| title | Controls |
|---|---|
| nav_order | 6 |
The Controls menu lets you customize front buttons, side buttons, and reader shortcuts.
- Short-press action
- Long-press action
- Power + Up action
- Remap front buttons
- Remap front buttons while reading
- Orientation aware
- Long-press behavior (in-reader only)
- Long-press back action (in-reader only)
- Long-press menu action (in-reader only)
Note: Even though some actions assigned to the front buttons could be used globally, they are restricted to apply within the reader only due to the dynamic nature of the front buttons (they can mean different things based on the screen you're on).
- Orientation aware
- Side-button chord (where supported)
- Left/Up short-press and long-press actions
- Right/Down short-press and long-press actions
- Next Page
- Previous Page
- Pinch to Resize Font (on supported multi-touch devices)
- Two-finger Screen Rotation (on supported multi-touch devices)
- Tap to Hide Status Bar
- Two-finger Swipe (on supported multi-touch devices)
- Edge Gestures
On touchscreen devices, Next Page and Previous Page are in Settings > Controls > Taps & Gestures. They change page-turn gestures while reading and can be configured independently. In left-to-right books, Next Page controls taps and left swipes; Previous Page controls taps and right swipes. Right-to-left EPUBs reverse the normal tap zones and horizontal swipe directions to follow reading order.
Both settings offer the same options:
| Option | Taps | Swipes |
|---|---|---|
| Tap & Swipe (default) | Enabled | Enabled |
| Tap Only | Enabled | Disabled |
| Swipe Only | Disabled | Enabled |
| Inverted Tap | Enabled, with reversed tap zones | Disabled |
| Disabled | Disabled | Disabled |
When both directions allow taps, the normal zones are the left third for the previous page and the right two-thirds for the next page. If either of those settings is Inverted Tap, the shared zones become the left two-thirds for the next page and the right third for the previous page. If only one direction allows taps, taps across the page turn in that direction. The top and bottom gesture bands are reserved for vertical gestures, so taps there do not turn pages. A Previous Page setting that does not allow swipes also prevents a rightward edge swipe from being treated as Back/Home while reading.
On touchscreen devices with multi-touch support, enable Pinch to Resize Font in Settings > Controls > Taps & Gestures. While reading an EPUB or TXT book, move two fingers apart to increase the font or together to decrease it. Each completed pinch changes one available font-size step. Pinch resizing also requires reader touch input to be enabled. XTC pages are pre-rendered, so this option cannot resize them.
On touchscreen devices with multi-touch support, Two-finger Screen Rotation is enabled by default in Settings > Controls > Taps & Gestures. While reading an EPUB or TXT book, place two fingers on the page and twist them to rotate the reading orientation one step, the same as changing Reading Orientation by hand. The new orientation is saved, so it survives sleep and restart. Turn the toggle off if accidental twists rotate the page while you read; the four-way Reading Orientation setting still works.
Tap to Hide Status Bar is enabled by default. When it is enabled, tap the visible status-bar area while reading to show or hide the entire bar for the current reading session. The toggle does not change page layout or page breaks; tap the same status-bar region again to restore a hidden bar. Use Status Bars to choose which items the top and bottom bars contain. The tap is available while reader touch input is enabled. For XTC books, when an XTC status bar is enabled, tap its configured top or bottom edge both to hide and to restore it.
On touchscreen devices with multi-touch support, open Settings > Controls > Taps & Gestures > Two-finger Swipe to assign actions to the four swipe directions. During reading, place two fingers on the page and move them together in the configured direction. Use Not Set to leave a direction unassigned.
Each action can be assigned to only one direction. If you assign an action to a new direction, CrossInk clears its previous direction automatically.
Available actions depend on the device and reader:
| Action | Availability |
|---|---|
| Increase Brightness / Decrease Brightness | Devices with a frontlight |
| Increase Warmth / Decrease Warmth | Devices with an adjustable warm/cool frontlight |
| Next Chapter / Previous Chapter | EPUB readers |
| Increase Font Size / Decrease Font Size | EPUB and TXT readers |
Brightness and warmth respond while you drag, with longer swipes allowing finer one-point adjustments. Use a clear, mostly straight motion so both contacts are recognized as one gesture. Configured two-finger swipes are handled separately from the ordinary one-finger page-turn mapping. On image-based XTC books, chapter and font-size actions are consumed but cannot change the pre-rendered pages.
