How to add physical page turn buttons to Kobo Clara Colour?

RayOfMoonshine · 12-23-2024, 01:33 AM

My goal is as follows: I would like to build a case that turns my Kobo Clara Colour into a sort of chimera'd Kobo Libra, as far as the physical page turn buttons go. Preferably without adding a second battery or modifying the device hardware directly. I have a 3D printer and a case that I can build off of.
This can alternatively be phrased as "How to use a USB keyboard to control page turning in KOReader on a Kobo Clara Colour," because my initial plan was to use a microcontroller to send keyboard button presses via USB when the page turning keys get pressed. However, I could not find any information about any wired keyboard based solution existing for Kobo devices.

The KOReader github mentions keyboard input is only available for SDL targets, but I'm unsure whether the Kobo is one: https://github.com/koreader/koreader...ard-navigation
Connecting a keyboard via a powered USB hub didn't do much in the default Kobo ebook reader, KOReader or Plato. I used a powered hub since the kobo doesn't supply power via USB host - another problem I'm unsure of how to solve.

Does anyone know of such a solution, or a reasonable alternative I've overlooked? It would be a stretch to say I'm comfortable with hacking together anything but small microcontroller projects, but I'm happy to learn.

If it is impossible (or implausible) to coerce power out of the USB port, there's a KOReader plugin that instead uses bluetooth: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=362986
The main reasons I would rather avoid this is because of not wanting to add a secondary battery, or generally deal with bluetooth shenanigans.

First time posting on a forum like this one, please redirect me if there's a more appropriate place to ask.

Aleron Ives · 12-23-2024, 02:58 AM

A more plausible approach would be to use Bluetooth to interface with a remote clicker. The battery life would be worse by keeping Bluetooth on all the time, but it it has the virtue of actually being possible.

RayOfMoonshine · 12-23-2024, 03:28 AM

I'd do this to be able to just lay on my side in bed and tap some buttons on the device rather than poking the screen, I always did the same when reading manga on my phone - Tachiyomi (or, well, Mihon) has the option to use the phone's volume buttons for page switching, and I'd love controls like that on my e-reader too, to go with Rakuyomi in KOReader. I considered using an external clicker, but it'd be awkward to both support the e-reader somehow and click the buttons on a clicker, I don't think it would work too well. And if it's cramming a bluetooth clicker in a case, that's pretty much the fallback I considered if USB won't work.

atey1 · 02-12-2026, 11:50 AM

Any chance you got anywhere with this? I too am looking for this and it would satisfy my preference for page turn buttons since so many ereaders are moving away from it.

MGlitch · 02-12-2026, 04:32 PM

Very little chance of it.

If you really wanted your could cannibalize a Bluetooth remote, preferably Kobos just for Known Good Compatibility since IIRC while other BT clickers have worked others have not (I am not sure of this it’s a vague memory from when BT was first added to the Kobo product line)

From here you have two options

1) makes a new case for everything.

Pros it’ll look better, possibly be more sturdy, and if you know what you’re doing maybe you can hook the remote up to directly draw power from the Kobo letting you have less ports on the case.

Cons you have to perfectly deconstruct the Kobo Color including removing the screen from the case. And perfectly install it in the new case. Neither of which are really easy tasks both of which can break your screen.

2) build a case for the remotes components making it as near to the thickness of the kobo color case. Adhere this to the Kobo Color on your preferred side. Making sure the remotes case has a usb port

Pros easier to do, might actually be kind of viable

Cons you’re unlikely to match the thickness of the Kobo Color so it’ll always be a little janky. You won’t be able to use a cover depending on how and where you connect the remote case. You will need to charge both at the same outlet or charge them at different times

Overall problems are going to include power drain, good luck with any warranty you had, loss of water proofing, and of course multiple ways of breaking your Kobo Color.

You can insert any Kobo model that lacks buttons in place of Kobo Color same goes for any ereader.

