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4th edi on

Featured in:

Explained !
The Ocial companion to the ComicRack so ware All new scripts
A complete training package Fileless eComic format
New ra ngs system
Full-color, step-by-step, instruc onal book
For the new as well as the advanced user comicrack.cyolito.com
November 2010. Fall edi on. 2010 cYo So
This page intentionally left blank
C R
4th edi on

by
600Wpmpo

cYo So Publishing
The ComicRack Manual
4th edi on
November 2010
Published by
cYo So , Inc.,
comicrack.cyolito.com

Copyright 2010 by cYo So , Inc.,

Published by cYo So , Inc.,
Released on the world wide web at comicrack.cyolito.com

All rights reserved. Permission is granted to redistribute electronically the unmodified and complete computer file that comprises the
PDF Edi on of this work. This permission does not impair or restrict the authors moral rights, or grant any addi onal permissions.
Without the prior wri en permission of the copyright owner any or all of the following is not permi ed: (i) altering, edi ng, or other-
wise modifying the file that comprises the PDF Edi on of this work; (ii) prin ng or publishing this work in any form (including but not
limited to printer-demand services); (iii) selling, retailing, or oering in exchange for any kind of compensa on the file that comprises
the PDF Edi on of this work or any of its content; (iv) redistribu ng some or all extracted or excerpted content from this work; (v) redis-
tribu ng some or all content of this work in a dierent format (for example but not limited to HTML or plain text).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publica on Data:

cYo, 2010-
The ComicRack Manual: for ComicRack 0.9.133 and beyond
600Wpmpo. -- 4th ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 000-0-000-00000-0 (pbk. w/dvd)
1. Digital Comics (Electronic resource) 2. Windows. 3. Manuals
(Computers) I. 600Wpmpo, 2010- II. Title.
AA00.00.A00A00000 2010
000.000--aa00
20101107
Printed on Adobe InDesign CS4
First edi on April 2010, Second edi on June 2010, Third Edi on June 2010

Disclaimer
THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK IS DISTRIBUTED ON AN AS IS BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTY. WHILE EVERY PRECAUTION
HAS BEEN TAKEN IN THE PREPARATION OF THE BOOK, NEITHER THE AUTHORS NOR COMICRACK.CYOLITO.COM SHALL HAVE
ANY LIABILITY TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY WITH RESPECT TO ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED OR ALLEGED TO BE CAUSED,
DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, BY THE INSTRUCTIONS CONTAINED IN THIS BOOK OR BY THE COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND HARD
WARE PRODUCTS DESCRIBED IN IT. ALL COMICS AND PUBLISHERS IDENTIFIED THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK ARE USED IN
EDITORIAL FASHION ONLY AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF USERS WITH NO INTENTION OF INFRINGEMENT OF TRADEMARKS.
NO SUCH USE, OR THE USE OF ANY TRADE NAME, IS INTENDED TO CONVEY ENDORSEMENT OR OTHER AFFILIATION WITH
THIS BOOK. ECOMICS DISPLAYED IN THE SCREENSHOTS ARE FOR DEMONSTRATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE FREELY DOWN
LOADABLE ECOMIC COVERS AND OFFICIAL PREVIEW PAGES FOR THE RESPECTIVE COMICS HAVE BEEN USED TO CONSTRUCT
DEMO CBZ FILES. THE COMICRACK TEAM STRONGLY DISCOURAGES COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS, AND OPPOSES PIRACY
IN ANY FORM.

cYo So eBooks are available as a free download for all ComicRack forum members. To become a member and subscribe to Comic-
Rack manual, please register at comicrack.cyolito.com. Informa on has been obtained by cYo so from sources believed to be reli-
able. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, cYo so , or others, cYo so does not guarantee
the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any informa on and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained
from the use of such informa on.
for my wife, despite whose presence, I managed to complete the manual !
 Preface to the fourth edi on
A much delayed 4th edi on of the ComicRack manual is here. The ever improving new
builds of ComicRack, as well as my busy schedule were mainly responsible for the delay. As many
as 8 new builds of ComicRack have been released from July 2010 ll date. Some of these releases,
especially 0.9.130 & 0.9.131, were huge in terms of new features and GUI changes.
Enjoyable as this was, it some mes took me upto a single day (whatever hours I could steal
from it) to make a par cular page. I would design, re-design, and re-re-design ll I got sa sfied with
the result. Even now when I see the final product, I s ll feel that it could have been done be er.
Among the major changes, we got fileless entries, a new ra ngs system, a quick open box
(aka speed dial), and a redesigned preferences dialog. Workspaces and list layouts finally got their
edit dialogs. DjVu support was also added. Apart from these notable changes, we witnessed a lot of
minor tweaks & advancements both in the structure & the func on of ComicRack. All this needed
exhaus ve documen ng. Heavy work could be noted on the reader, configuring, managing and the
scripts chapters.
Apart from these essen al changes (which I had to add in the manual, come what may),
there were some other minor improvements I thought of. The front cover of the manual has been
redesigned. All chapter front and inner pages have also been redesigned. Screenshots of almost all
ComicRack dialogs have been given a light drop shadow for a more elegant look. Many sec ons,
notably those on the state indicators, workspaces, list layouts, and page layout are now expanded
and improved. A lot of screenshots have been replaced by new, apparently be er-looking ones.
During the past 4 months, we also saw an unprecedented increase in the number of new
scripts. While these scripts were largely excellent, this meant extra documenta on for me! I also
took it upon myself to make logos for all the scripts. I intend to post these on the forum, so that we
can have a more uniform and eye-candy display of all these excellent add-ons available for Comic-
Rack.
So, finally the manual is again available, updated and all, on your screen (hopefully some
day, it will be in your hands). It is expected to soon need revisions and new edi ons, depending on
how fast (or ferociously, if you allow me) cYo improves pre-exis ng features & introduces new ones.
This requires commitment from my side, which, if all goes well, is not likely to waver. However, I may
take the liberty of taking increasingly prolonged intervals to release new edi ons. Please bear with
it. Just like with the previous edi ons, please support the manual project by giving it a good read,
and poin ng out any errors that you discover.
Now me to burn this never ending preface and enjoy the manual !

600Wpmpo
7 November 2010
 Preface to the second edi on
It feels very nice to write the preface for the second edi on. The first edi on of the manual was a simple, brief
and rather amateur work. Things have changed since then. This me, I have used (with no formal training) Adobe Inde-
sign CS5 for the page layout and design of the manual, and feel quite confident recommending this excellent so ware
to friends having similar interests. The manual has been almost completely rewri en and restructured. The sec on on
reading lists has been expanded and now is a detailed manuscript on the topic. We now have a separate (and much-
deserved) chapter on scripts, discussing almost all of the important scripts. Sec ons which were inappropriately long
have been abridged (the comic display se ngs sec on earlier spanned 4 pages, now it packs more informa on in a single
page). The manual now has a proper (hyperlinked) table of contents and an index. Each chapter also has its own table of
contents. However, cross-referencing has s ll not been implemented (due to a bug in InDesign) and is in the to-do list for
the next edi on. While most of the wiki-copied sec ons have been replaced, some of them are wri en so perfectly that
I have decided against changing them. With this edi on, a new pa ern of diagrams have been introduced, consis ng of
screenshots outlined with dierent strokes and explanatory text alongside. I have always been impressed with the teach
yourself visually series of books, and have adapted their style to provide the manual an almost professional look.
Overall, the manual has improved in both the quality of content and the number of pages. Not surprisingly, with
this release, the file size of the manual has also doubled. For this reason, the manual is being released in two formats:
original/HQ version (recommended), and a small-sized (low-quality) version.
No preface would be complete without thanking cYo. A lot of us move on with me, but some great individuals
keep true to their dreams and pursue them to perfec on; cYo is one of those people. I would also take this opportunity to
thank my friends Stonepaw (for proof-reading the first edi on) and quidam (for helping me out with por ons that I didnt
understand properly).
I hope the manual would prove useful to the users of ComicRack. I intend to keep on improving the manual,
and releasing new edi ons from me to me, both to add the features that I missed, and to add the new features as they
are introduced. Just like with the previous version, please support the manual project by giving it a good read, and point-
ing out any errors that you discover.

Preface to the first edi on

There comes a day in everyones life when one says to himself, What had I been doing all this me? Such a day
revelled on me about 2 years back when I stumbled upon a so ware called ComicRack. At that me, I had just, rather
painstakingly, completed organizing about half of my comic collec on in a record 2 weeks me, and was quite smug with
the feat. So, anyway, I installed it and began experimen ng with my unorganized comics. In those days, ComicRack was
neither so much popular, nor the monster (in terms of func onality and eciency) it is now. S ll, it took even less than an
hour to sort out all the gigs of my eComics, all decked up with metadata and stu. Naviga ng eComics became a breeze,
and managing my comics took less me than reading them. That was the experience I hadnt forgo en ll date. While my
tastes in reading comics have changed a lot since then, ComicRack has been my constant companion.
Over the years, I have seen ComicRack undergo a huge number of posi ve changes. A lot of features have
been added, some of them so subtle that unless you look for them, you wont find them! I introduced a lot of my friends
to ComicRack. Every few days, someone or the other would say Yeah, this so ware is good, but I wish it had this feature
also, or something on these lines. While it felt nice to look at their blushing faces when I told them that what they wanted
was already there, I also agreed with them that such a program should have a proper help file. Many reviewers, who had
kind words of praise for ComicRack, also cri cised it for lacking a manual. A few months back, I finally got around to
making one. I immediately realised that the plethora of features (ComicRack is not just features rich, it is Bill Gates
features rich) made it quite overwhelming to compile and explain everything. S ll, I have tried my best at doing what
should have been done a lot earlier: making a founda on for a proper manual for a so ware that deserves it more than
anything else.
Since I am no web designer or so ware geek, the manuals look is s ll amateurish despite of my hard work.
Some sec ons are shamelessly copied from the ComicRack wiki. In spite of using ComicRack for many years, I am
s ll not completely familiar with some of the features, and they might be fully and properly explained in future edi ons.
Please download the manual and give it a read. Do point out any errors (of both omission and commission) and Ill try my
best to rec fy them in the next update. Please give sugges ons as to how we can further improve the look of the manual.
If you dislike anything in the manual (or the whole of it), please feel free to give construc ve cri cism.
 Acknowledgements
cYo
The creator of ComicRack. He is the single person whose consistent eorts have
transformed his fun project into todays top rated eComic managing program.
Greatly respected and loved by all, he solely develops and updates the so ware.

quidam
One of the most helpful members on the forum.
He seems to know the ComicRack so ware bet-
ter than most of us, and is the ocial editor and
trouble-shooter for the manual.
Stonepaw
The main script developer of ComicRack. He
has a lot of scripts to his credit, and is one of the
most reliable persons to seek in mes of crisis. He
is also the ocial proof-reader for the manual.

cbanack
Best known for developing the Comic vine scrap-
er script. His script is considered the best script
ever in the history of ComicRack.
perezmu
One of the oldest members, perezmu was the
person whose idea was later modified into the
comic vine scraper. He is also the developer of a
large number of other popular scripts.

pescuma Shinrai
Pescuma joined our team this year, and took us Shinrai has been with the ComicRack team for
by storm with one excellent script a er other. a long me. Helpful and suppor ve, Shinrai is al-
Even as you read this, he is busy somewhere writ- ways there to lean on.
ing his next script !

wadegiles Alan Sco

One of the oldest members, wadegiles has to his One of the senior members, Alan is widely appre-
credit a number of scripts, that have stood the ciated for his work on the ComicRack wiki.
test of me, and s ll figure in the currently popu-
lar script lists.

oraclexview {Oo}
Oraclexview has developed a couple of excellent {Oo} is also a member for a long me. He is a
scripts over the past one year, that are very popu- regular (when not sick !) on the forum, and is
lar & useful even today. always found helping other users, or teasing the
developers to work be er !

Although a lot of other users have contributed to the development of The ComicRack Manual, it is not possible to list and thank all of
them. Any omissions are inadvertent and should be excused. Here are some ac ve users, who are regularly par cipa ng in the discus-
sions on the forum, and have helped, in some way or the other, the so ware (some mes by finding bugs & even seeking help) & the
manual (by their comments & experiences).

bugger repan forkicks kenjio James Taro lanzajr26

Spaceman
C
Introduc on
W C R ? 3
System Requirements 3
Supported Languages 3
F O 4
Comparison with CDisplayEx 6
C :B F 7

Ge ng started
I 10
F R 12
Start a new library 13
Open an eComic 13
Drag and Drop 14
R P 15
 User Interface
M W 18
Docking Grips 19
Toolbars & Tab bars 20
ComicRack Status Bar 21
M 22
S I 24
Ribbons 24
Stars 24
Ra ngs 24
Pending Background Tasks 25
Dog-ears 26
Cover Browser 26

Browser
I B 29
Docking the Browser 30
Browser Toolbar 31
L 31
Browser Views 32
Browser Context Menu 37
F 38
P 39
Dele ng Pages 40
Saving Pages 40
S 41
Sidebar Toolbar 42
(contd...)
(contd...)
S B 43
Using the Quick Search box 44
Using the Nega on filter 44
Favorites 45
Small Preview 45
O W 45
Info Panel 46

Reader
I R 49
Reader: The Basics 49
Reader Naviga on 50
Auto Scrolling 51
R T 52
R T B 53
Q O B 54
O 55
Naviga on Overlay 55
Current Page Overlay 55
Visible Page Part Overlay 56
Messages & Status Overlay 56
P L 57
Page Layout (Number) 57
Page Layout (Fit) 58
Rota on 59
R C M 60
 Configuring
P 63
Reader Setup 64
Libraries 67
Behavior 68
Scripts 69
Advanced 70
C D S 71
L L 72
Introduc on 72
Saving List Layouts 73
Edi ng List Layouts 73
Copying / Pas ng Layouts 74
W 75
What is a workspace ? 75
Saving Workspaces 76
Edi ng Workspaces 76
C - S 77

Managing
I 80
Summary 80
Details 81
Plot & Notes 83
Pages 84
Colors 85
F eC 86
File-less comic entries 86
File-less comic series 87
Catalog 88
(contd...)
(contd...)
M eC I D 89
C P 90
R 91
R L 93
E C 94
Crea ng export presets 94
B 95
D B 96
How to backup database ? 96
How to restore database ? 96
What is backed up ? 97
Good Backup Prac ces 97

Lists
I 100
Custom Lists vs. Smart Lists 100
C L 101
Create a new Custom List 101
S L 103
Create a new Smart List 103
Smart List Basics 104
W L 105
Open a list in own tab/window 105
Duplicate current list 105
Edit a smart list (change its rules) 106
Delete an eComic from a list 106
Delete a list 106
Working with reading list folders 106
Export (or backup) Lists 107
Expor ng basics 107
How to export lists 107
Import Lists 108
Impor ng basics 108
How to import lists 108
 Scripts
S :B 111
Installing Scripts 111
Uninstalling Scripts 112
C P S 113
B I S 114
Autonumber Wizard 114
Commit Proposed Values 114
Export Comic List 115
Rename Files 115
Search & Replace 115
Web Link 115
D I S 116
Comic Vine Scraper 116
New Comic Entry via Barcode 119
C S 120
Convert 10-point Ra ng 120
Insert Ra ng 120
Arturos New Comics Toolbox 120
Import tags from filename 121
Other Scripts 121
F M S 122
Books Collector 122
Convert eComics to Fileless 123
Guided Rename 123
Move Files 124
Organize Library Files & Folders 124
S L S 125
Books with pages marked 125
Find Missing Issue Gaps 125
Other Scripts 126
Next Issues To Read 126
Series Count Is 126
(contd...)
(contd...)
I P S 127
CoverFlow Info Panel 127
Metadata Info Panel 127
Series Info Panel 128
M S 129
Create Combined Script 129
Extract all pages 129
Extract first page 129
Open With Script 130
List Comic Files in Directory 130
Remove all Bookmarks 130
Remove Scanner Credits 131
Write Missing Issues to Text File 131
Weekly Comic Releases 132

Web Comics
W C B 135
Ge ng Web comics 135
ComicRack forum 135
Create Web comics on your own 135
Using Web comic Templates 136
W W 138
Alter a Web comics star ng date 139
Save a Web comic for oine reading 139
Upda ng Web comics 139
 Network Sharing
O R L 142
E N S 144
Allow through firewall 145
Sharing on the LAN 146
Enabling sharing on the LAN 146
Sharing over the Internet 147
Enabling sharing via a modem 147
Enabling sharing via a router 147

Support
F 151
F 152
N 153
D 154
Why donate ? 154
How to donate ? 154
 A M
Who needs this book ics into custom lists and smart lists to suit a par cular
reading style or mood.
The ComicRack Manual is for 3 kinds of users. First, the
Chapter 9, Scripts, introduces you to a large number of
naive user who has never used the ComicRack so -
add-ons for ComicRack to increase its func onality by
ware. Second, the casual user who knows the basics of
automa ng various tasks.
the program, but feels overwhelmed by the sheer num-
ber of features that ComicRack provides, and would like
Chapter 10, Web Comics, introduces you to the Web
to master them at his own pace. Lastly, the advanced
Comic format; crea ng, downloading and upda ng Web
user, who wishes to expand his knowledge of the dier-
Comics using ComicRack is also explained.
ent features that ComicRack has to oer.
Chapter 11, Network Sharing, tells you how to use Comi-
Book Organiza on cRack for sharing your eComic collec on with your fam-
ily & friends over the internet.
The ComicRack Manual has 12 chapters:
Chapter 12, Support, provides informa on on how you
Chapter 1, Introduc on, gives you the basics of eComics can help the ComicRack project. It also tells about vari-
and ComicRack. ous ComicRack resources on the web.

