Disable highlighting and dictonary lookup

[tschucha]

Is there any way to disable highlighting and word lookup functionality on the Forma 4.12.12111 firmware? The only screen interaction I use while reading is page fwd/back and menu. I can't find a setting for that anywhere.

[JAC70]

This would be nice. I occasionally highlight by accident.

[tschucha]

Bumping this message in case someone has an answer....

[JAC70]

Holding out hope.

[JJ Johnson]

Same here. I've used the dictionary feature a couple of times, but the inadvertent highlighting requiring me to then remove the highlight drives me nuts.

In fact, inadvertent touching is my biggest peeve with my Libra. I really wish I could disable page turns from every means other than just the buttons.

[4691mls]

A while back I had a customer survey from Kobo where I could write in comments. I wrote that I wished they would get rid of the automatic highlighting, or at least make it optional. Drives me nuts.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

A while back I had a customer survey from Kobo where I could write in comments. I wrote that I wished they would get rid of the automatic highlighting, or at least make it optional. Drives me nuts.

What automatic highlighting? The only way I know of to highlight anything is to drag my finger over some words. That is not automatic. It is a deliberate act.

[tschucha]

Originally Posted by davidfor

What automatic highlighting? The only way I know of to highlight anything is to drag my finger over some words. That is not automatic. It is a deliberate act.

It may be a deliberate act but it happens accidentally far too often.

Like pulling the trigger on a gun. That's why they put safeties on guns to stop them from being inadvertently activated. And that's why I'd like a disable switch for that feature.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by tschucha

It may be a deliberate act but it happens accidentally far too often.

Like pulling the trigger on a gun. That's why they put safeties on guns to stop them from being inadvertently activated. And that's why I'd like a disable switch for that feature.

Considering that the changes to highlighting in recent firmware updates were made due to customer requests, I suspect you are not going to have much luck in convincing Kobo to make your requested change.

[tschucha]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Considering that the changes to highlighting in recent firmware updates were made due to customer requests, I suspect you are not going to have much luck in convincing Kobo to make your requested change.

Probably not

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by davidfor

What automatic highlighting? The only way I know of to highlight anything is to drag my finger over some words. That is not automatic. It is a deliberate act.

It used to be that if you dragged your finger over words, you would be given a list of options, one of which was to highlight.

Now if you drag your finger over words, it highlights automatically and if that's not what you intended, you have to remove the highlight.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

It used to be that if you dragged your finger over words, you would be given a list of options, one of which was to highlight.

Now if you drag your finger over words, it highlights automatically and if that's not what you intended, you have to remove the highlight.

Are you saying you don't get the menu now? The change that I see is that if you highlighted more than one word, the first item on the menu went from "Save highlight" (or something like that) to "Undo highlighting". From the point of view of accidental highlights, or ones you make and decide not to keep, the difference is really whether you tap the menu item or tap elsewhere on the screen to remove it. But, that goes the other way as well. If you are highlighting and want to keep it, you need to tap the menu to do so, or tap elsewhere if you change your mind.

When this was changed, I told Kobo that I didn't like it. Their response was that it was done in response to other user requests. From my point of view, it isn't a good change, but, it is one I understand. If the assumption is that most highlights are deliberate, not having to move your finger to the menu to save it, is a good thing. And I don't make enough accidental highlights that it really makes a difference to me. And if I am honest, I used to loose highlights because I'd accidentally tap the screen and then have to start again. Now, I long press on the highlight to get to the menu again.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Are you saying you don't get the menu now? The change that I see is that if you highlighted more than one word, the first item on the menu went from "Save highlight" (or something like that) to "Undo highlighting". From the point of view of accidental highlights, or ones you make and decide not to keep, the difference is really whether you tap the menu item or tap elsewhere on the screen to remove it. But, that goes the other way as well. If you are highlighting and want to keep it, you need to tap the menu to do so, or tap elsewhere if you change your mind.

When this was changed, I told Kobo that I didn't like it. Their response was that it was done in response to other user requests. From my point of view, it isn't a good change, but, it is one I understand. If the assumption is that most highlights are deliberate, not having to move your finger to the menu to save it, is a good thing. And I don't make enough accidental highlights that it really makes a difference to me. And if I am honest, I used to loose highlights because I'd accidentally tap the screen and then have to start again. Now, I long press on the highlight to get to the menu again.

I just preferred the old way where it didn't automatically highlight, so if I had selected accidentally while trying to do something else, I could tap anywhere on the screen to unselect, instead of aiming for the little unselect box and accidentally hitting one of the other choices....

I don't intentionally highlight very often. I do have a tendency to accidentally select words when trying to adjust the light or even turn the page, especially if I'm tired. (I have page turns set to swipe because setting it to tap resulted in even more user errors.) So for me, the current system is more annoying. I guess for people who like to make a lot of highlights the current system is preferable.

I wish Kobo would make a 6-inch reader with buttons for page turns and for accessing the menu. That would really be the solution to my problems. I miss that about my old Sonys.

[JSWolf]

I don't miss any Reader that didn't have a touch screen. Though Sony did some horrible things with the touch layer on the 600, 700, and 900.That was horrible. But the 350, 650, and 950 were good with the IR touch. The T series touch was also good.

As for highlighting, I too prefer the old way. If I make a mistake or didn't highlight enough, I could fix that without having to undo what I did.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I just preferred the old way where it didn't automatically highlight,

I still have to say that the device never automatically hightlights. What you really mean is "automatically saves highlights". That is a different thing altogether.

so if I had selected accidentally while trying to do something else, I could tap anywhere on the screen to unselect, instead of aiming for the little unselect box and accidentally hitting one of the other choices....

Personally, I also prefer the previous behaviour. But, I can understand why they made the change. And if this was the original behaviour, I probably would not have thought it was wrong.

My real issue with the change is that there are some inconsistencies in behaviour when selecting text. If you select something, it looks up the dictionary and if something is found, or, if only one word was selected, the dictionary popup is displayed. When that happens, the highlight is not automatically saved. Which means I have to tap "Save highlight" if I am marking a word.

I don't intentionally highlight very often. I do have a tendency to accidentally select words when trying to adjust the light or even turn the page, especially if I'm tired. (I have page turns set to swipe because setting it to tap resulted in even more user errors.) So for me, the current system is more annoying. I guess for people who like to make a lot of highlights the current system is preferable.

I do use annotations a lot, but, almost always for errors in the book. The other main reason is to mark something to look up later (I frequently look up music mentioned if I don't know it, or, when I do know it and need to kill the earworm).

For accidental highlighting, I realised it happened when I hesitate. If the tap or swipe is smooth, the page turns. If I pause at all, it I get text highlighted.