DNSB · 02-12-2026, 05:34 PM

Just might be easier to get a holder for your ereader and add a Kobo remote since they're back in stock. One friend of mine uses a holder that stands on the floor and the remote to turn pages since they have issues with holding the ereader for a long time. I don't think the URL is for the one they own but looks similar. Their spouse moves it around the house as needed.

https://www.amazon.ca/SAMHOUSING-Adj...dp/B09ZLCFF9F/

RayOfMoonshine · Today, 02:28 AM

We ended up going the bluetooth route, and no. But we came to this conclusion before the Kobo remote got released, so things might've changed since.
This ended up as my brother's project, and he got it to the "proof of concept" stage, he had custom hardware set up and pages were turning, but there were a lot of issues in the process. He found a bluetooth page turner plugin for Nickel that seemed ok, but the options for KOReader itself just did not work out. They had rough software setup and were not practical to use, or did not work at all. One that worked, had a bug that obliterated battery life (battery lasted about 1 day, when normally we get a week or more).
After the battery life thing, he just kinda put it off to the side, since motivation was pretty low by that point and the benefit didn't seem to outweigh the sanity cost.
Might take another look at some point, the KOReader side of things might be better now that the Kobo remote exists, and we haven't checked the state of bluetooth page turner integration since shelving this project.
Also, I am working on designing a 3D printable case for the Kobo Clara Colour (since the OEM "sleep cover" is... bad) so if this becomes viable, I can probably cram a bluetooth page turner in there somewhere. But if it's using bluetooth already, might as well make it a separate device.

Aleron Ives · Today, 03:05 AM

Since you're OK with the Kaleido screen of the Clara Colour, why you didn't get a Libra Colour, instead? I could understand this if you had a Clara BW, since there is no Libra BW at present, but it seems like Kobo does make the device you're looking for... you just didn't buy it for some reason?

12-23-2024, 01:33 AM	#1
RayOfMoonshine Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2024 Location: United States Device: Kobo Clara Colour	How to add physical page turn buttons to Kobo Clara Colour? My goal is as follows: I would like to build a case that turns my Kobo Clara Colour into a sort of chimera'd Kobo Libra, as far as the physical page turn buttons go. Preferably without adding a second battery or modifying the device hardware directly. I have a 3D printer and a case that I can build off of. This can alternatively be phrased as "How to use a USB keyboard to control page turning in KOReader on a Kobo Clara Colour," because my initial plan was to use a microcontroller to send keyboard button presses via USB when the page turning keys get pressed. However, I could not find any information about any wired keyboard based solution existing for Kobo devices. The KOReader github mentions keyboard input is only available for SDL targets, but I'm unsure whether the Kobo is one: https://github.com/koreader/koreader...ard-navigation Connecting a keyboard via a powered USB hub didn't do much in the default Kobo ebook reader, KOReader or Plato. I used a powered hub since the kobo doesn't supply power via USB host - another problem I'm unsure of how to solve. Does anyone know of such a solution, or a reasonable alternative I've overlooked? It would be a stretch to say I'm comfortable with hacking together anything but small microcontroller projects, but I'm happy to learn. If it is impossible (or implausible) to coerce power out of the USB port, there's a KOReader plugin that instead uses bluetooth: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=362986 The main reasons I would rather avoid this is because of not wanting to add a secondary battery, or generally deal with bluetooth shenanigans. First time posting on a forum like this one, please redirect me if there's a more appropriate place to ask.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Android e-reader with physical page buttons	JawadLeLogeur	Which one should I buy?	1	01-13-2018 01:36 PM
Searching eBook Reader with Physical Page Turn Buttons	Genjin	Which one should I buy?	21	04-17-2016 10:22 AM
New Paperwhite this year with physical page turn buttons?	apastuszak	Amazon Kindle	19	01-23-2014 04:58 PM
Physical page turn buttons - Sony, Bookeen, Icarus, or something else?	hildea	Which one should I buy?	3	09-21-2013 10:16 AM
New Ks physical page turn buttons?	lunixer	Amazon Kindle	6	09-28-2011 07:54 PM

12-23-2024, 02:58 AM	#2
Aleron Ives Wizard Posts: 1,836 Karma: 17000000 Join Date: Sep 2022 Device: Kobo Libra 2	A more plausible approach would be to use Bluetooth to interface with a remote clicker. The battery life would be worse by keeping Bluetooth on all the time, but it it has the virtue of actually being possible.