Chapter 2, Ge ng Started, explains installing Comic- Chapter Organiza on

Rack and using it for the first me.
Each chapter groups together a number of sec ons that
Chapter 3, User Interface, introduces you to the win-
have a common theme. A chapter may also contain pages
dows, menus, and toolbars of ComicRack.
that give you the background informa on needed to un-
derstand the sec ons in a chapter. Every sec on has an
Chapter 4, Browser, discusses the browser window in
introduc on to the task at hand, a set of full color screen-
detail. You get to know about the library, folders and pag-
shots, and steps that walk you through the task, and a set
es tabs, the sidebar, and the search browser.
of ps. This format allows you to quickly look at the topic
Chapter 5, Reader, discusses the reader window in de- of interest and understand it instantly.
tail, including basic naviga on, toolbars, and tab bars.

Chapter 6, Configuring, shows you how to setup Comic-

Rack according to your taste, using the Preferences di-
alog, comic display se ngs, list layouts, and workspaces.

Chapter 7, Managing, helps you organize your eComic

collec on using metadata. The Info dialog and reading
lists are described in detail.

Chapter 8, Lists, explains in detail how to organize eCom-

The Conven ons in this book Using the mouse

A number of typographic and layout styles have been The book uses the following conven on to describe the
used throughout The ComicRack Manual to dis nguish ac ons you perform when using the mouse:
dierent types of informa on.
Click
Blue italic Press your le mouse-bu on once. You generally click
Blue italic type represents the names of commands and your mouse on something to select something on your
op ons that you interact with. Most of the blue italic screen. The word single-click is synonymous with the
terms are indexed. word click.

Blue stroke Double-click

Blue stroke text indicates keyboard shortcuts. These Press your le mouse-bu on twice. Double-clicking
are alterna ves to performing the desired ac ons with something on the computer screen generally opens
the mouse. whatever item you have double-clicked.

Blue Underlined Right click

Blue underlined text indicates hyperlinks. These are ei- Press your right-mouse bu on. When you right-click an-
ther cross-references to text somewhere else in the book, ything on the computer screen, the program displays a
or links to resources on the internet. shortcut menu containing commands specific to the se-
lected item.
Numbered Lists
You must perform the instruc ons given in Red num- Drag and drop
bered lists in order to successfully complete a sec on Move your mouse pointer and hover it over an item on
and achieve the final results. Blue numbered lists denote the screen. Press and hold down the le mouse bu on.
the various components of the menu / window being dis- Now, move the mouse to where you want to place the
cussed. item and then release the bu on. You use this method to
move an item from one area of the computer screen to
Bulleted Lists another.
These bulleted lists point out various op onal features.
You dont have to perform them as steps.

Tips
Tips oer addi onal informa on, including hints, tricks,
and solu ons to some common problems faced by users.
You can use the TIPS informa on to go beyond what you
have already learned. You can easily iden
en fy
fy the
th TIPS in
any sec on by looking at the TIPS bu on.
n.
I

Are you new to Comic-

Rack? This chapter intro-
duces you to the world of
ComicRack and eComics.
Welcome aboard!
W C R ? 3
System Requirements 3
Supported Languages 3
F O 4
A comparison of ComicRack and CDisplayEx 6
eC :B F 7
Will my metadata stay preserved if I transfer my eComics
to another computer? 7
W C R ?

ComicRack is the best eComic reader and manager

for Windows computers. It is an all-in-one solu on
to read and manage your eComic library. It is ac vely
maintained, has a strong user base and is FREE.

ComicRack uses Comic Book Archive files, which

have the extension .cbr or .cbz and are simply re-
named RAR or ZIP files, respec vely. Apart from the
standard CBR & CBZ formats, ComicRack supports
various other file formats also including PDF, CB7(7z),
TAR(CBT), DJVU and may add further formats in the
future.

System Requirements

Supported Opera ng Systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

SP3
Processor: 400 MHz Pen um processor or equivalent (Minimum); 1GHz
Pen um processor or equivalent (Recommended)
RAM: 128 MB (Minimum); 2 GB (Recommended)
Hard Disk: Up to 40 MB of available space may be required
CD or DVD Drive: Not required
Display: 800 x 600, 256 colors (Minimum); 1024 x 768 high color, 32-bit
(Recommended)
So ware: .NET framework 4.0 is required to run ComicRack 0.9.122
and higher, Ghostscript 8.7 (op onal) is needed for complete pdf sup-
port.

Supported Languages
ComicRack is mul lingual: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese,
Chinese and other language packs are available. The latest release of Comi-
cRack always contains all Language Packs in the setup.

3
 F
O

Read your eComics the way

you want: Fast naviga on,
auto scrolling, auto rota on,
dynamic zooming, automa c
page fi ng, magnifier, man-
ga mode, full screen reading,
dual screen support, mul -tab
interface.

The powerful integrated li-

brary allows you to bring your
whole collec on to life. With
dierent ways to group, sort
and present all the data of
your eComics, it helps you
rediscover your hidden treas-
ures.

ComicRack allows you to

edit and show the informa on
of your eComics. You can even
change the color and sharp-
ness of comic pages.

4
 Edit eComic pages, rotate
them to your needs, change
the reading order or add ad-
di onal informa on.

ComicRack can batch con-

vert your eComics to all im-
portant formats (including
PDF). And all this in done in
the background while you
keep on reading.

ComicRack can be adapted

to your needs. Op mize page
display, share your library in
your local network or change
the user interface language.

5
A comparison of ComicRack and CDisplayEx
Feature Category Feature ComicRack CDisplayEx

Pla orm / OS Windows 7, Vista, XP (SP3) Windows (All)

Current Version 0.9.133 1.6
Language Support Mul lingual None
Basic Features Memory Consump on Rela vely more Low
Requirement .NET framework 4.0 Not required
Supported eComic formats CBZ, CBR, CBT, CB7, CBW, PDF, DJVu No support for PDF, DJVu, CBW
Support for images in a folder No Yes
Auto Rota on Yes No
Auto Scrolling Yes No
Dual Screen Support Yes No
Full Screen Reading Yes Yes
Magnifier Yes Yes
Reading eComics Manga Mode Yes Yes
Mul -tab interface Yes No
Smooth Scrolling Yes Yes (mouse-based)
Thumbnail mode Yes Yes
Touch Screen Support Yes No
Zooming Yes Yes
Add Comic metadata to files Yes No
Edit eComic pages Yes No
Extract Pages Yes No
File-less comics Yes No
Get metadata from internet Yes No
Managing eComics Group & Sort Comics Yes No
Library Yes No
Ra ngs Yes No
Search func on Yes No
Smart Lists Support Yes No
Viewing eComic-related info Yes No
Animated page display changes Yes No
Changing color/sharpness of eComic pages Yes No
Configurable keyboard shortcuts Yes Yes
Convert eComics from one format to other Yes No
Hardware accelera on support Yes No
Move comic files Yes No
Advanced features Network sharing of comics Yes No
Print eComics No Yes
Reading and downloading Web Comics Yes No
Realis c comic display Yes Yes (minimal)
Rename comic files Yes No
RSS feeds for new comic releases Yes No
View and remove duplicate comics Yes No
Support Forum / Facebook Page Yes No

6
 eC :B F

eComics are basically archives of individual page images and usually have the extension .cbr or .cbz. eComics are
thus defined as RAR/ZIP/7z files containing JPG, BMP, PNG, or GIF images, with the extension changed to CBR/CBZ/
CB7 respec vely.

ComicRack organizes eComics by storing metadata as XML snippets (either as part of the big
library file ComicDB.xml) or as single small files (called Comicinfo.xml) into eComics. As eComics
can have a variety of formats (PDF, CBZ, CBR, CB7, CBT), the ability to save metadata diers:
PDF: No archive at all, no place for ComicInfo.xml or any custom metadata.
CBR: Rar format can not be wri en (proprietary)
CBZ: ComicInfo.xml is updated
CB7: ComicInfo.xml is updated
CBT: Streaming archive, no update because of performance issues.

The recommended format is CBZ or CB7, as ZIP/7z are freely available formats while RAR is owned by RarLabs.
They have released the unRAR capabili es but not the RAR. Thus, the ComicInfo.xml file is changed/added for CBZ
and CB7 eComics only, while for all other archive formats (including CBR), it is not touched.

Will my metadata stay preserved if I transfer my eComics to another computer?

All eComic formats recognized by ComicRack that are in your library, are stored in the
database file (ComicDB.xml), so you can easily backup/restore their metadata. In case
of CBZ (also in CB7, but not in normal zip or 7z) files, ComicRack also stores meta-
data as the Comicinfo.xml file within these file formats. Once the Comicinfo.xml file
is stored in CBZ or CB7 files, the metadata in these file formats will stay preserved no
ma er wherever or how many mes you transfer them. However, upon transfer, you
will lose non-comic metadata informa on: last page read, current page, tags, ra ng,
read percentage, opened count, added/opened date etc.

Technically you can retrieve metadata from CBRs as well, since the metadata is also
stored in the secondary stream of an eComic. This means that as long as you don't
move the eComic to a non-NTFS par on or burn it to a CD or something, you will be
able to retrieve metadata from CBRs also. This also implies that in case of CBR files, the
metadata is lost if you transfer the file to another computer. However, its metadata (or
any file format, for that ma er) can be saved by backing up the database (ComicDB.
xml) from the Preferences dialog. Backing up the database saves absolutely everything,
including the non-comic metadata that is not preserved in the Comicinfo.xml file. For
more informa on, see the sec on on Database Backup.

7
G

Are you ready to experience

ComicRack? In this chap-
ter, you learn the basics of
installing and ge ng started
with ComicRack.
Come on in!
I 9

F R 11
Open an eComic 12
Start a new library 12
Drag and Drop 13

R P 14
 I

Installing ComicRack is a very simple process. Just follow the step-by-step instruc ons below to get Comic-
Rack working on your system. The steps outlined below depict the ComicRack installa on on a PC running
Windows 7. If you have a dierent (supported) opera ng system, the screens may appear slightly dierent.

1. Download the latest ComicRack setup file from the ComicRack download page. Double-click the setup
file to open the installa on wizard. Click Next to con nue.
2. Read the license agreement, and click I agree to con nue.
3. Now you can see the descrip on of the components by posi oning your mouse over them. If you wish, you
can choose the components that you want to install, and uncheck those that you dont. We recommend a
complete installa on with all components selected.
1 2 3

4. Choose the folder in which to install ComicRack. The default loca on is C:/Program Files/ComicRack.
5. ComicRack (build 0.9.122 and higher) requires .NET framework 4. If not already installed on your system,
the ComicRack installer will oer to download it from the internet.
5a. Pressing No will con nue with the ComicRack installa on, but the program will not run un ll the re-
quired .NET installa on is completed. Instead, the .NET framework ini aliza on error will occur on run-
ning ComicRack.

4 5 5a

10
 5b. The .NET framework can be installed through the oine standalone .NET installer, either prior to or a er
the ComicRack installa on. However, the simplest way is to click yes when the ComicRack installer
prompts you. Accept the .NET license terms and let it install.

5b

6. Just a er the .NET framework installa on completes, a dialog box appears, asking for an immediate system
restart.
6a. Click Restart Later, and let ComicRack complete its installa on and then manually restart your system.
6b. If, however, you are installing .NET prior or a er ComicRack installa on, you can safely click the Restart
Now bu on when asked by the .NET installer.
7. Click Finish to complete the installa on.

6a 6b 7

From where do I download Microso .NET Framework 4.0 so that I may use it for oine
installa on?

Following are download links for all Microso .NET Framework 4.0
versions available:
Download Link (Web Installer) (requires Internet connec on at installa on me)
Full Standalone Installer (supports x86, x64 and ia64 architectures but some features are not sup-
ported on ia64 for example, WPF)
Full Standalone Installer x86 (If you need to install it in x86 system only)
Full Standalone Installer ia64 (if you need to install it in ia64 system only)

11
 F R

As you are going to start ComicRack for the first me, we would like to welcome you to the ComicRack community.
Wishing you a life me of comics, with a li le help from the most complete, yet incredibly easy so ware that you have
just successfully installed. So, come on, lets start ComicRack !

1. Double-click the ComicRack icon to open the program. It can be found on 1

the desktop or under All Programs in the Windows Start Menu. We recom-
mend pinning the program shortcut to the taskbar (Windows 7) or the start
menu for quick access.

2 3 4

5
2. A Windows Security Alert may pop-up, indicat--
ing that Windows Firewall has blocked some fea-
tures of ComicRack. You may check all op ons
and safely click the Allow access bu on. This is a
once-only step and wont be required every me
you start ComicRack.
3. You will be greeted with the ComicRack
splash screen.
4. A dialog will open reques ng you to Donate to
ComicRack if you wish. To know more about
Dona ons, please read the sec on on Donations.
Even if you decide not to donate, ComicRack is
fully func onal. In this case, click Skip for now.
5. The default ComicRack window is open, and
your program is up and running !

12
 Open an eComic
Opening your first eComic with ComicRack is the quickest way
to get started! There are a number of ways to open eComics with
ComicRack:
From the Main menu at the top of the window, click the
File menu and then click Open eComic.
Alterna vely, you may simply use the Ctrl+O keyboard com-
bo.
Double-clicking any cbz/cbr file in windows explorer will launch
that file with ComicRack.
Right-clicking any zip/rar archive in Windows Explorer and se-
lec ng Open with ComicRack.

Start a new library

Adding your eComic collec on to ComicRack is the first step in
managing / organizing your ever expanding comic collec on. Here
is a quick startup on how to start a new eComic library with Comi-
cRack:

1. From the main menu at the top of the window, click File and 1
then click Add Folder to Library. Alterna vely, you may simply
use the Ctrl+Shift+A keyboard combo.
2. Browse to where your comics are. Select your eComic folder,
and click Ok.
3. ComicRack will scan the folder (and its subfolders) and add all
eComics to the Library. The pending background tasks indica-
tor on the status bar at the bo om of ComicRack will display
a spinning logo while searching.

These steps may have to be repeated if you have your eComics in 2

more than one folder. The next me you add an eComic to one of
the added folders, you may click the Scan eComic folders bu on
from the file menu, or simply restart ComicRack, and the newly
added files will be displayed in your ComicRack library. More ad-
vanced features of the library shall be discussed in the forthcoming
chapters.

13
 Drag and Drop
You can also drag and drop your eComics into ComicRack to 1
read them or to add them to the ComicRack library. New us-
ers find this the most convenient way to get started! Here is
how you can use this feature:

From an explorer window, select an eComic. If you are plan-

ning to add eComic to ComicRack, you can select a batch
of eComics.
Drag & drop it over the Reader window (if you want to read
it) or the Browser window (if you want to add it to the li-
brary). Learn more about these windows & the user inter-
face of ComicRack in the next chapter. With the le mouse bu on clicked, drag an eComic from
explorer towards the ComicRack window.

2a 2b

Drag and drop your eComic over the Reader Release the mouse bu on to drop the eComic
window (this is the window that you see occupy- over the Reader window. You can now read your
ing the upper half of the default ComicRack eComic with ComicRack.
interface).

3a 3b

Drag and drop your eComic over the Browser
window (this is the window that you see occupy-
ing the lower half of the default ComicRack
interface).
Release the mouse bu on to drop the eComic over
the Browser window. Your eComic is now added to
the ComicRack library. Now, whenever you open
ComicRack, you can access the added eComic
from the browser window.

14
 R P

Out of the box, ComicRack has very limited support for PDF files. Basically it tries to get
all the images in it and displays them. Of course, this works for most eComic PDFs but not
for eBooks which also contain a lot of text. However, you can convert ComicRack to a full
blown, fully compliant PDF reader and have the advantage of all the built in library func ons
(cover, page thumbnails and previews, database etc.)

You simply have to download the ocial ghostscript release and install it on your system.
Make sure to install the correct version. If you run ComicRack as 32 bit, you must install the
Ghostscript is a suite of so -
32 bit version of ghostscript (the 32-bit or 64-bit info can be found in the lower right-hand ware based on an interpreter
corner of the ComicRack splash screen). A er this, ComicRack will automa cally use it for Adobe Systems PostScript
and Portable Document For-
and display PDFs as good as Adobe Reader. mat (PDF) page descrip on
languages.

Just follow these 2 simple steps to install ghostscript on your system:

1 2
Once the extrac on is complete, the ghostscript setup dialog
will open. Here, if you wish, you can change the installa on di-
rectory. To begin the installa on, click Install. The Ghostscript
setup log will open and a scrolling list of files being copied to
the system will be seen. Once installa on is complete, the
setup dialog boxes will close.

Please note that you do not need to open or run the ghost-
Double-click the downloaded Ghostscript setup file. The Win- script program just installed. Simply running ComicRack on a
Zip self-extractor will open up. Click on Setup to begin the ex- system having ghostscript will open & read pdf files perfectly.
trac on.

Before Ghostscript After Ghostscript

Opening the ComicRack manual pdf file in ComicRack Opening the ComicRack manual pdf file in ComicRack
on a system that does not have ghostscript. See how on the same system a er installing ghostscript. Now,
ComicRack displays only the images on a page. ComicRack displays the manual just like Adobe Reader.

15
U I

Ge ng familiar with the in-

terface and terminologies of
ComicRack will serve as a
primer for later understand-
ing the myriad func onal-
ity ComicRack has to oer.
Dont skip this one!
M W 18
Docking Grips 19
Toolbars & Tab bars 20
ComicRack Status Bar 21

M 22

S I 24
Ribbons 24
Stars 24
Ra ngs 24
Pending Background Tasks 25
Dog-ears 26
Cover Browser 26
 M W

This chapter is essen al for understanding the terminologies used to describe the various parts of ComicRack. Take
some me to familiarize yourself with the components.

