How to Set Up KOReader on a Boox Tablet: Page Buttons, Refresh, Fonts and Progress Sync

Boox tablets run Android, so you are free to replace the built-in NeoReader with any reading app. KOReader is the one e-ink enthusiasts reach for most: it was designed for e-ink screens, handles EPUB and PDF exceptionally well, and offers more control over typography and page layout than almost any other reader. It also looks intimidating on first launch, with dense menus and settings in unexpected places.

This guide walks through a clean KOReader setup on a Boox tablet: installing it, getting refresh and page buttons right, fonts and typography, connecting a library, and syncing reading progress with other devices. If you are still deciding whether to switch from NeoReader at all, the trade-offs are covered in KOReader vs Boox NeoReader.

Step 1: install KOReader

1. On the tablet, open the browser and go to KOReader’s official releases page on GitHub. Download the latest Android APK for your device’s architecture, usually the ARM 64-bit build on recent Boox models.
2. When Android asks, allow the browser or file manager to install apps from unknown sources.
3. Open the downloaded APK and install it.
4. Launch KOReader and grant storage access when prompted, so it can see your books.

Some people prefer to install from F-Droid, which keeps KOReader updated automatically. Either way, avoid copies from unofficial app sites.

Step 2: set Boox’s app optimisation for KOReader

Boox lets you tune each app separately. Long-press the KOReader icon, or open the e-ink control centre while KOReader is running, and look at its app optimisation settings:

• Refresh mode: start with the normal or high-quality mode for reading. Faster modes ghost more.
• Full refresh interval: leave it to KOReader if you enable KOReader’s own e-ink handling (next step), or set a full refresh every few pages here.
• DPI and font size: leave the app’s DPI at default at first; KOReader has its own scaling.
• Background behaviour: allow KOReader to stay in the background if you switch apps often, or let Boox freeze it to save battery if you do not.

Turn off animations in Android’s developer options if you have not already; this helps every app on e-ink.

Step 3: refresh and ghosting inside KOReader

KOReader has its own e-ink settings under the screen menu. On many Boox models, it can drive the e-ink controller directly for cleaner page turns. Enable KOReader’s e-ink mode if your version offers it for your device, then set the full refresh rate, for example every six pages for text and every page for PDFs with images.

If page turns look wrong, such as flashing too often, ghosting heavily or refreshing only part of the screen, switch KOReader’s e-ink handling off and rely on Boox’s per-app refresh settings instead. Behaviour varies by model and firmware, so test both approaches for a chapter or two. The causes of ghosting and how refresh modes interact are explained in ghosting on an e-ink tablet.

Step 4: page buttons and tap zones

Boox models with physical page-turn buttons usually send them to apps as volume keys or as page keys. In KOReader, check the navigation and physical buttons settings: enable page turning with volume keys if that is how your device reports them, and invert the direction if forward and back feel wrong. If buttons do nothing, check Boox’s own settings for the button behaviour, which can be set to send page turns, volume or custom actions.

For touch, KOReader divides the screen into tap zones. Set them to match how you hold the device: a large forward zone on the right for one-handed reading, or left-and-right halves. Disable swipe gestures you trigger by accident.

Step 5: fonts and typography

KOReader’s typography is its biggest strength. A few changes make text look much better on e-ink:

• Add your own fonts. Copy font files into KOReader’s fonts folder on the device storage. Fonts designed for screens with sturdy strokes often look best on e-ink.
• Embolden text slightly. KOReader can increase font weight, which improves contrast on lighter screens and colour panels.
• Turn on hyphenation for the book’s language, which gives more even justified text.
• Use style tweaks to override publishers’ choices that look bad on small screens, such as tiny fonts, huge margins or forced indentation.
• Save defaults. Once a book looks right, set those options as defaults for new books.

