Catalogs (iOS)

Thorium Reader is designed to work seamlessly with retailers, libraries and files that you can download freely from the Web.

Catalogs allow you to easily browse, search and download publications, without leaving Thorium Reader.

Adding a catalog

Catalogs can be manually added from two different screens:

• Homepage
• Catalogs

To add a catalog:

• Tap on … in the upper right corner of the screen
• Select Add catalog
• Enter the name that you'd like to give to the catalog (required)
• Type or paste the address of the catalog (required)
• Select the color that you'd like to associate to this catalog (optional)

By default, Thorium Reader will open your catalog in a Webview that intercepts all downloads for supported formats. This is the preferred way to use catalogs.

If you encounter a website that does not work as expected, edit the catalog and enable "Open Catalog in the Browser" which will open the catalog in your default browser instead. With this option, downloads are not intercepted and require to follow the instructions provided in importing a publication.

Browsing a catalog

Catalogs are available to browse them from three different locations:

• At the bottom of the Homepage
• In the dedicated screen for catalogs
• And directly from the sidebar (on iPadOS in landscape mode or macOS)

Tapping on a catalog will open the Webview (by default) or your browser.

The following actions are available while browsing a catalog inside Thorium Reader:

• Home (upper left corner) to jump back to the homepage of a catalog
• Previous and Next to navigate back in forth in your navigation history
• Reload to reload the current page
• Open in your default browser

Downloading publications

While browsing in a catalog, the following formats are automatically intercepted by the built-in download manager:

• EPUB
• PDF
• CBZ
• LCPL (Readium LCP licenses)

As soon as you start a download, a dialog will appear at the bottom of the screen with:

• the filename
• and a progression bar

Once the download has completed, this dialog will be replaced with:

• the cover
• a confirmation message
• and an action to start reading or listening to your publication

This dialog can be dismissed manually by tapping on the cross icon. If you trigger another download, it will automatically be replaced by a new dialog.

Your downloads will automatically show up on the Homepage under Recently Added.

Thorium Reader provides a full-fledged download manager, useful when downloading large publications (audiobooks or comics for example) or when downloading on a slower connection.

While a download is active, you can access the download manager by tapping on … on the Homepage and selecting Downloads.

Leaving the application may pause the downloads, but they should resume automatically as soon as you launch it again.

Editing a catalog

Catalogs can be edited at any point to change their name, color or to open them in your browser instead.

If you'd like to edit a catalog:

• Go to the list of catalogs or scroll down on the Homepage
• Tap and hold on a catalog (with a mouse, you can also left click on a catalog)
• Select "Edit"

The address of a catalog cannot be edited with this dialog. If you'd like to change this information, please remove the catalog and add it again.

Removing a catalog

If you'd like to remove a catalog:

• Go to the list of catalogs or scroll down on the Homepage
• Tap and hold on a catalog (with a mouse, you can also left click on a catalog)
• Select "Remove"
• Confirm that you'd like to remove the catalog

Deep links

Thorium Reader supports deep links to add a catalog or automatically download a publication.

These links are often used by retailers or libraries to facilitate your interaction with their content.

If you'd like to test them out, here are two links that you try:

• Add Project Gutenberg to Thorium Reader
• Download The Odyssey from Project Gutenberg

If you're interesting in implementing deep links on your website, make sure to read our developer documentation.

Catalog registry