ComicRack broadly consists of 2 main components, the Reader window and the Browser window. You manage your
eComics in the Browser, and you read them in the Reader. The ComicRack Reader and Browser are supplemented by
their respec ve toolbars and tab bars. The Browser is supported by the Sidebar, which carries the library, plus all the
reading lists. At the top of the ComicRack window is the Main Menu, and at the bo om lies the Status Bar.

Shown below is the default interface for ComicRack:

Main Menu
Reader Toolbar

Reader Tab Bar

1 Reader Window

Browser Tab Bar

Sidebar Toolbar Browser Toolbar

2 Browser Window
3
Sidebar

Status Bar

18
 Docking Grips
In its default layout, ComicRack contains as many as 3 hidden
or op onal windows. These can be iden fied by no cing the dot- 4
ted extenders known as Docking Grips. Clicking on these docking
grips toggles o/on the 3 op onal windows, viz. Search Browser, 2 1
Favorites & Small Preview. Apart from these, there are 3 more
docking grips that assist in changing the layout of the ComicRack
window contents.
Although, technically speaking, the Sidebar also is an op onal win- 5
dow, yet it is ac ve in the default ComicRack setup. This is due to
the essen al func onality of the Sidebar (discussed in forthcom-
ing chapters). Please also note that the Info Panel docking grip is
not seen in the default setup. It shall be discussed later.
The loca ons and names of all the docking grips are tabulated be- 3 6
low:

Loca on Name
1 Between the Browser Toolbar above and the Browser window below Search Browser Docking Grip

2 Between the Sidebar Toolbar above and the Sidebar below Favorites Docking Grip

3 Between the Sidebar above and the Status bar below Small Preview Docking Grip

4 Between the Reader Window above and the Browser Tab Bar below Browser Docking Grip

5 Between the Sidebar on the le and the Reader window on the right Sidebar Docking Grip

6 Between the Browser window above and the Status bar below Info Panel Docking Grip

Favorites Window Search Browser

2 1

3 6

Small Preview Info Panel

19
 With the Sidebar toggled o, the Browser Tab Bar sits just above the Browser Tool-
bar. Please remember that the Sidebar comes back when the Folders tab is clicked.
Therefore, if required, it has to be toggled o independently for both the Library
tab and the Folders tab. It should be noted that the Pages Browser does not have
5 the Sidebar, and thus does not display the Sidebar docking grip.

Toolbars & Tab bars

The Browser Tab Bar contains tabs for the Li- The Comic Reader is the area where the
brary Browser, Folders Browser, and Pages Browser, open eComics are displayed. Just above
which are all integrated with the Sidebar Toolbar the Reader window is the Reader Tab Bar
and the Browser Toolbar. The Sidebar folders & lists on the le , and the Reader Toolbar on the
can be opened in a new tab here. Shared libraries right. The Reader Tab Bar shows the tabs
also show up here in their own tabs. The Library and for currently opened eComics. Scrolling
Folders tabs open up their respec ve content in the anywhere over the reader tab bar switch-
Sidebar, while the Pages Tab uses the en re Browser es its tabs. It con nues into the Reader
window to display details regarding the pages of an Toolbar, which contains several bu ons
open eComic. Please note that scrolling anywhere and menus required for customizing how
over the tab bar switches its tabs. eComics are displayed in the Reader.
Browser Tab Bar Reader Tab Bar Reader Toolbar

Sidebar Toolbar Browser Toolbar

The Sidebar toolbar contains the icons required for The Browser toolbar contains a number of
working with the sidebar. At the extreme right, the op ons for viewing a variety of comic lay-
sidebar toolbar contains previous / next arrows for out styles in the Browser. The content of
naviga ng through the sidebar lists and folders. The the Browser Toolbar changes with respect
content of the Sidebar Toolbar changes with respect to the tab open in the Browser Tab Bar.
to the tab open in the Browser Tab Bar.

20
 ComicRack Status Bar
The ComicRack Status Bar is present at the very bo om of the ComicRack window. It displays important informa on
about your eComics.
At the very le of the Status Bar, the total number (and size) of eComics displayed in the Browser is seen. This num-
ber indicates the number of eComics present in the list selected in the sidebar. The Library list is the default, and
reflects your en re eComic collec on archived with ComicRack.
Next to it is the number (and size) of the eComics currently selected in the Browser window. For some users, this
might be the quickest way to find out the size of a par cular eComic, or a group of many eComics.

Number of selected eComics / Size Pending Background Tasks Indicator Current Page of the open eComic eComic Display resize slider

Total eComics displayed in the Browser/ Total Size Caption of the opened eComic Page count of the opened eComic Server Statistics
At the right end of the Status Bar, the eComic display resize slider is present. This is used when you wish to increase
the size of the eComics view (thumbnails, les or details) in the Browser window. The resize slider can be dragged to
the right to increase the thumbnail or the le size, and, in case of the details view, the row size.
Le to the resize slider is the page count of the opened eComic, followed by the current page number of the open
eComic and the cap on of the opened eComic, in that order.
S ll le is the Pending Background Tasks Indicator, If you are sharing your library over the network, you will
that spins whenever info data from files is being read, see a round icon at the extreme right of the Status Bar;
or web comics are being updated. Clicking it brings this is the Server Stascs bu on, clicking which will
on the Tasks Dialog showing the Background Tasks open the Server Stascs tab of the Tasks Dialog show-
tab. It is described in detail later in this chapter. ing displaying all the detailed server sta s cs for your
shared library.

The Pending
Pendi
Pendi
ding Background
Back
ackgro
kground
d Tasks
Tasks
Ta k Dialog
Diialo
alog
l g displays all pending Server Sta
The Ser
Server Sta
St s
scs dialog
cs di
dial
dialog displays all the details regarding
log
tasks, with op ons to abort them immediately. network trac of your remote library.

21
 M

The ComicRack Main menu contains a number of self-explanatory menus. Each menu has a number of sec ons,
containing several func ons. All of these func ons have been described in relevant chapters. Here is a brief over-
view of these menus.
The File menu comprises 6 sec ons, the main func ons of which are as
follows:
1
1. Opening or closing eComics
2. Crea ng a new tab 2
3. Organising and upda ng the library folders and files
4. File-less eComic entries
3
5. Opening remote libraries
6. History
7. Exit or Restart 4
5
6
7

The Edit menu comprises 6 sec ons, the main func ons of which are as
follows: 1
1. Opening the eComic Info dialog
2. Undo / Redo bu ons 2
3. Edi ng eComic pages, plus ra ng and bookmarking them
4. Copying/expor ng pages
5. Refreshing ComicRack 3
6. Opening the Preferences dialog

5
6

How do I hide / unhide the main menu ?

The ComicRack main menu can be hidden using the

Shift+F10 keyboard combo, and can be subse-
quently toggled on/o using the Alt key. Please note
that for this feature to work even when no eComic is
open, you should turn o the show main menu if no
eComic is open op on from the Preferences dialog.

22
The Browse menu comprises 3 sec ons, the main func ons of which are
as follows:
1. Quick links to toggle ComicRack components on/o
2. Shi back and forth the comic lists
3. Browsing / Edi ng workspaces and list layouts 1

The Read menu comprises 4 sec ons, which have the following main
func ons:
1. Shi ing between eComic pages 1
2. Shi ing between individual eComics
3. Shi ing between Tabs 2
4. Op ons for Autoscrolling
3

The Display menu has 3 sec ons, which contain:

1. Comic Display Sengs dialog 1
2. Page customiza on op ons (Layout, zoom, rota on)
3. User interface customiza on op ons 2

The Page Layout op ons can also be accessed from the Reader Toolbar.

The Help menu contains important links to the ComicRack forum and
homepage. The ComicRack documentaon links to the ComicRack
wiki page. A Support bu on is there for users wishing to donate and
maintain ComicRack.

23
 S I
ComicRack makes use of a number of small icons, called State Indicators to provide a lot of at-a-glance informa on.

Ribbons
The green ribbon indicates the last page read in an eComic.
The yellow ribbon is the current page open in the eComic.
If the current page being read is earlier than the last page
ever opened, the yellow ribbon scrolls down as the eComic
pages are read, ll the green ribbon is reached. From there
on, the green ribbon takes over ll the end of the eComic.

Stars
You may occasionally see colored stars on eComic thumbnails
or in the state column if you use the list view. Each star has a
specific meaning.
Red: The Web comic has been updated with new pages.
The number is the number of new pages. Once the new
pages are read, the red stars disappear. As the orange stars
Blue: The eComic in the current list that was last opened are basically update
in the reader. reminders, you can
reduce a lot of manual
Green: The eComic is currently open in the reader. If no upda ng by allowing
eComic is open, the green star will not be seen. automa c upda ng,
Orange: Data is pending to be wri en to the Comicinfo. allowing automa -
cally wri ng data to
xml file in the eComic archive. This includes changes to the files, and increas-
the metadata, informa on on the page images, changes ing your page cache.
in eComic a ributes (like file size and file modified me). You will learn to access
Upda ng your eComic files makes the orange stars disap- these op ons from the
pear. Preferences sec on
in the Configuring
Violet: A fileless eComic. These are simply ComicRack chapter.
database entries for eComics which are not actually pre-
sent on the hard disc.

Ra ngs
You can rate your eComics in ComicRack on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0.1 incre-
ments. Based on your preference, the ra ngs on the eComic thumbnails can be
displayed either in a numerical manner (at the bo om right of the thumbnail),
or as ra ng stars (at the top le of the thumbnail). Community rangs (aver-
age ra ngs from reviewers and readers around the world) are also displayed
similarly. The community ra ngs are blue-colored, while ra ngs assigned by
you (called My rangs) are yellow-colored. Please read the sec on on ra ngs
in the Managing chapter to learn how to assign ra ngs.

24
 Pending Background Tasks
If there are any currently under-process assignments (called Pending Tasks), then corresponding animated icons are
displayed in the Status Bar. These are the Pending Background Tasks Indicators. Double-clicking any of these opens
the Pending Background Tasks dialog. Currently, there are 4 types of pending background tasks indicators, any or all of
which can be seen running in the status bar, depending on the state of the pending tasks.
Scan
This indicates that Comic-
Rack is currently running a
Export scan on your library folders,
When the export eComics searching for new eComics.
func on is used to convert
eComics from one format to
another, this indicator will Write Thumbnails
be seen in the status bar. This indicates that Comic- This is an indicator depic ng that ComicRack is
Rack is wri ng informa- currently ge ng info and crea ng thumbnails for
on to the eComic files the eComics being viewed in the browser. It also
appears when you update Web Comics over the
internet.

The Pending Background Tasks Indicators also integrate with the Windows 7 taskbar, providing you at-a-glance infor-
ma on about the current status of ComicRack just by looking at the taskbar.

25
 Dog-ears
On hovering the mouse over an eComic thumbnail in the browser, a small dog-ear of the first page appears, revealing
the next unread page underneath. On clicking the thumbnail, the dog-ear a ains its complete size and stays on the
thumbnail ll the mouse clicks somewhere else in the browser. This feature can be turned o from the Preferences
dialog.
1 2 3

Cover Browser
The cover browser is represented by the the li le -/+ signs over the eComic thumbnails & les in the browser. This indi-
cates the number of pages in the eComic marked as front cover. It can be used as a visual indicator to iden fy eComics
with variant covers, browse through the covers, and choose the cover to be displayed as the thumbnail/ le.
Cover currently selected for Total number of front covers
display as thumbnail in the eComic

-1/2+
Click on the + sign to browse forward the front covers. Click on
the - sign to move back.

Browsing through 4 covers in an eComic.

Please note that once you reach the last front cover, clicking on the + sign will move you on to the first cover.

26
B

Having problems manag-

ing your eComic collec on?
Suering heartaches while
spending hours organizing
them? Look no further, the
ComicRack browser will
come to your rescue!
I B 29
Docking the Browser 30
Browser Toolbar 31

L 31
Browser Views 32
Using the Thumbnails view 33
Using the Tiles view 34
Using the Details view 35
Using the Stacks Layout 36
Browser Context Menu 37

F 38

P 39
Dele ng Pages 40
Saving Pages 40

S 41
Sidebar Toolbar 42

S B 43
Using the Quick Search box 44
Using the Nega on filter 44

O W 45
Favorites 45
Small Preview 45
Info Panel 46
 I
B
The Browser is the sec on of ComicRack that helps you manage / organize / browse your eComic collec on. All (or
selected) eComics are displayed in the Browser window in the form of thumbnails, les, or details view. The Browser
window is ably supported by the Browser Toolbar and the Browser Tab bar. The Sidebar is an essen al component of
the Browser, and changes its content according to the tab open in the Browser Tab Bar. There are 3 tabs in the Browser
Tab Bar, viz. Library, Folders and Pages. Out of these, the Library and the Folders tabs are integrated with the sidebar,
while the Pages tab does not contain the Sidebar. The Browser window is o en referred to as the Library Browser,
Folders Browser or Pages Browser, depending on which tab is open in the Library Tab Bar. The Search Browser, fa-
vorites window, and the Small Preview are the 3 op onal windows of the Browser, and can be toggled o/on using
their respec ve Docking Grips.
Browser Tab Bar

Sidebar Toolbar Browser Toolbar

Browser Window

Sidebar

Favorites Window
Search Browser

Browser Window
Small Preview

29
 Docking the Browser
The posi on of the Browser in the ComicRack window can be changed
to suit the users choice. The Dock menu present on the extreme right of
the Browser Tab Bar can be used to place (dock) the Browser to the le ,
right or bo om posi on in the ComicRack window. The Browser docked
at the bo om is the default se ng.

Dock Bo om (default)

One important se ng is the Dock

Dockk Fill
Do Fililll op on
on, which unifies
unifies the Brows
Brows-
er tab bar with the Reader tab bar and the Reader Toolbar. In this
se ng, eComics open on this Unified Tab bar. Please note that the
Fullscreen interface under the Dock fill op on displays the main menu
and the unified tab bar.

Dock Le

The Dock menu also contains the In IInfo

fo Panel
Inf
nfo Panell right
rig
ight
igh on. You can use
ht op on
this op on to dock the Info Panel (docked at bo om of the browser
by default) to the right side of the browser. To know more about the
Info panel, see the corresponding sec on at the end of this chapter.

Dock Right

30
 L

The Library tab is the sec on of ComicRack that allows the user to interact with archived eComics via the Browser
window (referred to as the Library Browser when the Library tab is open). Archiving eComics gives you the advantage
of storing metadata, which then can be used for organizing your eComic collec on. Using the Library tab, you can view
in the Browser window either your en re collec on (via library folder in the sidebar), or selected groups of comics (via
reading lists in the sidebar).

Browser Toolbar
The Browser Toolbar is the key to understanding and customizing the Library Browsers layout and appearance. The
following (from le to right) are the essen al components of the Browser Toolbar, with a brief info on their func ons:

Views Stack List Layout Undo / Redo Scripts Quick Launch

Previous / Next Group Arrange Duplicate Current List QuickSearch

Previous / Next Move through the succession of lists recently browsed

Views View as thumbnails, les, or details. Op on to only show eComics based on read state, and duplicates.

Group Based on desired metadata, eComics can be grouped to appear under a common heading in the browser.

Based on desired metadata, eComics can be stacked so that they appear placed one above the other in the
Stack browser.

Arrange eComics can be arranged to appear in a desired sequence.

List Layout Arrange the eComic viewing op ons with List Layouts.

Duplicate current list bu on builds a new smart list out of your current se ngs.
Duplicate Current List

Undo / Redo Undo or Redo the last opera on performed in ComicRack.

Scripts Quick Launch A quick launch bar containing bu ons for all the scripts installed in ComicRack.

Quick Search Search your library based on keywords, series, writer, ar sts, descrip ve, or filename.

31
 Browser Views
The Views bu on helps choose how and what eComics are displayed. Basically, you get to choose
from 3 dierent views: thumbnails, les & details. We shall discuss these in the coming sec ons.
The Views bu on also provides op ons for showing all / not read / reading / read eComics as
well as finding duplicate eComics (see below) in your collec on. You can also choose to show
only eComics or show only fileless entries. To know more about fileless entries, read the sec on
on Fileless eComics in the Managing chapter.

Grouping, Stacking and arranging eComics help in customizing the view as per your choice. Dif-
ferent permuta ons and combina ons of these 3 op ons provide a variety of environments for
managing eComics. Play with these se ngs for a while to find the layout that suits you best. Click the Views bu on to tog-
Please note that the stacking op on is not available in the details view. For changing between gle between the thumbnails,
les & details views.
mul ple list layouts, please read the sec on on List Layouts. Clicking the small downward-
poin ng arrow beside the
views bu on opens up the
Group by Publisher Stack by Series Group by Year Stack by Publisher views menu.

Arrange by Number
Arrange by Series

Removing Duplicates
The Views bu on provides an op on to find & remove duplicate issues that you may have accumulated over me.
There are a number of metadata values needed for comics to be matched; most importantly, Series Name, Issue
Number and Volume. Note that Superman #1 and Superman V1 #1 would not match, nor would Superman
V1 #1 and Superman V2 #1.

A er a slight delay
(dependent on the
total number of
issues in the library,
To use this feature,
folder or list that
select Views in the
this feature is run
Browser window
against), all ap-
and select Show
plicable duplicates
Duplicates.
will display, allowing
the user to make any
changes or dele ons
desired.

32
Using the Thumbnails view
The thumbnails view is the most commonly used view, and is enabled by default. Double-clicking on a (unstacked)
thumbnail opens up its eComic in the reader. It is possible to increase the size of the eComic view by using the eCom-
ic display resize slider present on the status bar. Dragging the slider to the right increases the size of the thumbnails or
the les , and, in case of the details view, the row size. Drag it to the le for the reverse.

