User Guide

This guide covers Silverlinger 1.6.3, a free native EPUB reader for Mac. Your books stay in Finder—just double-click to read.

Install

• Mac App Store: search for “Silverlinger” in the App Store.
• Direct download: download the ZIP from the website, double-click to unzip, drag Silverlinger to Applications, and open it. It’s signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

Both versions have the same features. The App Store version updates automatically; in the direct download, choose Check for Updates… from the app menu.

Open a Book

Silverlinger has no library and never copies your books. Finder is your bookshelf.

• Double-click an EPUB. If another app opens it, Control-click the file and choose Open With → Silverlinger. To always use Silverlinger, select an EPUB, press ⌘I, choose Silverlinger under Open With, and click Change All.
• Or drag an EPUB onto Silverlinger, choose File → Open… (⌘O), or pick a book from File → Open Recent.

Each book opens in its own window. Your place, bookmarks, and notes are saved on this Mac automatically. Rename or move a file and, as long as its contents haven’t changed, Silverlinger usually picks up where you left off.

Turning Pages and Scrolling

Choose Pages or Scroll in View → Reading Mode or the toolbar’s Layout menu.

In Pages mode:

• Keyboard: ← and →, Space (Shift-Space to go back), Page Up / Page Down (Fn-↑ / Fn-↓ on a MacBook), or ⌘[ / ⌘].
• Mouse wheel or trackpad.
• For horizontal text, click the left or right margin.

View → Page Layout offers Adaptive, Single Page, or Double Page.

In Scroll mode, chapters flow continuously; use ↑ and ↓ or your trackpad. View → Scroll Width offers Narrow, Comfortable, or Wide. Vertical books can only be read in Pages mode.

Double-click the title bar to zoom or minimize the window, following your macOS setting.

Contents, Bookmarks, and Highlights

Press ⌥⌘S to show or hide the sidebar, or ⌘1 to go straight to Contents. The sidebar has Contents, Bookmarks, and Highlights. It floats over the page without squeezing the layout and closes after you jump to an item.

Click Add Bookmark in the toolbar to bookmark your current place.

Fonts and Layout

Click the Aa (Appearance) button in the toolbar:

• Font: use any font installed on your Mac, and search the list.
• Text size, line spacing, and character spacing: step each one with − and +; the panel shows the current setting. ⌘+ and ⌘- also change the text size.
• Page margins: Default, Narrow, Standard, or Wide.
• Keep Book’s Special Fonts: change the body font while block quotes and verse keep their original styling.
• Restore: after you change text size, line spacing, or character spacing, a restore button (Restore Book Default) appears on that row, or use Restore All Book Typography to reset everything.

Common Windows Chinese font names in a book are matched to the corresponding fonts on your Mac.

View → Theme offers Follow System, White, Warm, or Dark; you can also switch themes at the top of the Appearance panel. The title bar, sidebar, and panels take on the page color too.

Look Up and Footnotes

• Look Up: select a word, Control-click, and choose Look Up to see the macOS dictionary definition.

• Footnotes and links: click a footnote or in-book link, then click Back to return to where you were.

• Search: press ⌘F. With an empty search field, your recent searches appear; click one to search again, or clear them.

Highlights, Notes, and Quote Cards

Select text, then use the context menu or the Reading menu to:

• Highlight (⇧⌘H) or Underline: in the context menu, use the yellow dot and U icons at the top; in the Reading menu, choose Highlight Selection or Underline Selection;
• Add Note…;
• Share Note Card…: turn the passage and your thoughts into an image.

In the card panel, choose one of six color templates, adjust the format (3:4 Portrait, 1:1 Square, or 9:16 Tall), alignment, and line spacing, then Copy Image, Save Image, or AirDrop. Your template, format, alignment, and line spacing are remembered for next time.

Export and Backup

• Export highlights and notes: File → Export Highlights and Notes… saves the current book’s highlights and notes as Markdown.
• Back up your reading data: close all book windows (importing requires this too), then in Settings → Reading Data, choose Export Reading Data… to save every book’s reading position, bookmarks, highlights, and notes to one file. On a new Mac, use Import Reading Data. Importing merges and never deletes what’s already there.
• Delete one book’s reading history: File → Delete This Book’s Reading History.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Open	⌘O
Previous / next page	← / →, ⌘[ / ⌘], Shift-Space / Space
Show or hide sidebar	⌥⌘S
Show Contents	⌘1
Search Book	⌘F
Increase / decrease text size	⌘+ / ⌘-
Highlight selection	⇧⌘H
Show or hide reading controls	⇧⌘F
Enter or exit full screen	⌃⌘F

Troubleshooting

• “This EPUB is protected”: the book has DRM and can’t be opened. See free EPUB books for DRM-free classics.
• A moved book won’t open: if Silverlinger can’t reach the file’s new location, it asks you to choose the file again; once it confirms it’s the same book, your progress and notes come back.
• Does progress sync between Macs? No. Reading data stays on this Mac; use Export Reading Data… to move it.
• Problems or suggestions: email [email protected] with a description and screenshots.