12-23-2024, 03:28 AM	#3
RayOfMoonshine Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2024 Location: United States Device: Kobo Clara Colour	I'd do this to be able to just lay on my side in bed and tap some buttons on the device rather than poking the screen, I always did the same when reading manga on my phone - Tachiyomi (or, well, Mihon) has the option to use the phone's volume buttons for page switching, and I'd love controls like that on my e-reader too, to go with Rakuyomi in KOReader. I considered using an external clicker, but it'd be awkward to both support the e-reader somehow and click the buttons on a clicker, I don't think it would work too well. And if it's cramming a bluetooth clicker in a case, that's pretty much the fallback I considered if USB won't work.

02-12-2026, 11:50 AM	#4
atey1 Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2026 Device: Kindle Oasis	Any chance you got anywhere with this? I too am looking for this and it would satisfy my preference for page turn buttons since so many ereaders are moving away from it.

02-12-2026, 04:32 PM	#5
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,859 Karma: 22003124 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	Very little chance of it. If you really wanted your could cannibalize a Bluetooth remote, preferably Kobos just for Known Good Compatibility since IIRC while other BT clickers have worked others have not (I am not sure of this it’s a vague memory from when BT was first added to the Kobo product line) From here you have two options 1) makes a new case for everything. Pros it’ll look better, possibly be more sturdy, and if you know what you’re doing maybe you can hook the remote up to directly draw power from the Kobo letting you have less ports on the case. Cons you have to perfectly deconstruct the Kobo Color including removing the screen from the case. And perfectly install it in the new case. Neither of which are really easy tasks both of which can break your screen. 2) build a case for the remotes components making it as near to the thickness of the kobo color case. Adhere this to the Kobo Color on your preferred side. Making sure the remotes case has a usb port Pros easier to do, might actually be kind of viable Cons you’re unlikely to match the thickness of the Kobo Color so it’ll always be a little janky. You won’t be able to use a cover depending on how and where you connect the remote case. You will need to charge both at the same outlet or charge them at different times Overall problems are going to include power drain, good luck with any warranty you had, loss of water proofing, and of course multiple ways of breaking your Kobo Color. You can insert any Kobo model that lacks buttons in place of Kobo Color same goes for any ereader.

02-12-2026, 05:34 PM	#6
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 50,263 Karma: 178398938 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Just might be easier to get a holder for your ereader and add a Kobo remote since they're back in stock. One friend of mine uses a holder that stands on the floor and the remote to turn pages since they have issues with holding the ereader for a long time. I don't think the URL is for the one they own but looks similar. Their spouse moves it around the house as needed. https://www.amazon.ca/SAMHOUSING-Adj...dp/B09ZLCFF9F/

Today, 02:28 AM	#7
RayOfMoonshine Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2024 Location: United States Device: Kobo Clara Colour	We ended up going the bluetooth route, and no. But we came to this conclusion before the Kobo remote got released, so things might've changed since. This ended up as my brother's project, and he got it to the "proof of concept" stage, he had custom hardware set up and pages were turning, but there were a lot of issues in the process. He found a bluetooth page turner plugin for Nickel that seemed ok, but the options for KOReader itself just did not work out. They had rough software setup and were not practical to use, or did not work at all. One that worked, had a bug that obliterated battery life (battery lasted about 1 day, when normally we get a week or more). After the battery life thing, he just kinda put it off to the side, since motivation was pretty low by that point and the benefit didn't seem to outweigh the sanity cost. Might take another look at some point, the KOReader side of things might be better now that the Kobo remote exists, and we haven't checked the state of bluetooth page turner integration since shelving this project. Also, I am working on designing a 3D printable case for the Kobo Clara Colour (since the OEM "sleep cover" is... bad) so if this becomes viable, I can probably cram a bluetooth page turner in there somewhere. But if it's using bluetooth already, might as well make it a separate device.

Today, 03:05 AM	#8
Aleron Ives Wizard Posts: 1,836 Karma: 17000000 Join Date: Sep 2022 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Since you're OK with the Kaleido screen of the Clara Colour, why you didn't get a Libra Colour, instead? I could understand this if you had a Clara BW, since there is no Libra BW at present, but it seems like Kobo does make the device you're looking for... you just didn't buy it for some reason?