Name of the metadata State Indicators: Ribbons

field used to group the
eComics

State Indicators:
Ratings

State Indicators: Stars

Text you choose to display
below the thumbnails
See List Layouts for more info
To select mul ple eComic thumbnails:
To select a consecu ve group of
thumbnails without using the
keyboard, drag the mouse pointer
to create a selec on around the
outside of all the items you want to
include.
To select consecu ve thumbnails,
Last page opened click the first item, hold down the
Shift key, and then click the last
Dog-ear on selected thumbnail item.
To select nonconsecu ve files, hold
If you do not require this
down Ctrl
Ctrl, and then click each
feature, Uncheck Selected
item you want to select
thumbnails have a dog-ear
To select all of the thumbnails visible
from Preferences dialog
in the browser, click Select All from
the Browser context menu, or click
Ctrl+A

Can I group or arrange eComics in reverse order ?

Yes. Just note the direc on of the arrows on the group / arrange bu ons. A down-
ward-poin ng (default) arrow indicates alphabe cal order (from A to Z). You just need
to simply click on the bu on and the arrow will reverse its direc on, giving you the
reverse alphabe cal arrangement (from Z to A). Please note that this feature does not
apply to the Stacks op on.

33
 Using the Tiles view
The les view is rela vely more informa ve than the thumbnails view. Double-clicking on a (unstacked) le opens up its
eComic in the reader.

Name of the metadata

field used to group the State Indicators: Ribbons
eComics

Rating

Stacked les:
While stacking thumbnails just places
them one atop the other with no added
informa on, stacking les provides a
number of at-a-glance info:

State Indicators: Stars Tile Info Number of books in the le

Dog-ear on selected tile
If you do not require this
feature, Uncheck Selected
thumbnails have a dog-ear
from Preferences dialog
Cap on
Number of opened books
Total size of the eComics in the le,
Creator info and total number of pages
Summary
Size You can select mul ple les (whether
Format stacked or not) in just the same way as
File name you would select thumbnails.

W
What are the li le -/+ signs that some mes appear
on my eComic thumbnails & les in the browser?

This is the cover browser. It indicates the number of pages in

the eComic marked as front cover. Its func onality is described
in detail in the User Interface chapter.

34
Using the Details view
The details view is the most informa ve view. Double-clicking on an eComic column in the details view opens up its
eComic in the reader. It should be noted that you can not stack eComics in the details view.

The details view arranges your eComics using meta-

data fields (of your choice) as columns. You can group
& arrange the eComics as you did in the thumbnails
& les view).

The grouping metadata field is seen as a heading with

a disclosure triangle that can be used to toggle on/o
its individual eComics.

The eComics of a group are arranged by your speci-

fied metadata field, seen as a small arrow on the
column heading. A single-click on this arranging
column-head toggles the order from descending to
ascending (notable from the direc on of the arrow:
poin ng downwards or upwards, respec vely)

You can change the column posi ons by a simple

drag and drop using the mouse.
In the above example, the writer column is ini ally
present to the right of the publisher column. If you
wish to place it to the le of the publisher column,
simply click and drag it to the le ll it reaches its
desired posi on, and then release the mouse bu on.

Right-clicking any column in the details view brings about the details context menu. It
contains the following op ons:
Auto size column. Resizes (expands or shrinks) the column according to the maxi-
mum length of its contents.
Auto size all columns. Resizes (expands or shrinks) all columns according to the
maximum length of their respec ve contents.
Auto fit all columns. Resizes (expands or shrinks) all columns so that all of them fit
completely in the browser window.
The Layout menu, which also appears as an independent menu on clicking in any
empty space in the browser. This contains the view, arrange, group, and layout
copy/paste op ons.
Metadata field columns currently open in the browser. You can uncheck those
you dont want.
All available metadata fields that could be used as columns in the details view.
Explanatory tool ps appear on hovering the mouse over a column tle.

35
Using the Stacks Layout
Stacking eComics in the thumbnail & les views brings forth few addi onal features. Double-clicking on a stack opens up
its individual eComics in the browser, and addi onally the Stacks toolbar appears on top of the browser window.

Click to close the Stack Stack Title Navigate eComics us- Search Browser
ing the Stack toolbar

Viewing eComics as Double-clicking

bl li ki the h stackk h
has openedd up the
h eComics.
C i The h stacks
k tool-
l Clicking the docking grip present at the top of the browser opens the
thumbnails, stacked by bar is visible at the top. As we had stacked the eComics by series, the search browser. Combining the Search browser with the Stacks toolbar
series stack tle (in the middle) displays the series name. gives greater level of control over naviga ng the eComics

Can I choose which eComic will be shown as the cover for a par cular stack ?

Yes. Open up the stack by double-clicking it. Now, right-

click any eComic to get the browser context menu (see
next page), with an addi onal op on: Set as top of
stack. You can use this op on to select any eComic (from
all the eComics cons tu ng the stack) to appear as the
stack cover.

Right-clicking an eComic from the stack, and

selec ng the set as top of stack op on makes
it sit on top of all the ecomics forming the
stack

36
 Browser Context Menu
Right-clicking in any empty space in the browser brings about the Layout menu that carries
over most of the features of the browser toolbar. This includes the view, arrange, group and
stack menus.
Right-clicking any eComic in the browser brings about the browser context menu. Many of
the submenus share an overlap with the main menu. While most op ons are self-explan-
atory, a brief overview of some of the features is presented below. Features like expor ng
eComics, copying and pas ng data, and lists-related op ons are discussed in the relevant
sec ons.

Opening eComics in the Reader

Opening the Info dialog Mark eComics as Read or Unread

Find eComics with similar metadata

Rating eComics on a scale of 1 to 5

Open eComic with Windows Explorer

Use any eComic cover as back-

ground image for a list open in the
Run scripts on selected eComics browser

You can use the Reset List Background

op on from the List layout bu on on the
Browser toolbar to undo changes made to
list background.

37
 F

The Folders tab allows you to browse your computer for eComic folders in an explorer-like fashion. Selec ng a folder
opens the contained eComics in the browser (referred to as the Folders Browser when the Folders tab is open).
Similar to the Library browser, the Folders browser is integrated with the sidebar, and can display a Favorites window
above, and a Small preview window below. The Search Browser is also available.

Sidebar Toolbar Browser Toolbar

Favorites Search Browser

Viewing selcted
folders as shortcuts
for quick access.

Just right-click a
folder in the sidebar,
and select Add Fold-
ers to Favorites

Sidebar
Clicking on any folder displays
its eComic content in the Fold-
ers Browser.
Right-clicking any folder Folders Browser
opens the context menu
Essen ally the same as the
library browser, the only
dierence is that it displays
the content of a par cular
folder on your system. Can be
grouped, stacked, arranged
in the same way as Library
Browser

Small Preview

How do I exclude eComics in subfolders of a favorite folder from being

displayed by default in the browser ?
The Include all subfolders icon is useful for toggling o and on the subfolders of a favorite folder. To use
it, click on a folder in the favorites window. Next, click on the Include all subfolders icon. All subfolders
shall now display in the library. Clicking on the icon again will toggle the subfolders o.

38
 P

The Pages tab is the sec on of ComicRack that allows the display and organizing features for the pages of an
eComic in the browser window (referred to as the Pages Browser when the pages tab is open). ComicRack pro-
vides labelling for individual pages of an eComic, as Front Cover, Story, Adver sement, Le ers etc. The page type
can be changed to suit the users needs. Similar to the library browser, the pages browser also has the op ons for
viewing, arranging and grouping eComic pages. It should be noted that, unlike the library and folders browsers,
the Pages Browser does not contain the Sidebar.
Just like the Library Browser
and the Folders Browser, op-
ons for viewing thumbnails
/ les / details view are there
in the Pages Browser too. The
only dierence is that here
individual eComic pages are
displayed in the Browser.

Views

PageFilterMenu
The Page Filter menu can
PageContextMenu be used to toggle types of
pages on and o. These
changes also apply to
any other comics as well
as the reader view. For
example you can uncheck
the Adver sement se ng
and you will never see a
page marked as Adver se-
ment as youre reading a
comic.

Right-clicking on any page in the PagesBrowserContextMenu

Pages Browser invokes the Page
Context Menu. This contains op ons Right-clicking on any empty space in the Pages Browser invokes
for changing Page Type, Page Rota- the Pages Browser Context Menu. This contains the view / ar-
on, Adding / removing Bookmarks, range / group op ons analogous to the Pages Browser Toolbar.
reordering pages within an eComic, Please note that the Pages Browser Context Menu is dierent
copying page(s) to another loca on, from the Page Context Menu.
and marking pages as deleted (so
that they do not show anymore in
ComicRack).

39
 Dele ng Pages
The Pages Browser provides op ons for marking the pages as deleted, without actually removing the page(s) from the
comic file. There are several ways to do this:

Change the page type to Deleted:

1. Right-click on a page(s) to open the
page context menu
2. Go to the Page Type op on
3. Click on the Deleted op on
Press the Del bu on on the keyboard
Choose Mark as deleted from the
Page context menu.

A red cross would be visible on the page, in-

dica ng that it has been marked as deleted
and will not show while reading, while it is
not actually removed from the eComic file.

Saving Pages
You can save page(s) as a single image file(s). To do so, right-click any page thumbnail in the
pages browser and select the Copy Page op on. You can now just paste the page anywhere
in either windows explorer, or an image editor of your choice. Mul ple pages can be similarly
saved by selec ng them individually using the Ctrl key, or selec ng all pages via the Se-
lect All op on.

An alternate way to save pages is to simply to drag the page(s) to a loca on on your computer
from the pages view.

How can I reorder pages within an eComic ?

You can change the order of your eComic pages by simply clicking and dragging them to where
you want them to be. A black line shows where it will be reinserted. You can also use the
Move to Start or Move to End op ons in the right-click context menu for moving a page to the
beginning or end of an eComic respec vely. A Reset original order op on is always there if you
wish to undo these changes.

40
 S

The Sidebar contains the Library folder, the default ComicRack folder that contains your en re eComic collec on ar-
chived with ComicRack. The Sidebar is also needed for crea ng, organising, and accessing reading lists. The Sidebar
is an essen al component of the Browser, and changes its content according to the tab open in the Browser Tab Bar.
There are 3 tabs in the Browser Tab Bar, viz. Library, Folders and Pages. Out of these, the Library and the Folders tabs
are integrated with the sidebar, while the Pages tab does not contain the Sidebar. Just like the browser, the sidebar is
referred to as the Library sidebar or the Folders Sidebar, depending on which tab is open in the Browser Tab Bar.
There are as many as 3 ways to toggle the sidebar on/o:
Main Menu Browse Sidebar
Clicking the docking grip on the le border of the Reader window
Shift+F5 keyboard combo
Please note that the default ComicRack layout has the sidebar open. An overview of the Sidebar is shown below:

Library Count
The default (albeit virtual) This number is the total count
folder containing all the of eComics present in a par-
eComics added to Comi- cular folder or list
cRack

SmartLists
The default folder contain-
ing a number of Smart
Lists for you to start with
Arranging files and folders in the Sidebar
You can make folders within
folders for arranging your lists

TemporaryLists Lists or folders can be placed

Double-clicking any read- at any level of hierarchy
ing list from windows ex-
plorer opens it directly in
Any number of lists can be
ComicRack. This is made
kept within a folder, and can
possible by means of the
be dragged up or down, both
Temporary Lists folder. It
within a folder and from one
can also be used to store
folder to another
experimental reading lists,
as any list kept here is
deleted on the next run of
ComicRack.

SidebarContextMenu Arrange lists within a folder in

Right-clicking on any alphabe cal order
folder or list in the sidebarr
brings up the Sidebar con-- Lists can be copied and pasted
text menu. It contains a from one folder to another
number of op ons, many within the sidebar
of which share an overlap
with the Sidebar Toolbar Export Reading list saves a
and are covered in the reading list on the desktop or
next sec on. any folder of your computer.
You can then transfer it to use
it on another system or share it
with your friends, who can use
the Import Reading list op on
to add it to their ComicRack
sidebar

41
 Sidebar Toolbar
Shown below are the essen al components of the Sidebar Toolbar, with a brief info on their func ons. Just like the
sidebar, the sidebar toolbar is referred to as the Library sidebar toolbar or the Folders Sidebar toolbar, depending on
which tab is open in the Browser Tab Bar.
Library Sidebar Toolbar Folders Sidebar Toolbar

Favorites New List Open in new window Favorites Open in new window Refresh

New Folder New Smart List Open in new tab Include all Subfolders Open in new tab

This opens the Favorites window at the top of the Sidebar. Select any item in the sidebar,
Favorites right-click, and you will be able to add it to the Favorites window.

Creates a new folder to organize your lists. Lists can be dragged and dropped into the side-
New Folder bar folders.

New List Creates a new custom list

New Smart list Creates a new smart list

Open in new
Opens the currently selected library, list or folder in a separate window.
window

Opens the currently selected library, list or folder in a tab. You can return to the library and
Open in new tab leave the tab open, or open mul ple tabs.

42
 S B

Short of using reading lists, the Search Browser oers one of the quickest ways to access an eComic or a set of eCom-
ics based on the metadata present. The Search Browser is present above the main Browser window. Please note that
the default ComicRack layout has the Search Browser hidden. The Search Browser can be toggled on/o by any of
the following:
Main Menu Browse Search Browser
Clicking the docking grip on the upper border of the Browser window
Using the Shift+F8 keyboard combo
As the Search browser opens, a three-part pane will slide down, allowing you to narrow down the visible eComics by
using three metadata fields. The drop-down menus can be chosen to display the eComic metadata a ribute of your
choice. Choosing a par cular metadata a ribute delimits the eComic search results in the Browser accordingly.

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Negation

The Nega on filter (ex-
clama on marked) helps
in excluding a par cular
set of results from the
Browser.

Column Header
To quickly clear the filters
in the Search Browser,
simply click the column
header, and it will revert
to showing all. If you
click on the header of
the le most column,
Drop-down Menu this wont reset all the col-
The drop-down menu of umns; instead, it will now
all the 3 columns contain reflect the search results
the same metadata fields. based on the new filters
The Search Browser provided.
provides more than 20
commonly used metadata
fields to filter your search
results. As per your
requirement, you can
choose any combina ons
of them.
Using metadata fields to filter the search results
I the example shown, we have chosen the
In
3 columns as Publishers, Genres and Series.
Clicking a Publisher will narrow down the
G
Genre column to all eComics of the par cu-
l Genre; clicking a specific genre narrows
lar
down the third column to all the eComic
s
series that have the selected genre. Finally,
the eComic lis ng is narrowed down fur-
t
ther once you click on a par cular eComic.

43
 Using the Quick Search box

You can filter the Search Browsers results by also using the
Quick Search box.
The informa on displayed by Search Browser depends on the
current content: the reading list currently selected (if any)
and the metadata selected in the columns. But this content
also depends on Search box of the Browser Toolbar. The quick
search box is an on-the-fly filtering tool: simply start typing,
and the Browser window as well as the Search Browser will
display (as you type) all the items with matching descrip on
fields. If the search box is empty, ComicRack displays all
the eComics of the current metadata selected in the Search
Browser or the reading list; if the quick search box contains
text, only the subset of items matching this text.

The example here displays the result shown by the Search Browser a er typing
wat in the quick search box.

Using the Nega on filter

The li le exclama on (!) mark present next to the drop-down menu in each column is the Negaon bu on. If you
select this, all eComics that do NOT match the criteria are displayed.
For example, you are browsing the eComics of a par cular publisher. Now, if you wish to see eComics of all genres
except one-shots, here is what to do. First, select One-shots in the genre column. You will see that the series column
promptly displays all the One-shots of your chosen publisher. Now, with one-shots already selected, click the (!) but-
ton in the genre column. You will now get all series except those tagged as one-shots.

Can I select mul ple fields in the Search Browser ?

Yes. Just hold the Ctrl key and click on desired metadata fields. To select a
number of fields in con nuity, you can hold the Shift key and click the first
and the last fields; all fields in between the 2 clicked ones will be selected.

44
 O W

Favorites

This small window at the top of the Sidebar will dis-

play the folders or lists of your choice for quick access.
Please note that the default ComicRack layout has
the Favorites window hidden. There are 2 ways to tog-
gle the favorites window on/o:
Clicking the favorites icon on the sidebar tool-
bar (yellow star)
Clicking the docking grip on the upper border
of the sidebar

Any item present in the sidebar can be added to fa-

vorites. Individual eComics cannot be added or dis-
played in the Favorites window. Its purpose is for Side-
bar items that you use frequently and would like quick
access to. This is especially helpful when one has a
large assortment of lists and folders.
To add a list / folder to favorites:
1. Select any item in the sidebar
2. Right-click to get the sidebar context menu
3. Click the Add to Favorites op on
Favorites window in the Library sidebar. Favorites window in the Folders sidebar.
You can add both custom lists & smart Here we can see individual folders
lists to favorites. Single click on a list in added as favorites. The file path of the
the favorites to open its content in the folder is also seen. A single click on a
browser folder in the favorites opens its content
in the browser
You can have dierent sets of favorites items for the Library sidebar &
the Folders sidebar at the same me. Right-click on any favorite item
to refresh or delete it. Dele ng a favorite list / folder would have no ef-
fect on the original source, as these are only shortcuts poin ng to their
respec ve lists / folders.

Small Preview

This small window at the bo om of the Sidebar will Goto next / previous Show one / two pages
display the eComic selected in the Browser, whether page or first / last page in the preview
opened or not, without changing its read state and Refresh
bookmarks.

Please note that the default ComicRack layout has

the Small Preview hidden. There are as many as 3
ways to toggle the small preview on/o:
Main Menu Browse Small Preview Close the preview
Clicking the docking grip on the lower border window
of the sidebar
Shift+F7 keyboard combo

An overview of the Small Preview is shown alongside.

