Interface & reading

This chapter shows how the Pagelier window is laid out, how to read a document comfortably, move around in it, search for words and have it read aloud. At the end you will find every keyboard shortcut at a glance.

Window layout

The window has four areas:

• Toolbar (top): open, navigation, zoom, tools for marking up and editing, search, print, the … menu and the AI assistant.
• Sidebar (left): thumbnails, table of contents, comments, search results and comparison results. ☰ shows and hides it; drag its right edge to change its width.
• Document (middle): the pages, one below the other in a continuous scroll.
• AI assistant (right): show or hide it with ✨ KI (AI) or ⌘ J. It has its own chapter, AI assistant.

When several documents are open, the tab bar sits between the toolbar and the document (see Getting started). Short messages such as “Gespeichert” (saved) appear for a few seconds at the bottom centre of the window.

The toolbar

Hover over an icon to see its name and shortcut in a tooltip. From left to right:

The “…” menu

The … button on the right of the toolbar opens a three-column menu holding every command that has no button of its own:

Esc closes the menu.

The sidebar

At the top of the sidebar you choose what it shows. Two tabs are always there; three appear only when needed:

Views and zoom

A document opens at page width: the page fills the width of the middle area and adapts when you resize the window or the side panels. To zoom:

• ➕ / ➖ or ⌘ + / ⌘ -: in 20 % steps.
• ⌘ + mouse wheel, or pinch on the trackpad: smoothly, around the pointer.
• ↔ or ⌘ 0: back to page width.
• ⬜: whole page – the current page fits entirely in the window.

Single pages, two pages and book

Under … › Ansicht (view) you choose how the pages are arranged:

• Einzelseiten (single pages): one page per row (the default).
• 📖 Doppelseiten (two pages): two pages side by side, 1–2, 3–4 and so on.
• Buch (Titelseite einzeln) (book): the first page on its own, then pairs 2–3, 4–5 … – like an open book.

In both multi-page views, ← and → move a whole row at a time. The view you choose also applies to the next documents you open.

Rotating the view

If a scan lies on its side, rotate the view in quarter turns with … › Ansicht drehen › ⟲ Links drehen (⌘ L) or ⟳ Rechts (⌘ R). This only affects how all pages are displayed; the file is not changed. To rotate individual pages permanently, see Rotating pages.

Full screen and presentation

• ⛶ Vollbild (full screen; F11, on the Mac also ⌃ ⌘ F) switches the window to full screen; all bars stay visible. The same key switches back.
• 📽 Präsentation (presentation; F5) shows only the current page, fitted whole, on a black background in full screen – no toolbar and no sidebars. Move on with →, ↓, Page Down or the space bar; go back with ←, ↑, Page Up or ⇧ + space. Esc or F5 again ends the presentation and returns you to your previous view.

Dark reading mode

Clicking 🌙 (Dunkler Lesemodus für Seiten, dark reading mode for pages) shows the pages themselves dark: light text on a dark background, easy on the eyes in low light. The icon changes to ☀; click again to switch back. The setting is remembered and does not change the file. Whether the interface itself is light or dark is a separate option in the settings: Dunkles App-Design (dark app theme).

Document properties

… › ℹ Dokumenteigenschaften (⌘ I) opens a small window with the file path, file size, title, author, subject, keywords, creating application and PDF producer (where present), creation and modification date, PDF version, number of pages, page size in millimetres with the paper name, and whether the file is encrypted. Esc closes it.

Moving around a document

Back and forward

Like a browser, Pagelier remembers where you were before you jumped – via a link, the table of contents, a search result, a page number or one of the assistant's page references. Turning a single page does not count as a jump. Go back with ⬅, ⌘ [, ⌥ ← or your mouse's side “back” button; go forward with ➡, ⌘ ], ⌥ → or the “forward” button.

Selecting and copying text

Drag across text to select it; a double-click selects a word. A small bar appears below the selection:

• 📋 Kopieren (copy) puts the text on the clipboard (also ⌘ C).
• ✏ Markieren (highlight), U (underline), S (strike through) and ⬛ (mark for redaction) – see Mark up & comment and Redaction.
• Erklären (explain), Übersetzen (translate), Vereinfachen (simplify), Zusammenfassen (summarise) and 💬 Fragen … (ask) hand the selection to the AI assistant.

Esc clears the selection.

Full-text search

Click the search field in the toolbar or press ⌘ F, type a term and press ↩. Pagelier jumps to the first match from the current page onwards and highlights every occurrence; the current match is marked more strongly. Next to the field you see:

• the counter, such as 1/2 – or 0 Treffer (no results),
• ⏶ and ⏷ for the previous and next match. In the search field, ↩ and ⇧ ↩ do the same.

The sidebar also gains a Treffer (n) tab. It lists every match with its page number and the text before and after it; a click shows the match.

Aa next to the search field offers two options: Groß-/Kleinschreibung beachten (match case) and Nur ganze Wörter (whole words only). When an option is on, Aa is coloured. Clearing the search field removes the highlights.

Read aloud

Pagelier reads text aloud using your system's speech output, choosing a voice that matches the language of the text.

• If text is selected, 🔊 reads exactly that selection.
• Without a selection it starts with the current page and carries on page by page, turning the pages as it goes. Pages without text are skipped.
• ⏹ or Esc stops reading.

If Pagelier says there is no text on this page to read, it is usually a scan; run text recognition first.

Keyboard shortcuts

On Windows and Linux use Ctrl instead of ⌘ and Alt instead of ⌥. Shortcuts without ⌘ only work while no text field is active.