Step 6: connect your library

KOReader’s file browser works with any folder on the tablet, but a self-hosted library makes adding books much easier:

• OPDS catalogues: add your Calibre-Web, Calibre-Web Automated, Kavita or Komga server as an OPDS catalogue, then browse and download books directly. Options are compared in Calibre-Web Automated vs Calibre-Web.
• Calibre wireless: connect KOReader to desktop Calibre over Wi-Fi and send books directly.
• Cloud storage: KOReader can download from WebDAV, Dropbox and FTP sources.
• Read-later: KOReader can sync articles from Wallabag, a self-hosted read-later service.

Step 7: sync progress with other devices

If you read the same book on a Boox and a phone, or on a Boox and a Kobo running KOReader, use KOReader’s progress sync. Register an account on the public sync server or run your own, then enable automatic sync. Your position follows you between devices running KOReader, matched by the book’s file. Keep the same file on each device for this to work reliably.

Highlights and notes are stored by KOReader alongside the book and can be exported as Markdown, text or to services such as Readwise or Joplin.

PDF settings worth changing

KOReader is a different reader for PDFs, and a few settings make documents designed for A4 paper readable on a seven- to ten-inch screen:

• Automatic margin cropping removes white borders so text fills the screen.
• Column mode splits two-column papers so you read one column at a time, in order.
• Reflow rearranges the text of a page, including many scanned pages, into lines that fit the screen at a readable size. It works best on simple layouts.
• Contrast and gamma darken faint scans and grey text.
• Full refresh on every page for PDFs with images or diagrams, which ghost more than text.

Settings can be saved per document, so a scanned book and a clean paper can each keep their own layout.

Dictionaries and lookup

Long-pressing a word in KOReader opens a dictionary lookup. It uses offline dictionaries in common open formats, which you copy into its dictionaries folder, and can also look up Wikipedia when online. Install a dictionary for each language you read in, and a translation dictionary if you read in a second language. Lookups are saved to a history you can review later, which is handy for vocabulary practice.

Colour Boox models

On colour Boox tablets, KOReader can display colour covers, comics and highlights. Colour e-ink is lower resolution and lower contrast than black and white, so increase font weight a little, use strong highlight colours, and expect to refresh more often. For pure text reading, some people switch KOReader to greyscale rendering for crisper text.

Updating KOReader and keeping your settings

KOReader updates regularly, and it can check for updates itself from its menu. Updating keeps your settings, but it is worth backing up the KOReader folder on the device storage occasionally. It holds your settings, fonts, dictionaries and reading history, and copying it to a new device restores your whole setup in minutes. Highlights for each book live in sidecar folders next to the book files, so back up your book folders too.

Step 8: keep battery life reasonable

KOReader is efficient, but Android around it is not always. Turn Wi-Fi off when not syncing, set KOReader to suspend after inactivity, and let Boox freeze apps you are not using. A sensible screen timeout and avoiding a constantly updating status bar help on long reading sessions.

Keeping NeoReader for some jobs

Switching to KOReader does not mean deleting NeoReader. Boox’s own reader integrates with the tablet’s handwriting features, so it remains the better choice for scribbling notes directly on PDFs with the stylus, and for some built-in export features. A common arrangement is KOReader for reading books and long documents, and NeoReader for documents you mark up by hand. Android lets you choose which app opens each file type, or ask each time.

Keep both apps pointed at the same book folders, so you can open the same file in either without copying it.

Common problems and quick fixes

• Books not visible: grant storage access in Android settings, and check KOReader’s home folder.
• Screen flashes on every page: lower the full refresh rate in KOReader, or disable its e-ink mode and use Boox’s settings.
• Buttons turn pages backwards: invert page turn buttons in KOReader’s navigation settings.
• Text looks faint: embolden the font and increase contrast in KOReader, and use a higher-quality refresh mode in Boox.
• KOReader closes in the background: stop Boox from freezing it in the app’s settings.

Once these steps are done, KOReader rarely needs attention again, and a Boox tablet becomes one of the most flexible e-readers available. For a comparison with another popular Android reader, see KOReader vs Moon+ Reader.