45
 Info Panel
The Info Panel is an op onal window that can be used by script authors to put customized info there, for example open
webpage from Web field of comic Info. The Info panel opens in the browser, but without any complementary scripts
enabled, it doesnt show up. A basic knowledge of the preferences dialog & scripts is required to understand this panel,
so we recommend that you first get acquainted with these above-men oned sec ons, and then come back to the present
page. Info Panel scripts are described in detail in the Scripts chapter.
How to use the Info Panel 1 2

1. First open the Preferences dialog & go to the Scripts

tab. From the Available scripts sec on, enable the
Web link script. Advanced users may also enable the
Dummy Comic Info UI/HTML scripts. Click Ok & re-
start ComicRack.
2. From the Browse menu, click Info Panel. Alterna ve-
ly, use the Shift+F9 keyboard combo.
3. Iden fy the Info Panel docking grip at the bo om of
the browser window. Click it to slide open the Info
Panel. At its top, you will see tabs depic ng the ena- 3
bled info panel scripts. If only one script is enabled,
no tabs will be seen.
4. In the browser, select any eComic with a valid web Browser Window
field. The Web link tab will show the page corre-
sponding to the web address of the eComic. You may
browse that complete website through this page.
5. You can dock the Info Panel (docked at bo om
Sidebar
of the browser by default) to the right side of the
browser with the Info Panel Right op on, from the Info Panel
Dock menu.

4 5

46
R

The ComicRack reader is,

inarguably, the best eComic
reader in the world. This
chapter helps you use the
reader to the maximum of its
abili es!
I R 49
Reader: The Basics 49
Reader Naviga on 50
Auto Scrolling 51

R T 52

R T B 53

Q O B 54

O 55
Naviga on Overlay 55
Current Page Overlay 55
Visible Page Part Overlay 56
Messages & Status Overlay 56

P L 57
Page Layout (Number) 57
Page Layout (Fit) 58
Rota on 59

R C M 60
 I
R
Reader: The Basics
The Reader window is the most important part of ComicRack, as it is where the eComic pages are ul mately dis-
played for onscreen reading. Scrolling the mouse wheel moves the open page up or down, and scrolling beyond the
end of the page opens the next page of the eComic. This is the simplest way of naviga ng the Reader. For further
customiza ons, please see the chapters on Preferences and Keyboard map.

Reader Tab Bar Reader Toolbar

There are a number of views in which the eComics can be displayed in the reader
window:
1. Default (Showing the Reader, Browser, and the Sidebar)
2. Filling the en re ComicRack window (with the browser & sidebar closed)
(F3
F3) (Clicking on the docking grips between the Reader and the Browser toggle
o/on the browser, thus achieving the same result)
3. Fullscreen (no menus or toolbars)
4. Fullscreen with menus and toolbars (F11 F11)
5. Reader in its own window (F12 F12)

It is possible to quickly navigate between the first 4 views using the keyboard (with or The Reader in its own window. Hit F12 or
use the op on in the display menu to get
without the mouse). You can learn more about reader naviga on on the next page. this view.

How do I get the Reader fullscreen with all menus & toolbars hidden?

We like to call it the 10-3-11 trick! Just follow these steps:

1. First select (if not already selected) the Minimal User Interface op on from the
Display menu, or simply hit F10 in the default ComicRack window.
2. Now, close the browser (including the sidebar) by unchecking the Browser op-
on from the Browse menu, or by hi ng F3 F3.
3. Finally, either select Full Screen from the Display menu or hit F11
F11.

Also important are these op ons from the Behavior tab of the Preferences dialog:
Reading sec on :- Fullscreen Also Toggles Minimal User Interface: Unselected
Browser sec on :- Always Display Browser Docking Grip: Selected

49
Reader Naviga on
View #1 is the default ComicRack window on the Windows
7 desktop, displaying the browser and the sidebar, apart from
the reader (here showing a page from DCs ocial preview
of Brightest Day #0). Pressing F11 or the Full Screen bu on
(Reader Toolbar) in the reader window brings up View #2,
while clicking the mouse or pressing F3 takes us to view #4.
1 2
4 3
In view #4, the browser and the sidebar are closed, thus pro-
viding the complete space in the ComicRack window to the
Reader. This is seen a er pressing F11 in view #3 or clicking
the mouse or pressing F3 in the Reader window of View #1.
Pressing F11 again brings back view #3, while a mouse click
takes us to view #1.
View #2 is the Fullscreen view (with menus &
toolbars) & is seen a er clicking the Full Screen but-
ton (Reader Toolbar) or pressing F11 in the Reader
window of the default view #1 or clicking the mouse
or pressing F3 in View #3.
View #3 is the Full Screen view (no menus/toolbars)
& is seen a er clicking the mouse or pressing F3 in
the Reader window of view #2 or F11 in View #4. A
single click or F3 again brings back view #2, while
pressing F11 takes us to view #4.
50
 Auto Scrolling
Auto Scrolling is feature that smartens up the way you move around the page. Instead
of scrolling based on constant values (pixels), ComicRack calculates automa cally and
dynamically the best scroll step for you, so that you could scroll in most comfortable
way. For example, with some small fixed scroll values you might scroll 5 mes before
going to the next page. With autoscroll, it usually takes two or three scrolls. It works
best in Two Page mode + Fit Width (adapve). Also in all the cases when page(s) width
is bigger than our screen can fit. Autoscroll also aects keyboard hotkeys and mouse
wheel behavior accordingly.

Enabling auto scrolling

To enable auto scrolling, from the main menu, goto the read menu & click auto scrolling. You Most of the features in the Read menu
are self-explanatory and share an
may also use the Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut. While using the Reader, you can toggle auto scroll- overlap with the Reader toolbar, where
ing on/o with the S key. they are explained. The last 2 op ons
are exclusive, and are the subject of our
discussion here.
Advantages of auto scrolling
Page movement is dynamic & smoother (with smooth auto scrolling also enabled)
If the page is wider than the display area, autoscroll moves to the hidden parts of the page.
Without autoscroll, when you reach the bo om of a page wider than the display area, scroll-
ing goes directly to the next page.

Double-page auto scrolling

This is a complementary op on that works only if Auto Scroll is enabled. Aects only double
page spreads, not the Two Page mode. If youre viewing a double page spread, enabling this The
h preferences
f op on
op on changes page movement direc on. This is no ceable if the page width is bigger than the Smooth auto scrolling works only
with auto scroll enabled. With this we
viewing area and we dont use Fit Width or similar modes. So you start from the top-le corner smoothly flow to the next part of the
of the page displayed and then move to the top-right corner (instead of bo om-le with this page instead of just instantaneously
switching to it. Page movement is more
op on disabled). Most double-page spreads are supposed to be read this way, as our eyes follow fluent this way. But obviously its not
from le to the right to the bo om. as fast because some me is necessary
for page movement from one part to
another.
Flowing mouse scrolling The Mouse wheel scrolling op on is
not related to the auto scrolling feature.
This is also a complementary op on, but works independent of Auto Scroll. With flowing mouse This is the simple mouse wheel scroll
scrolling & hardware accelera on on, you get an iPhone-like eect where you move the page speed based on constant values (pixels)
with the mouse and when you release the bu on it s ll keeps on moving (but decelerates).

An
A eComic
C i open in
i the
th Reader
R d With
Wi h no auto scrolling,
lli a single
i l scrollll off the
h mouse With
Wi h auto scrolling
lli enabled,
bl d a single
i l scrollll off the
h
wheel moves the page a few pixels down. mouse wheel moves the page more dynamically.

51
 R T
The Reader Toolbar can be accessed from the top right of the Reader window. It contains important shortcuts
to display, navigate and customize the eComic pages reading. Shown below are the essen al components of the
Reader Toolbar, with a brief info on their func ons.
Clicking on this bu on takes
you to the previous page.
Clicking the small downward-
poin ng arrow opens up a
drop-down menu that has
addi onal op ons for going to
the previous bookmark or the
previous eComic in the list.
PreviousPage
NextPage
Clicking on this bu on takes
you to the next page. The
drop-down menu has the
op ons for moving to the
last Page, next bookmark,
or the next eComic from the
list. You can also open up a
Random eComic (or use the
Ctrl+Alt+N keyboard
shortcut).
Provides op ons for showing
one or two pages at a me in
the Reader window. You can
also use the right to le mode
for reading manga.
PageLayout (Number)
Zoom
Clicking on this bu on
toggles o/on the full
screen view.
Zooms in/out the eComic
pages, using the preset
(100%, 125%, 150%, 200%,
400%) or custom values.
The keyboard combos
Ctrl+Oemplus and
Ctrl+mouse wheel
up zoom in the page while
Ctrl+Oemminus and
Ctrl+mouse wheel
down zoom out.
Provides op ons for displaying
eComic pages by fi ng width/
height/all dimensions. You can
simultaneously choose the
op on only fit if oversized to
make the original page size the
limi ng factor.
Provides op ons for rota ng
the open eComic 90o,, 180o,
or 270o.
Page Layout (Fit)
Rotation
Tools
At the end of the Reader
Toolbar is the Tools menu,
which is a completely reor-
ganized and easier-to-use
Full Screen ComicRack menu, having
mul ple important op ons
from all over ComicRack in
a single pane. Notable is the
Show Main Menu op on,
which when enabled shows
the main menu, which can
then be toggled via the Alt
key.
Magnifier
Viewing the default magnifier
to see Jons query magnified !
While reading eComics, ComicRack
has a Magnifier to temporarily
enlarge the desired page por on. The
Magnify bu on in the Reader Toolbar
contains op ons for controlling
width, height, opacity and zoom of
the magnifier. It also has op ons for
Viewing Garfields response with the
enabling the magnifiers ac va on
simple magnifier and 50% opacity
with a long mouse click.
52
 R T B

The Reader Tab Bar is present over the top le of

the Reader window. It con nues into the Reader
Toolbar. The Reader Tab Bar shows the currently
opened eComics in a tabbed interface. When no
eComic is open, it displays the Plus (+) tab. Click-
ing (either le -click or right-click) this tab adds new
reader tabs. The Reader Tab Bar displays the cap-
on of the currently open eComic.

On hovering the mouse over the tab, an info box

pops-up that contains the eComic cap on, a brief
plot of the eComic, format (zip/rar), size and num-
ber of pages.

Right-clicking a tab brings up the tab context menu,

which contains op ons for revealing the open
eComic in the browser or in windows explorer.

Double-clicking an eComic from the browser opens

it in the current tab (whether empty or occupied by
another eComic) in the reader tab bar. If you hold
the Ctrl key while double-clicking, the eComic will
open in a new tab.

When a number of eComics are open in the Reader, the Tab Bar displays right and le bu ons at its ends to navigate
between them, and a drop-down menu at the end that contains a list of all the open eComics. Every tab contains its
own close bu on that appears when the tab is selected. You can use the Close all but this op on from the tab context
menu to close all other eComics in one go.

53
 Q O B

The Quick Open box can be seen inside the Reader window when no eComic is open. While the default ComicRack
setup displays the No book is open message, once you add eComics to the ComicRack library, the Quick Open box
appears in all its glory. It shows all the default reading lists present in Comicrack. You can set any reading list to be
available in the Quick Open box. From every list, upto 10 eComics can be displayed here, depending on the last me
read and added criteria.

Here you can see all

the lists that are being
displayed in the quick
open box. Each list has
a disclosure triangle
To open an eComic in
which allows you to
the reader, double-click
hide or show the eCom-
the eComic from any of
ics in the list.
the lists displayed in the
quick open box.

The open file bu on opens up a Windows Explorer Clicking the Browser bu on Select an eComic and click the
dialog through which you can browse and select any toggles the browser o / on. open bu on to read it in the
eComic for opening in the reader window. reader window.

Clicking at this drop down

menu shows all the file
formats supported by
ComicRack

54
 O

The ComicRack Reader makes use of a number of overlays to display live informa on regarding the eComic currently
being read. These overlays can be enabled/disabled via the op ons in the Reader setup tab of the Preferences dialog.
Here we briefly discuss all the overlays.

Naviga on Overlay

The eComic pages can be viewed as a filmstrip

here. Clicking on any page here opens it in the
reader window. The mouse wheel can be used to
browse the filmstrip back & forward.

The upper le corner displays The upper right corner

the cap on of the eComic displays the me and the
open in the reader. ba ery status (if any).

Th
The N a iga
Naviga on Overlay
O erla
l displays
di l a
filmstrip of all the pages of the cur-
rently open comic. Just hover your Quick browsing is via the The next/ last page arrows.
horizontal scroll bar, which can are seen here. Similarly, on the
mouse over the lower border of be dragged le or right to view lower le corner, you have the
the Reader window, and the navi- the page filmstrip. first / previous page arrows.
ga on overlay will slide up.
By default, the naviga on overlay is shown at the bo om of the reader window. You also have the op on for show-
ing the naviga on overlay at the top from the Reader setup tab of the Preferences dialog.

Current Page Overlay

The Current Page Overlay can be seen in the upper right

corner of the reader window. It is visible only when the
page in the reader window is changed. It displays the page
number (along with the number of total pages). From the
Reader setup tab of the Preferences dialog, the page
name can also be displayed in this overlay.

55
Visible Page Part Overlay
You can turn o the
visible page part overlay
by simply clicking at the
cancel bu on here.

Visible Page part Overlay displays the por on of the page currently visible on the screen with a thumbnail of
the en re page currently open in the reader.

Messages & Status Overlay

Messages & Status overlay is seen in the centre of the Reader. The default
empty reader window displays the No book is open message. Opening
the book (followed by the eComic cap on) and loading pages are other
similar messages displayed here.

I dont need the overlays. Can I turn them o ?

Yes. Open up the Preferences dialog from the Edit menu (or hit
Ctrl+F9 keyboard combo):
Goto the Reader setup tab
Scroll down to the Overlays sec on (or click at the Overlays sub-
tab)
You can now uncheck the overlays you dont want

56
 P L

Page Layout (Number)

The Page Layout (Number) op ons can be accessed from the Display menu (page layout sub-menu), Reader Toolbar,
or Reader context menu (page layout sub-menu). You get the op ons for showing one or two pages at a me in the
Reader window. You can also use the right to le mode for reading manga.

In Single Page mode, every image is displayed by itself. So, single pages The Two Pages always displays 2 pages (like a book). If there are forced
stay single and double pages stay double. single pages (like a single page before a double spread or before a page
of type Cover), white fill pages are introduced.

The Two Pages (Adapve) mode is the classic ComicRack two page The Right to le mode is primarily indicated for reading Japanese manga,
mode. Unlike the simple Two Pages mode that introduces white fill pages which are tradi onally read from right to le . This mode is used simulta-
alongside forced single pages, the Two Pages (Adapve) mode doesnt neously as a limi ng factor over all the previously discussed page fi ng
introduce any fill pages. As seen in the picture above, the cover page is modes. It is best u lized with the Two Pages (Adapve) mode, and the
displayed as a single page, while rest of the pages as double pages. right-to-le op ons from the Behavior tab of the Preferences dialog.

57
 Page Layout (Fit)
The Page Layout (Fit) op ons can be accessed from the Display menu (page layout sub-menu), Reader Toolbar, or
Reader context menu (page layout sub-menu). You get the op ons for fi ng the pages by their width/height/all di-
mensions in the Reader window.

The Original Size mode displays eComic pages in their The Fit All mode displays the pages by fi ng them The Fit Width mode displays the pages by fi ng them
original dimension, without any fi ng constraints. with regards to both the ver cal and horizontal di- with regards to their horizontal dimension.
mensions.

In the Fit Width mode, double pages stay as doubles
and are displayed side by side, fi ed by width.
The Fit Width (adapve) mode splits a double-page The Fit Height mode displays the pages by fi ng them
and displays only half of it at once fi ng it to width. with regards to their ver cal dimension.
This is especially useful for people with pivoted moni-
tors or when eComic pages are scanned in a way
where all the images consist of two pages on each
one.

The only fit if oversized mode can only be used simultaneously with the previously discussed page display modes. The
only fit if oversized makes the original page size the limi ng factor over the selected page display mode. Not selec ng
this op on makes ComicRack force fit even smaller images by the chosen constraint.

58
 Rota on
The Rotaon op ons can be accessed from the Display menu, Reader Toolbar, or Reader context menu (page layout
sub-menu). You get the op ons for rota ng the open eComic 90o, 180o, or 270o. You can also use the rotate le /right
bu ons to sequen ally toggle between these available rota on modes. Please note that using the rota on op on,
the pages of the open eComic are rotated only for display in the reader, while the image files in the eComic archive
are not rotated.

The Reader displaying the page in a 90o rotated state The Reader displaying the page in a 180o rotated state The Reader displaying the page in a 270o rotated state

Autorotate Double Pages

You can choose the autorotate double pages op on to let the reader window automa cally display double-pages in a 270o
rotated state. This is a useful feature, specially when you are reading eComics (having double pages) on hand-held devices that
have a rela vely larger horizontal dimension.

With the autorotate double pages op on selected, whenever ComicRack encoun-

ters a double-page anywhere in the eComic, it promptly rotates it over 270o . The
page is more comprehensible now in the horizontal posi on of your hand-held de-
vice.

59
 R C
M

The Reader context menu is seen a er right-clicking any page open in the Reader window. Most of the op ons pre-
sent here share an overlap with other menus and toolbars in ComicRack, and are discussed in the relevant sec ons.
A brief overview of the Reader context menu and its sub-menus is presented below.

