.

Managing requests

1. Open Social Hub → Friends → Pending to see incoming requests.
2. Accept to connect or Decline to dismiss.
3. To remove a friend, use the overflow menu on their card in your friends list.
4. To block someone, open their profile and use the block option. Blocked users cannot see your profile or send you requests.

📰 Friend Activity Feed

The Feed tab in Social Hub (the default view) shows a live stream of what your friends are reading and doing — no manual posts required.

What appears in the feed

📚 Reading Status

Track where each book stands in your reading journey. Status updates happen on the book card in My Books.

1. On any book card, open the ⋮ menu → Reading Status.
2. Pick a status from the list:

The update is reflected immediately on the card and emits an event to your friend feed when you start or finish a book.

🎯 Annual Reading Goal

Set a target number of books to finish this year and track your progress.

1. Open Social Hub → Stats card and set your target for the year.
2. Every book you mark as Finished increments your progress automatically — no manual logging needed.
3. To show your goal on your public profile, go to Settings → Public Profile → Show reading goals → ON.

Visitors to your public profile see a Goals tab with a progress bar, books-remaining count, and a "Goal reached! 🎉" celebration when you hit your target.

🗂️ Public Book Shelves

Share curated collections on your public profile. Shelves are private by default — you opt each one in individually.

1. In My Books → Collections, create or edit a collection.
2. Toggle Public shelf — visible on your profile ON.
3. Save. The shelf now appears under the Shelves tab on your public profile.

📋 Shared Reading Lists

Turn any of your collections into a shareable reading list that others can discover, follow, and discuss.

Creating a list

1. Open Social Hub → Lists tab.
2. Click Create list in the header.
3. Pick one of your existing collections to share.
4. Configure three options and click Create:

Discovering lists

The Lists tab shows discoverable lists from all users. Click View on any card to open the detail page — you'll see the owner, member chips, book and member counts, and a threaded comments section.

🏛️ Book Clubs

Read and discuss books together in a dedicated space. Clubs have their own activity feed and a live presence indicator.

Creating a club

1. Open Social Hub → Clubs tab → Create Club.
2. Set a name, description, and choose Public (anyone can join) or Private (invite only).
3. Share the invite link from the club card to bring in members.

Club activity feed

Inside a club, an activity feed shows highlights, reading progress milestones, and finished-book events from all members in real time.

🏆 Reading Challenges

Set personal reading challenges for specific books to keep your pace on track.

1. Open Social Hub → Challenges tab → Create Challenge.
2. Enter the Book ID and choose a challenge type:

Auto-completion: when your reading progress reaches 100%, the challenge is automatically marked Completed — no action needed on your part.

To abandon a challenge, use the overflow menu on the challenge card. Abandoned challenges are hidden from the default view but accessible via the status filter dropdown.

✨ Annotation Visibility

Control who can see each annotation the moment you create or edit it.

1. Inside the reader, highlight text or open any annotation to bring up the Annotation Editor.
2. Find the visibility pill in the bottom-left corner of the dialog:

The visibility setting is stored with the annotation and can be changed at any time by editing the annotation.

⚡ 10 Power-User Tips