On touchscreen devices, open Settings > Controls > Taps & Gestures > Edge Gestures. Assign actions separately to Left Edge Up, Left Edge Down, Right Edge Up, and Right Edge Down. Start with one finger close to the chosen screen edge and slide vertically while staying along that edge. All four start as Not Set.
The available actions match Two-finger Swipe Actions: brightness and warmth on supported hardware, chapter changes in EPUBs, and font-size changes in EPUB/TXT books. Edge slides do not require multi-touch. Brightness and warmth respond while you drag; a longer slide gives finer one-point adjustments. Chapter and font-size actions run when you lift your finger. XTC pages cannot be resized or use the EPUB chapter actions.
Open Settings > Controls > Side Buttons to assign a Short-press Action and Long-press Action independently to Left/Up and Right/Down. These actions apply while reading. A short action runs on release; a configured long action runs after a hold of about 0.7 seconds, without also running the short action. Existing side-button layouts are converted to matching individual actions when you update.
Alongside the usual reader shortcuts, you can choose:
- Previous Page or Next Page to swap page-turn directions or make both buttons advance.
- Previous Chapter or Next Chapter for EPUB chapter navigation.
- Increase Font Size or Decrease Font Size for EPUB/TXT text.
- Rotate Page CCW, Rotate Page CW, or Rotate Page 180° for EPUB/TXT orientation changes. The labels describe the direction the page turns.
- Ignore to leave a press unassigned.
XTC books have pre-rendered pages, so font-size and page-rotation actions do not apply. Orientation aware remains a separate option for side-button mapping.
Defaults:
- Short-press Power Button Action: Ignore
- Long-press Power Button Action: Sleep/Wake
- Long-press Back Button Action: Browse Files
- Long Press Menu Button Action: Ignore
Available actions include:
- Ignore
- Sleep (also available to chord and Home-button shortcuts)
- Sleep/Wake or Wake (Power button only)
- Next Page
- Refresh Screen
- Change Font
- Guide Dots
- Focus Reading
- Toggle Bookmark
- Sync Progress
- Mark as Finished
- Reading Stats
- Take Screenshot
- Auto Page Turn Interval
- File Transfer
- Calibre Wireless
- Join a Network
- Create Hotspot
- Tilt Page Turn (X3 only)
- Footnotes
- Dark Mode
- Browse Files
- Library
- Create Clipping
- Look Up Word
- Quick Lock
- Quick Actions
- Toggle Frontlight (on supported devices)
- Toggle Touchscreen (on supported devices)
Power short- and long-press actions are separate. A short press wakes the device only when its Short-press Action is Sleep/Wake or Wake. Sleep only puts an awake device to sleep; Wake does nothing while it is awake. Holding Power always wakes the sleeping device. For the full startup instructions, see Power On / Off.
Assign Library to a Power, Back/Menu long-press, chord, Home-button, or Quick Actions shortcut to open the book list directly, where that shortcut is supported.
The Power + Up shortcut runs the action selected in Settings > Controls > Power Button > Power + Up. It is disabled by default. Press the Power and Volume Up buttons together to trigger it, then release both buttons before using another shortcut.
The shortcut can run many of the same actions available for the Power button, including Quick Lock. The existing Power + Volume Down screenshot shortcut is unchanged.
In Settings > Quick Actions, assign the menu to one shortcut. Available triggers include short- or long-press Power, Power + Up, and on X4 Pro, Tap Home, Long-Press Home, or Double Tap Home. Selecting a trigger there replaces any previous Quick Actions trigger; it does not change the five actions in the menu.
Quick Lock temporarily disables normal button and touchscreen input while leaving the current screen visible. A lock badge appears on the display while the device is locked. It is useful when carrying the reader or setting it down while reading.
Quick Lock can be assigned to Power + Up, short- or long-press Power, or long-press Back or Menu. Trigger the assigned action to toggle the lock. While locked, repeat that same shortcut to unlock; all other buttons, including Power + Volume Down screenshots, and touchscreen input stay locked.
Quick Lock still follows the regular Time to Sleep setting. If the timeout expires, the device sleeps and restores the lock when it wakes. Reading timers pause while Quick Lock is active.
When a shortcut is mapped to Footnotes, it opens the page-reference selector (or a list fallback) while reading. If the current page has only one footnote, CrossInk opens that referenced page directly.
The Quick-return from Footnotes setting controls whether the Power button acts like Back after opening a footnote page. It appears under Settings > Controls > Power Button only after assigning Footnotes to Power short/long press or Back/Menu long press. See Footnote Navigation for selecting references on the page.