Opening the Info dialog

Rating eComics on a scale of 1 to 5

Setting the PageType

Navigating between eComics

Changing the PageRotation

Changes selected page rota on

permanently in the eComic
archive. So if you have some
pages in file scanned in wrong
PageLayout Options Save Pages horizontal/ver cal posi on
there is no need to extract
Page Layout (Fit) op ons The Export Page func on images and rotate them in
for displaying eComic allows you to save any page external editor.
pages by fi ng width/ open in the reader window to
height/all dimensions. any folder accessed from the
Windows Explorer. This opens
a Save Page as dialog where
Page Layout (Number)
you can choose the page type Working with Bookmarks
from JPG/BMP/PNG/GIF/TIFF
op ons for showing one
formats.
or two pages at a me in
The Copy page func on is also
the Reader window.
similar, allowing you to paste
Rotaon op ons for ro- the copied page to windows
ta ng the open eComic explorer. It simply saves the
90o,, 180o, or 270o. page in its original format.

Selec ng this op on hides the

main menu, reader tab bar,
Minimal User interface reader toolbar and the status
bar in the fullscreen view of
the reader window.

60
C

ComicRack comes with a

number of features that en-
able you to personalize it
to your liking. This chapter
will help you learn how to
change the way ComicRack
works to make it easier to
use & more ecient.
P 63
Reader Setup 64
Keyboard Map 65
Touch Gestures 66
Libraries 67
Behavior 68
Scripts 69
Advanced 70

C D S 71

L L 72
Introduc on 72
Saving List Layouts 73
Edi ng List Layouts 73
Copying / Pas ng Layouts 74

W 75
What is a workspace ? 75
Saving Workspaces 76
Edi ng Workspaces 76

C - S 77
 P

The Preferences dialog is essen al for configuring ComicRack according to your needs. It can be opened either via the
Edit menu, or by using the Tools menu. Alterna vely, you may use the Ctrl+F9 keyboard combo.

The Preferences dialog contains 5

tabs, each of which has a number
of sec ons / sub-tabs.
1. Reader Setup
General
Hardware accelera on
Adjustments
Overlays
Keyboard
Mouse
2. Libraries
eComic Folders
Scanning
Sharing
Server Se ngs
3. Behavior
Star ng ComicRack
Opening an eComic
Reading
Right to Le
Browser
Applica on
Import & Export
4. Script
Script Packages
In the Preferences dialog, double
Available Scripts
clicking anywhere on the back-
Script Se ngs
ground toggles between the scroll
5. Advanced
and the tab layout. The scroll
Languages
layout shows all the preferences
eComics
op ons arranged in dierent sec-
Database Backup
ons in a single scrolling window.
Disc Cache
The tab layout has these very op-
Memory Cache
ons arranged in their own sub-
Hidden Messages
tabs.
Explorer Integra on

If you have any of the following How do I.. ques ons, then look no further, the preferences dialog will help you:

How do I add eComic folders to the ComicRack library ?

How do I open new files in new tabs?
How do I use custom keyboard shortcuts?
How do I increase the mouse wheel scroll speed?
How do I make sure that deleted files dont show up again in the library?
How do I use ComicRack to check its RSS feed?
How do I customise ComicRack for reading manga?
How do I minimize ComicRack into the system tray?
How do I change the ComicRack interface language?
How do I remove the overlays?
How do I backup my database?
How do I open eComics from windows explorer directly with ComicRack?

63
 Reader Setup
The reader setup tab contains a number of self-explanatory op ons for custom-
izing the way you wish to read your eComics with ComicRack. There are 5 sec-
ons in the Reader setup tab:
1. General
2. Hardware accelera on
3. Adjustments
4. Overlays
5. Keyboard
6. Mouse
In the General sec on, Turning High Quality
op on o increases page display speed on
slower machines.
Anamorphic Scaling stretches the eComic As we have already seen, during installa on,
page to fit the screen in both dimensions. ComicRack self-op mizes itself for your
With Smooth Auto Scrolling enabled, moving system. Most of the se ngs in the hardware
from one part of the page to the next is more acceleraon sec on have already been se-
fluent. This works only when auto scrolling is lected by ComicRack, and are the ones rec-
enabled from the Read menu. ommended for your system. If you do not de-
The Adjustments sec on provides easy sire the page display change anima on, you
changes to the satura on, brightness, con- may disable it. With flowing mouse scrolling
trast and sharpening a ributes of the comic & hardware accelera on on, you get an iP-
pages. hone-like eect where you can kinda move
the page with the mouse and when you re-
lease the bu on it s ll keeps on moving (but
decelerates).

The Overlays sec on contains se ngs for

ComicRack can be completely controlled by
the keyboard. This sec on provides the de-
fault keys for various ac ons, all of which can
be customised according to the users choice.
a number of enhancements for the reader
window. Please read the sec on on Overlays
to understand details regarding their nomen-
clature.
All available overlays are shown in the over-
lay map here. You can uncheck the overlays
that you do not wish to show in the reader
window. The corresponding overlay in the
map greys out. You can also choose to dis-
play the page name just below the current
page overlay.
The size of the overlays also can be in-
creased/decreased by using the overlay re-
size slider here.

You can adjust the mouse wheel scrolling

speed to your liking.

64
Keyboard Map
The ComicRack keyboard map contains 9 sec ons:
Library
Browse
Auto Scroll
Scroll
Display Op ons
Page Display
Zoom & Rotate
Edit
Other

Every sec on contains a number of op ons with their default

shortcut(s). If you wish to change any shortcut, just select its op-
on and it will open in the pane below, where you can easily mod-
ify it as per your requirement.

For each keyboard shortcut, there are 3 op ons: 1 Main and 2 Alternate. Each op on has its own
drop-down menu, from which you can choose the shortcut key that suits you. You can also use the
Ctrl, Shi , or Alt keys to make a number of combina ons and permuta ons for making the shortcut
of your choice.

The Export bu on can be used to save the keyboard layout to an XML file on your PC. Such a key-
board layout can reflect your personal likings for the keyboard shortcuts, or can mirror the keys of
some other comic reading so ware that you had to use before ComicRack. The Import bu on
can be used to browse to such a saved XML keyboard layout on your PC .

65
 Touch Gestures
If you have a computer with a touchscreen, you might find that gestures (mo-
ons that you make with one or two fingers) are easier to use than a mouse,
pen, or keyboard. ComicRack recognizes a number of touch gestures on
supported touch-enabled devices. Currently they simply map to square areas
in the reader you can click. They are numbered le -to-right, top down, from
1 to 9. By default, if you click (touch with touch display) in the upper corners
you change page. In the lower corners, you auto scroll (with page change).

ComicRack also recognizes mul -touch gestures: you can zoom in/out, By default, Gesture 1 is assigned to Previous Page
move around page, rotate page, and swipe to next/previous page. ac on, Gesture 3 for Next page, Gesture 7 for Previ-
ous part and Gesture 9 for Next part.

Multi-touch Gestures for ComicRack

Touch Press &
Slide Pinch in or out Tap Touch and hold Two-finger tap Drag
Tap

Slide your finger To increases Touch your The touch and Quickly tapping A er you touch a Touch your finger
lightly on the the size of the finger p quickly hold menu is the screen with movable item, if to the screen and
screen in an up/ thumbnails / les and lightly on equivalent to a two fingers (using you hold your fin- leave it there.
down or le /right view, or the row the screen. Us- right-click. Touch your forefinger ger on the item Tap quickly with
direc on. This size of details ing this gesture your finger to the + middle finger and slide, the a second finger.
gesture is primar- view, start with over the browser screen and leave works well) in the item slides with This touch press
ily used for scroll- your thumb thumbnails/ les/ it there un l the reader window your finger. This & tap gesture
ing or panning. To and forefinger details opens up context menu is toggles the navi- drag gesture may is used in the
scroll up or down together in the the eComic in the triggered. gaon overlay. be used to add reader window to
quickly, flick your middle of the Reader. Tapping browser eComics toggle the magni-
finger p quickly screen then pull in the reader is to reading lists or fier.
and repeatedly them apart. the equivalent re-ordering pages
up or down. Tap To zoom out, of a mouse-click. in the Pages
the screen to reverse this mo- Also, tap to open browser.
stop the scrolling. on. & operate the
menus.
Watch all the ComicRack touch gestures in ac on on YouTube !

66
 Libraries
The Libraries tab contains a number of self-explanatory op ons for customizing
your ComicRack library. There are 4 sec ons in the Libraries tab:
1. eComic folders
2. Scanning
3. Sharing
4. Server Se ngs

The eComic Folders sec on helps in

adding folders containing eComics to
the library. These folders, if checked,
would be watched for changes (move /
rename) while the program is running.
Using the open bu on, any added folder
can be opened with windows explorer.

The Scanning sec on has 2 important

op ons. The first op on, if enabled,
removes missing files from the library
during the scanning process. The second
op on comes in handy when you decide
not to add a file to the library, while that
file resides within an eComic folder that
The Sharing sec on is used for sharing is already added to the library.
of libraries over the internet. Select Add
Share to open the library sharing config.
Here you can also select if you want to
share your complete library or only se-
lected lists. You can also select to make
your library editable or password pro-
tected (recommended). Please read the
chapter on Network sharing for further
details.

In the Server sengs sec on, you have

the op on to input the external IP of
your server, and to password protect
your private share lists.

67
 Behavior
The Behavior tab contains a number of self-explanatory op ons for customizing
the ComicRack experience to your liking. There are 7 sec ons in the Behavior
tab:
1. Star ng ComicRack
2. Opening an eComic
3. Reading
4. Right to le
5. Browser
6. Applica on
7. Import & export

The Starng ComicRack sec on con-

tains startup tasks for ComicRack, like
scanning for eComic folders and updat-
ing web comics. We recommend that
you mark all these op ons to run auto-
ma cally at startup. You can also check
for all the ComicRack news and keep Here you get the op ons for opening
informed about new releases. new eComics in separate tabs. You can
opt to close the browser automa cally
With the Blend animaon while fast whenever an eComic is opened. You
paging op on unchecked, when you can make ComicRack always open a
keep the page down shortcut pushed, new eComic in a new tab from the op-
it disables any page transi on eect. If on here. You can also choose to open
it is checked, anima on eect is always the eComic at the page where it was last
turned on, no ma er how fast you try to closed.
switch through pages.
Keep the Fullscreen also toggles mini-
mal user interface op on selected if you
dont want any menu or toolbar in fulls-
creen view. Right-to-le mode is used while reading
You can uncheck the reset zoom op on manga.
if you wish to read all pages in a par cu- Le /right movement is also reversed - if
lar zoomed mode. book is marked as Manga, or if your page
layout is Right to Le then page loads
A couple of tweaks for the Browser. If in upper right corner and goes to lower
you wish to display the browser dock- le .
ing grip while using the reader, you can True right to le reading - The whole
check the op on here. You can also opt book is mirrored and not only double
for eComic tool ps while hovering your pages reversed. So youre really reading
mouse over them in the browser. Also the book from back to front.
present are op ons for thumbnail ani-
ma ons. The last op on lets you display
eComic ra ngs numerically. Unchecking The comic info dialog can display either
this op on will display the ra ngs as simple or 3D covers, which can be tog-
stars over the thumbnails gled by either clicking on them, or using
the op on here. You also have the op-
on to hide the main menu (also see
While expor ng reading lists, you may Tools menu, and use the Alt key). If
keep this op on unckecked (recom- you wish to have the catalog field for all
mended) to omit file names from being eComics, you can uncheck the op on
included in the list. Unchecking this op- here that limits the catalog field to file-
on provides be er results during list less comics. Also, you can select to not
imports. showing the quick open box.

68
 Scripts
Scripts are essen ally plugins or add-ons that extend the func onality of ComicRack. They can
be found in the News & announcement sec on of the ComicRack forum or in the Downloads
sec on. They are usually distributed as a zip file. Working with scripts is explained in detail later in
the Scripts chapter.

Script Packages is the first sec on in the Scripts

tab. It is used for installing/uninstalling the
scripts. It displays all the installed scripts, with
a brief descrip on of them.

Available Scripts is the second sec on. In its

default state, it contains a list of all the scripts
that come bundled with ComicRack. As new Let the Scripts do
scripts are installed, they show up in the avail- the hard work for
able scripts sec on. It can be used to disable you !
a script without uninstalling it. To disable any
of these scripts, just un-check the checkmark
next to the script name here, and restart Comi-
cRack. Reverse the steps for reac va on.

The Script Sengs

sec on in the end
contains an op-
on for disabling all
scripts with a single-
click.

A glimpse of some hugely popular ComicRack scripts !

Automacally download metadata into your cbz eComic files

Catch the latest RSS feeds for all the new comics releasing each week

Standardize the eComic file & folders on your PC with a single click

Move eComics to another folder on your PC from within ComicRack

Automacally display the next issue to read in all parally read series

Convert selected eComics to fileless entries to save hard disc space

69
 Advanced
The Advanced tab contains sec ons on the user language interface, database
backup, cache se ngs, explorer integra on and other op ons. Most of these are
briefly discussed below.

The Languages secon at the top helps

select the user interface language of
your locale. Restart ComicRack for the
language changes to take eect.

The eComics secon has the op on

to allow ComicRack to write a small
Comicinfo.xml file to eComics. Comi-
cRack organizes eComics by storing
metadata as XML snippets (either as part
of the big library file) or as single small
files into eComics. This metadata file is
labelled as ComicInfo.xml. The ComicIn- The Help System sec on lets you
fo.xml is also instrumental in restoring choose the context sensi ve help.
your eComic database, in the event of While currently only the ComicRack
a system format or file transfer. Please wiki is available for this func on,
note that info can be added to only CBZ future versions of ComicRack are
(zip) or CB7 (7z) files. planned to include the ComicRack
manual also in the context sensi ve
help.
The cache is the maximum disk space
you allow ComicRack to use to stock
thumbnails, pages and eComics accessed
through remote libraries. It allows a
smoother reading experience. Since it The Database Backup allows easy
pre-loads images, you can browse quite backup & restora on of all the eCom-
fast through an eComic. Default maxi- ic data to a small xml file on your
mum cache size varies depending on computer, or on a USB drive. It is de-
the machine. It is set during installa on scribed in detail in the next chapter.
of ComicRack (op miza on part). The
bigger the cache, the bigger the amount
of images/thumbnails/eComics that can
be pre-loaded. The cache will increase
in me as you use ComicRack. You can
also safely delete it. Opmized means
that ComicRack keeps the compressed
image in memory. Advantage is that it
can cache more image in memory, disad-
vantage is it has to uncompress them if
needed (images stay uncompressed for Hidden messages are message
about 5 seconds since the last use) boxes you disabled (clicked never
show again). To reshow these hid-
den messages, simply click the re-
Out of a number of supported formats, set bu on.
the checked ones will be associated with
ComicRack, and opening any file hav-
ing those extensions will automa cally
launch them with ComicRack.

70
 C D
This op on will allow the user to edit the background display of the Comic Reader, as well as
choose between display op ons for the opened eComic itself. There are three ways to open this
dialog: using the Display menu at the top, using the Tools menu, or simply hi ng F9
No Page Transi on Eect. This
will turn the page without any
anima ons.
New Page Fades In. This will
turn the page with a fading
transi on.
New Page Scrolls In Horizontally.
The page will slide onto the
reader in a sideways mo on.
New Page Scrolls In Ver cally.
The page will slide onto the
reader from the bo om to the
top.
Page Turn Eect. This is an
animated mo on that simulates
turning a page from a real comic
by hand.
PageTransitionEffects
PaperEffects
This will add a paper texture over
the ecomic itself, simula ng such
things as a blue-lined grid pa ern ,
weathering or grains in the page.
71
S
F9.
A ver cal divider between double page spreads
is seen, with a blank margin around the pages,
signifying a real-like imaging of the open eComic.
The background
You can use the slider to change the margin size.
will blend with the
primary color of the
page displayed to
create a solid color
that will change as
the page is turned
and the primary
color changes.
AdjustColorToCurrentPage
Realistic Comic Display (with margins)
BackgroundTextures
Texture: This will allow the user to load
an image file to serve as the back-
ground. There are a number of these
that come with ComicRack, and the
user may also load their own. You have
the op on of either None, Tile, Center,
Stretch or Zoom, as one would with a
Desktop Background.
You can also add your own textures
to the C:\Program Files\ComicRack\
Resources\Textures\Backgrounds
folder. You may also freely download
background textures from the web.
BackgroundColor
Solid Color: This allows the user
to choose one color to have
as the one background for the
reader area. If you would like
to always have the comic sur-
rounded by black, for instance,
you can choose that here. There
are a total of 140 dierent color
op ons.
 L L

Introduc on
Every list in ComicRack can have its own List Layout. A layout contains op ons for viewing,
arranging, grouping and stacking eComics. Dierent situa ons require dierent List Layouts.
The eComic views have a number of op ons that are fully customizable and can be arranged in
a number of ways. Some mes you may want detailed view with columns, while for some lists,
thumbnails view may work be er. You may wish to increase or decrease the size of the thumb-
nails or les or rows (details view). You may group / arrange / stack them with the metadata
fields of your choice. Youre free to choose whatever suits you.

A chronological list works best when in the A zero-day list, grouped by the added field, A list containing series belonging to one publisher. Here, we group them
details view, arranged by the (sequen ally not stacked, and arranged by publisher. Best by genre, stack and arrange them by series. The les view always displays
assigned) alternate number field. viewed as large thumbnails, showing the the creator info of the series, and is very useful for such a list.
series, number and publisher

A list in thumbnail view showing the cap on, Group by publisher, and stack & arrange by A series in details view, arranged by number. Showing the following fields
name of the writer, and the file format in the series. View as small thumbnails. Best suited in the details view: number, cover, tle, published, community ra ng.
3 lines below the thumbnail. for the viewing the en re library list. Provides at-a-glance overview of the en re series.

All these can be saved as list layout presets, so that manually changing them every me is not required. Once you save
your List Layout, assign it to the list(s) you want and every me you go to that list, it will be displayed with the layout
youve set.

72
 Saving List Layouts
Group, arrange and stack eComics in your desired view. Next, access the List Lay-
out op ons either via the List Layout icon on the library toolbar or via the Browse
menu. Clicking the Edit List Layout bu on opens up the List Opons window. It
contains tabs for customizing the text shown below the thumbnails view, and the
columns to be displayed in the details view. Please note that the les view does
not feature customized fields. Select your required fields from the list op ons
window, and click Ok.

All the columns that can be displayed in the Details view are shown in
the List Op ons window. The columns of your choice can be selected
here. The columns chosen in the List opons are seen in the details
view. You can right-click a column header to get the op ons for auto
sizing or auto fi ng the columns.
The text under the eComic thumbnails in the browser can
display a maximum of 3 lines. You have the choice of selec ng
the text that will be displayed there. The text lines chosen in
the List opons are seen in the details view. Please note that
these op ons work only for individual thumbnails and not for
stacked eComics.

Once you are sa sfied with a list layout and wish to save it for quick use later, use the Save List Layout bu on. Give
your layout a name, and click Ok. Your saved List layouts will now be accessible through the List Layout menu. You can
change the layouts using the keyboard shortcuts Alt+Shift+F6 Alt+Shift+F7, and so on.
Alt+Shift+F6, Alt+Shift+F7

Edi ng List Layouts

All your list layouts can be edited using the List Layouts di-
alog. From the Browse menu, go to the List Layout sub-
menu, and click the Edit Layouts op on. All the list layouts
are now visible along with a descrip on of the se ngs that
you included in each of them. Here you can make a new lay-
out, and delete pre-exis ng layouts using the correspond-
ing bu ons. You can also move a layout up or down the
order. The Edit bu on opens up the List Opons window
for altering the text under the thumbnails or columns in
the details view. The Acvate bu on lets you change list
layouts on-the-fly, so that you can easily visualise and
choose from your favourite layouts.

73
 Copying / Pas ng Layouts
Making a list layout is easy. ComicRack has features suppor ng a 1
number of layout customiza ons, so that you get the perfect layout,
exactly as you desire. However, if you have a large number of lists,
and you wish to assign them your favorite layout, you dont have to
repeat the same steps again and again. ComicRack provides for easy
copying & pas ng of list layouts, so that you may simply apply your
preferred layouts to other lists with just the click of a bu on.
Our desired list here has details
view, arranged by posi on,
You can access layout copy / paste op ons from any of two places columns manually re-sized and
described below: no grouping or stacking

The layout menu, which appears as a small menu on clicking on 2

any empty space in the browser.
Right-clicking any column in the details view brings about the de-
tails context menu. Among other op ons, it also contains the lay-
out menu, which contains the layout copy/paste op ons.

Here is how to copy / paste the list layout:

1. Once you are sa sfied with a list layout, use the layout menu to
copy the layout of this desired list. This is the list to which we wish
2. From the sidebar, select the other list to which you wish to paste to apply the layout displayed in
step 1. Here we have thumbnails
the layout of the desired list. From the layout menu, select paste. view, grouped by genre & ar-
3. The layout of the selected list will immediately change to match ranged by volume.

that of your desired list. 3

4. Repeat Step 2 for any number of lists to which you wish to assign
the layout chosen in Step 1.

Once the layout paste ac on is performed, the layout in

step 2 immediately changes to that of our desired list in
step 1. See how it exactly mirrors the original !

How do I backup my list layouts ?

While ComicRack provides a database backup feature, it does not include your list layout
presets. However, you can always manually backup your list layouts. Just follow these steps:
1. Open an explorer window and just go to: %APPDATA%\cYo\ComicRack\
2. Copy the Config.xml file to a safe loca on.
3. While restoring database, paste this file back in the loca on specified in step 1.
On restar ng ComicRack, all your list layouts will be preserved.

74
 W

What is a workspace ?
The mul ple windows and layouts of ComicRack are fully customizable and can be arranged in a number of ways. Such
an arrangement is called a workspace. A workspace comprises se ngs for 4 features. These are Window layouts, List
Layouts, Comic Display Layout, and Comic display Se ngs. While saving a workspace, you have the op on of choosing
any or all of these features to be included in your workspace.

You can make dierent workspace presets for dierent scenarios. You can, for example, make a workspace for mes
when you are simply browsing/organizing your eComics. Here you need to have the Browser window in the details view
and the search browser open to get the maximum func onality. Then, to provide complete screen space to the browser,
you can put the reader in dock fill mode, and open the small preview to get a good look at the selected eComic. As, in
this case, you are not ac vely reading eComics, you dont need to input comic display se ngs. You can then name it
and save for quick use later. Similar to this example, an endless number of workspaces can be made, so that you dont
have to manually change the same se ngs every me. Simply with the click of a bu on, a group of se ngs comes to
life, saving your me and enhancing produc vity.

75
 Saving Workspaces
Dierent situa ons require dierent Workspaces. Manually rearrang-
ing and re-adjus ng them every me is a hassle. Thus the op on of
saving mul ple window layouts as workspaces within ComicRack.
The Workspace op ons can be accessed from either the Browse menu
or the Tools menu. Once you are sa sfied with a par cular layout
and wish to save it as a Workspace for quick usage later, just click the
Save Workspace bu on. Alterna vely, you may use the Ctrl+W key-
board combo to bring on the Save Workspace dialog.

Window state
(maximized or not,
fullscreen)
Panels state, posi-
on and arrange-
ment. For example : Window Comic
browser docking Layouts DisplayLayout
mode
ac ve browser
tab
minimal user
interface
ListLayouts ComicDisplaySettings

Edi ng Workspaces
All your workspaces can be edited using the Workspaces dialog. From
the Browse menu or the Tools menu, go to the Workspace sub-menu,
and click the Edit Workspaces op on. All the workspaces are now visible
along with a descrip on of the se ngs that you included in each of them.
Here you can make a new workspace, and delete pre-exis ng workspaces
using the corresponding bu ons. You can also move a workspace up or
down the order. The Acvate bu on lets you change workspaces on-
the-fly, so that you can easily visualise and choose from your favourite
workspaces. The latest workspace saved can be accessed by the shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+F1, and the earlier one by Ctrl+Shift+F2 and so on.
Ctrl+Shift+F1

76
 C - S

What is a command-line switch ?

A command-line switch (also known as a command line parameter, flag, or an op on) is an indica on by a user that a computer
program should change its default output. For example, in the OpenVMS opera ng system, the command directory is used
to list the files inside a directory. When the user simply types directory, it will list only the names of the files. By adding
the op on /owner (to form the command directory/owner), the user can instruct the directory command to also display
the ownership of the files.
ComicRack supports a number of command-switches that modify its default configura on to the one specified by the user.

How to setup a command-line switch for ComicRack?

1. Make a shortcut to ComicRack.exe, or copy
1 2 3
& paste a pre-exis ng shortcut. Right-click on
this new shortcut, and click Properes.
2. Iden fy the Target field. The default target
reads: C:\Program Files\ComicRack\Comic-
Rack.exe
3. Add the command switch at the end of the default target (af-
ter the mark, put a space and write the command). The com-
mand switch should follow the format listed in the table below.
4. Save this new shortcut by clicking Ok. You can now rename
this shortcut to help you remember the command-switch it
represents.
5. Repeat these steps for each switch that you want. In this example, we add the -ac [Config Name] command-switch to the
target field. We write doc for the [Config Name] field, so the switch
Please note that ComicRack will follow the command parameter reads -ac doc. Star ng ComicRack from this shortcut brings on the
only when it is run from this shortcut that you have created. If you default ComicRack window with an empty library.
do not want the switch, simply run it from the default shortcut.
List of command-line switches supported by ComicRack
Command Descrip on
-ac [ConfigName] ConfigName is the name for the new configura on space. It will be ini ally empty (like a er a fresh install).
-cp [CachePath] To force a dierent cache path
-cdb To force a database consolida on (instead of the default consolida on every 50th run)
-db [Path to Database] To force a dierent database path (e.g. shared databases)
-dbr Disable Broadcast: Switch to turn o network broadcas ng
-dfv Disable Folders View: to disable Folders View (if not needed or wanted)
-dso Disable Script Op miza on: Scripts are always reloaded when executed. Otherwise they are compiled once dur-
ing startup
-hwd Disables any OpenGL support
-hwf Forces ComicRack to use OpenGL (even if no hardware accelera on is available)
-lm [Value in MB] To limit the memory ComicRack uses
-ssc Show Script Console: With this you get a look at all your script output (good for debugging messages)
-ws [workspace name] Force ComicRack to use this workspace se ng at startup

77
M

This chapter introduces you

to eComic metadata, which
forms the basis for managing
your eComic collec on with
ComicRack.
I 80
Summary 80
Details 81
Plot & Notes 83
Pages 84
Colors 85

F C 86
File-less comic entries 86
File-less comic series 87
Catalog 88

M eC I D 89

C P 90

R 91
Why rate comics ? 91
How to rate eComics in ComicRack? 91
Interpre ng eComic Ra ngs in ComicRack 92

R L 93

E C 94
Crea ng export presets 94

B 95
How to backup the current database ? 96
How to restore a database ? 96

D B 96
What is backed up ? 97
Good Backup Prac ces 97
 I

If the Preferences dialog is the heart of ComicRack, the Info dialog is its brain. Essen al for inpu ng and edi ng
eComic metadata, the Info dialog packs 5 dierent tabs, each of which is described in detail below.

To open the Info dialog:

Right-click on any eComic in the browser and select Info,
From the Main menu, open the Edit menu & select Info
Keyboard combo Ctrl+I

Summary

The Summary tab is an all inclusive box that provides at-a-glance informa on for your eComics, one at a me. The
upper panel of the Summary tab displays essen al metadata, that includes the eComic cap on and the creator
info along with a brief plot of the comic. This requires filling in the metadata fields (manually or via scripts) in the
Details & Plot & notes tabs. The lower panel of the Summary tab displays the technical specifica ons for your
eComic (like the file path, file format, size, number of pages, etc).

The eComic cap on

(Format/series/ tle/
volume/number/
year/month) and
the creator info
(Writer/Penciller/
Inker/Colorist/Let-
terer/Cover ar st)
The eComic cover. You can
click on it to get a 3D cover, The text that you
and click back to revert to this input in the Sum-
simple one. mary field of the
Plot & Notes tab
will show here in
the Summary tab as
the comic plot.

eComic ra ngs (on

a scale of 1 to 5,
eComic specifica ons, in- with 0.1 increments)
cluding the size, pages and that you can assign
file format (zip/rar etc). to any eComic by
simply clicking &/
The loca on of the or dragging on the
eComic on your stars here. Commu-
computer. nity ra ngs (average
ra ngs from review-
ers and readers
around the world)
are blue-colored,
while ra ngs as-
signed by the user
(called My ra ngs)
are yellow-colored.

80
 Details
The Details tab is the key to inpu ng the eComic metadata that forms the basis of organizing your eComic collec-
on. Just like tags in a music file, eComics can contain a variety of metadata. While ComicRack supports scripts
to automate this process from online databases, you always have the op on to fill in every detail manually. All
you need to know about the Details tab is given below.
Essen al informa on regarding the
series name, volume, number (n of
total), month & year.
The tle is the name of a par cular
issue of a series. You can usually find
the tle within the first few pages of
a comic.
Use the Alternate Series field
for crossovers (like Blackest
Night) or story-arcs (like Sine-
stro Corps war) or for storylines
(like Batman: reborn). The
number field helps in making a
chronology. A smart list based
on these fields brings up the
complete event in a go.
Essen al informa on regard-
ing the comic book creators.
Writer, penciller, Inker, color-
ist, leerer, cover arst, and
editor. Helps in organising all
eComics by, for example, a
par cular writer.
Here you can choose one or
mul ple genre for you eComic.
Read in detail about it on the
next page.
Use the Tags field for any
custom metadata that doesnt
have fields in the Info dialog,
like scanners name, series
status (ongoing, completed,
mini-series), scan type (c2c,
noads) etc.
The Previous and Next bu ons
are used to navigate between
the Info dialogs of the previous
and next eComics open in the
the browser respec vely. So,
in this case, you dont have to
close and open the info dialogs
repeatedly.
The eComic Format can be
selected here. This includes
Annual, Giant, One-Shot, Trade
paperback, etc. You can also
add your custom formats here.
Essen al informa-
on regarding the
Publisher (and
imprint, if any). You
can then arrange
or stack eComics in
the browser by the
publisher field.
Choose the Age Rat-
ing here from
among All ages, ex-
plicit ,T+, A, Parental
advisory.
Select Yes here to mark an
eComic as Manga. Not select-
ing anything here marks an
eComic as manga is unknown.
If required, you can choose
the eComic Language here.
Select Yes here to mark an
eComic as Black & White.
Not selec ng anything here
marks an eComic as Black &
white is unknown.
The Proposed Values bu on
is used for metadata auto-dis-
covery that ComicRack does
by processing filename. Its
there for convenience, so those
fields wouldnt be empty by
default. You can commit them
permanently (for example with
the Commit proposed values
script) or hide them, if the
guess is wrong.
81
There are 3 types of metadata fields in the Details tab, all of which can be filled either
manually or via scripts:
1. Text fields: have to be filled with relevant words or numbers. These include fields 1
like Series, Title, Volume etc.
2. Menus: drop-down menus, where you select from an already-present list of choic-
es.
a. Simple list: Apart from the default choices, any user-inpu ed word is also
stored in the list and shows up in the drop-down 2a
b. Yes/No menus: You can only choose Yes or No from the drop-down
3. Op on fields: Here you can select more than one op on. Just like the text menus,
apart from the default choices, any user-inpu ed word is also stored in the list for
re-use later. Just click the Add item bu on at the end of the field box to open
the Add item dialog, which contains 3 tabs placed at the bo om:
a. Lists tab 2b
b. Check tab
c. Text tab

3
Add Item bu on

3a 3b 3c

The Lists tab of an Op ons field The Check tab of an Op ons field The Text tab of an Op ons field
Double-clicking on an entry selects it and shows it in Here you get checkboxes for each entry. Just select any The most simple one. Meant for users who like to
the box above. Double-clicking on any entry in the box number of entries you desire, and then click anywhere use the keyboard more than the mouse. Just type
removes it. You can also use the < < bu on to bring all outside the tab to close it. in the names separated by commas , and then click
entries in the box en masse, the > > bu on to remove anywhere outside the tab to close it.
all entries from the box. Single-click on any entry fol-
lowed by the < bu on brings it in the box, and the >
bu on takes it out of the box. Click anywhere outside
the tab to close it.

82
 Plot & Notes
The Plot & notes tab complements the Details tab. While the details tab contains metadata fields which are
essen al for organizing your eComics, the Plot & notes tab helps complete the metadata, specially to sa sfy ad-
vanced comic book enthusiasts! Metadata fields like Characters, Teams and Locaons bring on a large number of
possibili es regarding the eComic grouping in the browser. An overview of the Plot & Notes tab is shown below.

The summary field should be

filled with a brief text that
highlights the plot of the
eComic. The text here shows
up in the summary tab as well
as in reader tab bar tool ps.

Input the teams

(like Jus ce league,
Input the characters (like Wol- Avengers, etc) here.
verine, Batman, Deadpool etc) Helps in grouping/
here. Helps in grouping/stack- stacking by the
ing by the characters field, or Teams field, or in
in making smart lists. making smart lists.

You may use Notes for whatev- Input the loca ons
er purpose you wish. If theres (like Gotham city,
some data about comic that Metropolis, OA, As-
doesnt fit anywhere else, but gard etc) here. Helps
you s ll want to save it, notes in grouping/stacking
can be right place for it. by the Loca ons
field, or in making
The web address of the eComic smart lists.
goes here. This shows up in the
summary tab as well as when
you click the arrow mark next
to the eComic name in the
details view of the browser.

Search Wikipedia from within ComicRack

Right-click inside any metadata field to bring up the con-

text menu with the wikipedia search results at the top
Click the arrow mark next to the eComic name in the de-
tails view of the browser. You will get both the wikipedia
search results as well as the eComic web address that you
input in the Web field (Plot & notes tab)

83
 Pages
The Pages tab in the Info dialog shares a lot of similari es with the Pages Browser (see Chapter 04). Just like the
pages browser, the pages tab also has the Pages context menu and the Page browser context menu (called the
Pages tab context menu here).

The Pages tab con-

text menu provides
op ons for viewing,
arranging, and
grouping the pages.

Drag & drop individual pages to

change the page order. Double-
click a page to open it in the
Colors tab.

The Reset bu on
brings back the de-
fault values for the
The Previous and Next bu ons page a ributes.
are used to navigate between
the Pages tab of the previous
and next eComics open in the
browser respec vely.
Opens up sub-menus for
Changing the Page type
and the Page rota on.

Right-clicking on any page in the

Pages Tab invokes the Pages Context
Menu. This contains op ons for
changing Page Type, Page Rota on,
Adding / removing Bookmarks,
reordering pages within an eComic,
copying page(s) to another loca on,
selec ng & refreshing, and dele ng
pages from ComicRack.

84
 Colors
The Colors tab is used for adjustment of the intensi es of the color
a ributes of the eComic pages, viz. Satura on, brightness, contrast
and sharpening.

Satura on: The purity of a hue; or, more precisely, the intensity of one
color channel rela ve to the intensity of the other color channels
Brightness: The rela ve lightness or darkness of an image, or of a par cular
color in an image
Contrast: The rela ve dierence between lightness and darkness in an area
of an image Satura on decreased to -100%
Sharpening: An image eect that is used to adjust the image contrast by
enhancing the defini on of the image edges

Brightness decreased to -25%

Contrast increased to +50%

The Previous and Next Find a white spot (usually text bubble Click the Reset
bu ons are used to background) and double-click on it bu on to bring
navigate between the and itll manually adjust the other back the default
Color dialogs of the pre- colors rela ve to the color at the spot values for the color
vious and next eComics you clicked such that it is balanced. a ributes.
open in the the browser This is really most applicable to poor
respec vely. So, in this scans of discolored books to adjust
case, you dont have to yellowing. Good scans of new books
close and open the color should require very li le white-point
dialogs repeatedly. adjustment.
Sharpness increased to 4+

85
 F eC

ComicRack also supports Fileless comic entries into the database. This way ComicRack becomes a full blown
paper comic database management tool. Here are some of the scenarios in which you may find this feature quite
useful:
If you wish to delete an eComic (or eComic series) from the database (for saving hard disc space, or removing an
eComic that you didnt like), but want to retain the info
If do not have some eComics in your digital collec on, yet want the respec ve info in ComicRack, you can make
dummy entries for such comics (or comic series)
If you wish to purchase some eComics (a wishlist), and would like to catalogue their metadata in ComicRack
for quick reference

Fileless comic entries

Working with fileless comic entries is easy. Here are the steps you need to follow to 1
create your own fileless comics:
1. From the File menu, select New Comic Entry
2. A blank Info dialog box will open
3. Add the relevant metadata in the details and plot and notes tab
4. In the Summary tab, you can click the thumbnail bu on, and browse to the
eComic cover saved (manually by you) elsewhere on your system. Therea er,
even if you delete the cover from your system, Comicrack retains the thumb-
nail. Alterna vely, the excellent scrip ng system of ComicRack makes it pos-
sible to scrape (from the internet) comic thumbnails (as well as metadata) for
file-less entries. Please read the sec on on Comic vine scraper in the Scripts
chapter to know more.
5. Similarly, you can use the link to file bu on to browse and link a file of any sup-
ported format (like CBR, CBZ etc) on your system, thus conver ng the file-less
entry into an actual eComic.

2 3 4

The blank Info dialog resembles the eComic Info Enter the relevant metadata for your comic entry just Add thumbnail and/or ra ngs to your comic entry.
dialog a lot, but has minor dierences. The Pages tab, like you would do for an eComic. Double-click a fileless entry to open up its Info dialog.
for obvious reasons, is not seen.

86
 Fileless comic series
Adding file-less entries for a large number of comics can be me-con- 1
suming. ComicRack supports adding all required issues of a series in
a go.

Here are the steps you need to follow to create file-less comic series:

1. From the File menu, select New Comic Book Series. The New Com-
ic Book Series dialog box will open. Add the name of the series,
The New Comic Book Series dialog contains the fields for
number (range), and volume (if any) series, number, and volume. The Volume field is op onal.

2. Click OK to get the en re series (with the issue numbers you speci-
fied) in the browser. 2 3

3. You can now edit them (and add thumbnails/ra ngs) either en
masse, or individually like separate file-less comic entries.

Managing fileless comic entries/series is more-or-less similar to their

real counterparts, the eComics. Once you add the relevant metadata,
the file-less entries/series are added to the ComicRack library data-
base. Essen al ComicRack features like lists, copying/pas ng data,
search, browser views/naviga on are the same for the file-less entries.
The new series The new fileless series can be visualised
as seen in the in the browser just like normal eComics,
browser. the violet star being their state indicator.

For evident reasons, features involving eComic pages are not supported. This includes the export func on, book-
marks, pages browser, a number of scripts, and most obviously, the reader! The forthcoming sec ons will make
these features more clear.

How do I quickly find all the fileless comic Can I convert my regular eComics to fileless
entries in my library ? comic entries ?

The Views bu on on the Yes. You will need the Con-

browser toolbar has the vert eComics to fileless script
Show only fileless entries op- for this. Just select the eComic
on. Clicking this op on filters (s) that you wish to convert to
the current list and shows only fileless and click the script op-
the fileless entries present in on from the right click au-
that list. Using this op on on tomaon menu. Please read
the en re library shows all your the chapter on scripts to know
fileless comics. more.

87
 Catalog
The Info dialog for the fileless comics contains an addi onal tab labelled Catalog. This is a very useful field when it
comes to managing your paper comics. It contains important informa on about the comic condi on, price, store,
owner, collec on status and more. An overview of the Catalog tab is shown below.

Name of the comic

book store or web-
site from where the Here you can input
book was purchased the price of the
comic.

The ownership Classifica on of the

status of the comic, comic book into its
which could be self, respec ve age or
friend, bookstore, historical era.
etc.

The loca on of the

book in your (physi-
cal) library.

Grading the condi-

on of a comic book
The collec on status based on its current
of an issue, which physical state.
can be for sale,
wanted, on order,
etc

Can I get the Catalog tab for all eComics ?

Yes, the catalog tab can be used with all your eComics, and is not just
limited to fileless comic entries. However, by default, it is ac ve only for
fileless entries. Follow these steps to use it throughout ComicRack:
Open the Preferences dialog and go to the Behavior tab
From the Applicaon sec on/sub-tab, uncheck the Show catalog
fields only for fileless comics field.
You can now access the catalog field even for normal eComics.

88
 M eC
I D
So far, we have discussed filling the metadata for individual eComics. ComicRack also supports batch processing
of mul ple eComics for inpu ng and edi ng metadata. This is accomplished through the Mulple eComic Infor-
maon dialog. To open it, select mul ple eComics and open the Info dialog as you would do for a single eComic.
The Mulple eComic Informaon dialog contains metadata fields of both the Details tab and the Plot & notes tab
of the Info dialog arranged in separate sec ons/tabs. The Catalog field is also present in the The Mulple eCom-
ic Informaon dialog for eComics as well as for fileless comic entries.

The Mulple eComic Informaon dialog con-

tains 3 types of checkboxes, which are inter-
preted dierently with regard to the type of the
metadata field:

For text fields or menus (yes/no, simple list):

Value is iden cal in all books: Checked
Value is dierent for at least one book:
Unchecked

For op on fields:
Value is iden cal in all books: Checked
Value is dierent for at least one book:
Indeterminate
No value will be set: Unchecked
Double clicking anywhere on the Mulple eComics Informaon dialog background toggles
between the scroll (dierent sec ons in a single scrolling window) and the tab (op ons ar-
ranged in their own sub-tabs) layout. It contains sec ons/tabs tled Main, Arsts/People
involved, Plot & Notes, and Catalog.

Is there any way to completely remove the Is there any way to leave the Series field
tags? Ive already tried doing it manually in blank? Ive tried dele ng it manually, but it
the details tab, but the same old tags get appears again a er the field loses the focus.
put back up.

The trick is to remove the tag not only from the tags
field of the details tab but also the notes field of the
plot & notes tab. You can clear the tags AND notes in
the Mulple eComic Informaon dialog. Check them
both and clear the contents (if any).
You just have to switch the Proposed Values from
Yes to No. Then validate the change by clicking on Ok
which will close the info window. When you will open
the info window again, the series field will be blank
and you will be able to specify whatever you want.

89
 C P

The Paste Data feature helps you to manually transfer the metadata from one eComic to another, without needing to
import the data anew. Examples include replacing comics with those of be er quality, or those with addi onal pages.

For example, here are two ecomics; the original, and a new one with the complete pages. You would not want to manually input the data for the new one, as you
already have done it for the original one. Here is where the Copy data & Paste data op ons are useful.
1

To add the data to the new comic,

right-click on the original eComic in the
browser
brow window and select Copy Data

This will open the Paste Data dialog box. There are three Double clicking anywhere on the Paste Data dialog back-
op ons; All, which will add a check to every data item, Only ground toggles between the scroll (dierent sec ons in a
Set, which only select those items that actually have data, single scrolling window) and the tab (op ons arranged in
and Clear, which will uncheck all data and allow you to only their own sub-tabs) layout.
select those items you wish. It contains sec ons/tabs tled
Main, Arsts/People involved, Plot & Notes, and Catalog.
Then right-click the new comic and select
Paste Data

Select Ok, and all selected data will be added to the new ecomic. The data can be added to as many issues as are selected. Please note that this feature will not
transfer bookmarks.

The Paste Data feature is also useful when you have a number of eComics that are supposed to have similar meta-
data (like dierent issues of a series having a common crea ve team, the same publisher & the same genre), but
you have the metadata filled in only for one, or a few, of those eComics. In this case, you can simply use the Copy
Data op on from the eComic with the maximally complete metadata present, and select the rest of the eComics
and select Paste Data. Most o en than not, ComicRack itself will intelligently guess your desire & keep only the
relevant metadata fields checked. You can make yourself doubly sure by unchecking metadata items you do not
wish to paste.

90
 R

Why rate comics ?

Chances are you like all the eComic you have in your ComicRack library, or else it wouldnt be there. But there are
always some comics that you like more than others. You can rate all these eComics on your ComicRack on a scale
of 0 to 5, with 0.1 increments. But why would you want to do that? If youve got a large library, its going to be a lot
of work. Well, there are a few reasons to rate your eComics:

To create Smart Lists

Smart Lists are a kind of automa cally created eComic list that ComicRack can generate based on criteria you
create. One kind of Smart List that can be created is based on the ra ng assigned to eComics. As a result, you can
create a Smart Playlist that includes all of your 5-star rated eComics, and automa cally adds new eComics to the
list as you rate them 5 stars. Similarly, if you wish to delete an eComic (or eComic series) from the library that you
didnt like, but s ll want to retain the info, you can list all the 1-star (or lower) rated eComics, and convert them all
to fileless entries.
To compare your ra ngs with community ra ngs
Art lies in the eyes of the beholder. Everyone can interpret a piece of art in a dierent manner. Art lovers like to in-
teract and share each others views. The internet has made the world so small that we are lucky enough to receive
the views of people who are much learned/experienced in certain fields than us. ComicRack provides both your
and community ra ngs at the same me, so that you may see how your ra ngs stand with that of the rest of the
comic lovers and reviewers.
How to rate eComics in ComicRack?
1 2

From the Info dialog, you can find the My Rang & Community Rang
fields in the Summary tab. Click and drag your mouse across the stars ll
you reach the point where you want to stop. The corresponding numeri-
cal ra ng will be displayed in real- me in the box on the right side.
From the right-click Browser context menu or the Reader Context menu,
go to the My Rang sub-menu and click at the stars. If you want to give in-
cremental ra ng, you can drag across the blank stars present at the bo om.
The corresponding numerical ra ng will be displayed in real- me in the box
on the right side.

4
From the details view, a er selec ng the my rangs and/or community
rangs columns, click on the stars to rate your eComics.

91
Interpre ng eComic Ra ngs in ComicRack

Community rangs are average ra ngs

from reviewers and readers around the
world, while ra ngs assigned by you are
called My rangs. Both these ra ngs
can be viewed simultaneously in Comic-
Rack.

Based on your preference (from the Be-

havior bu on of the Preferences dialog),
the ra ngs on the eComic thumbnails can
be displayed either in a numerical man-
ner (at the bo om right of the thumb-
nail), or as ra ng stars (at the top le of
the thumbnail). Community rangs are
also displayed similarly. The community
ra ngs are blue-colored, while ra ngs
assigned by you (My rangs) are yellow-
colored. Ra ng stars are displayed in the upper le cor- Numerical ra ng is displayed in the lower right
ner of the eComic thumbnail or le. corner of the eComic thumbnail or le.

Here is a suggested ra ng scale for those

wishing to use it:

0.0 - 0.9 = Terrible (Burn It)

1.0 - 1.9 = Poor (Avoid It) Ra ng stars are displayed a er selec ng the my rangs and/or community rangs columns in the details
2.0 - 2.9 = Mediocre (Pass It) view.
3.0 - 3.4 = Decent (Check It)
3.5 - 3.9 = Good (Must Read)
4.0 - 4.4 = Great (Buy It)
4.5 - 5.0 = Outstanding (Must Have)

A lot of popular resources on the internet provide reviews and ra ngs for all the eComics you read.

Can I enter ra ngs manually (using the keyboard number keys) ?

You can. You would require the Insert Rang script for this purpose. This script allows
you to insert a 5-point ra ng via the keyboard instead of clicking on the stars. It is ex-
plained in detail in the Scripts chapter.

92
 R L

A Reading List is a compila on made up from eComics in your comic library. You can use lists to organize a group of
eComics matching a par cular criteria. All the lists are accessed from the sidebar, which, thus, is essen al for work-
ing with lists.

There are 2 types of lists:

1. Custom List: This is a simple list of eComics, made by manually adding individual eComics to it. This is a compila-
on of eComics for quick access, akin to playlists in a music player.
2. Smart List: This is an automa zed list, in which you create a rule (or many rules), and ComicRack automa cally
adds all eComics fulfilling the rule(s) to the smart list. As new eComics are added to your library, ComicRack
auto-updates your smart lists.

Create a new folder to organize your

lists. You can also create folders Use these icons to create
within folders. Lists can be dragged a new custom list or a new
and dropped from one folder to the smart list, respec vely.
other.

Custom Lists

Smart Lists

Add eComics to your custom list by

simply dragging & dropping them
from the browser window, or by
clicking Add to list from the browser
Create a rule by picking a metadata field
context menu.
from the le most drop-down menu,
choosing an instruc on from the second,
and filling in a complete or par al key-
word in the third (text) field.
The Sidebar with all the custom lists & smart
lists

Reading Lists can be easily edited. To edit a custom list, you have to manually add or remove the eComics in the
the list. This is not possible in smart lists, where edi ng is done by modifying the rules that cons tute the list. Both
custom lists and smart lists can be renamed, deleted, moved from one folder to the other, and opened in their own
tab or window. You can also add any list to the favorites window by right-clicking on any list and selec ng add to
favorites. All your list are saved when you backup your database (see database backup sec on).
We shall discuss all the features and func onality of lists in detail in the lists chapter.

Can I transfer my lists to another computer ?

You can export and import both custom lists & smart lists from and into ComicRack.
Right-click on any list in the sidebar and select the export reading list op on. Save your
list to a loca on of your choice. To import it another computer, right-click anywhere in
the sidebar and select the import reading list op on.

93
 E C

ComicRack has many op ons to export eComics. To convert

an eComic to another format, right-click on any eComic in the
browser, goto Export eComics and simply choose your format.
A batch of eComics, or even your complete library can be batch
converted in a similar fashion.

Choose the ex-

port loca on. Similar to other ComicRack dialogs, double clicking
anywhere on the Export eComics dialog background
You can select mul ple eComics and toggles between the scroll and the tab layout. The
choose to combine them during export. scroll layout shows all the export op ons arranged
You may also choose whether you wish in dierent sec ons in a single scrolling window. The
to keep the original eComics, or delete tab layout has these very op ons arranged in their
them a er export. own sub-tabs.

The exported eComic can

be named according to its
preexis ng filename, or
the comic cap on (which is
the standard format used
by ComicRack for naming
eComics) or your custom
choice.
Choose the file format Choose compression
You can select from this
drop-down menu which
page types you wish not
to include in the exported
eComic. Please read the
chapter on Browser to know
more about page types.
Choose the page Choose resizing op-
You can choose
format. ons.
to split double
pages to 2 single
pages each dur-
ing the export.
If you wish, you can modify the color
a ributes of the eComic pages to your
liking. Available are op ons to change
the satura on, brightness, contrast and
sharpening a ributes of the images.

Crea ng export presets

You can also create your own presets for easy repe on of specific export se ngs. To create
a preset, first open the Export eComics se ngs menu and then set any se ngs you want
your preset to have. A er you get the se ngs to your liking, click the Save bu on and give
your preset a name. The preset will now show up in the right-clickExport eComics menu.
Included are presets for CBZ, CB7 and PSP.

94
 B

ComicRack contains features for bookmarking your eComics at any (and any number of) page(s) that you wish.
A page can be bookmarked using the Set Bookmark op on, which can be found here:
Reader window: From the Bookmarks sub-menu in the Reader context menu (a er right-clicking any open page)
Info dialog: Right-click on any page in the Pages tab
Edit menu: From the Bookmarks sub-menu

1 2 3

From Reader window From Edit menu

From Info dialog

Bookmarks are, in their simplest form, needed when you have to quit reading an eComic and you wish to con nue
reading from the page you le it at. So you bookmark it and next me you can easily access it. Please note that for
this purpose ComicRack already has the Open the eComic at the page where it was closed op on. We recommend
bookmarks for more intui ve scenarios like:
As chapter jump points
To mark backup features (or second-third-fourth-etc stories in Annuals or King-Size edi ons)
If you combine mul ple comics to one with export, the beginning of each eComic is marked with a bookmark.

The bookmarks menu in the reader window displays The Pages browser showing the eComic pages grouped by book-
all the bookmarks for the open eComic. Every book- marks. See how comfortable it becomes to recognise them in this
mark can be given an individual name, for example, as scenario.
in this case, the chapter name.

95
 D B

Once you have completed entering all the metadata, bookmarking your eComics,
adjus ng the colors, ra ng them, making lists, you wouldnt want all the eort go
in vain just because of an accidental dele on, a virus a ack, or a so ware or hard-
ware failure. ComicRack provides for a quick and easy back up of your eComic
database. It is a simple file copy of the ComicRack database (ComicDB.xml) file,
available for storage in a separate loca on from the original.
The database backup op ons can be accessed through the Preferences dialog:
Edit Preferences Advanced Database Backup
Always keep a backup ready !

How to backup the current database ?

1 2

An explorer window will open,

where you can browse to the
loca on of your choice and
then click the save bu on. The
database will be saved with the
name ComicDB Backup along
with the date of saving the
database.

From the Advanced bu on of the Preferences dialog, just

click the backup database op on.

How to restore a database ?

1 2 3

An explorer window will open, where you can browse to
From the Advanced bu on of the Preferences dialog, click
the loca on of your saved database. Select the desired
the restore database op on.
database and then click the open bu on, or simply
double-click the saved database.
On closing the Preferences dialog, Comi-
cRack will prompt you for a restart.
Click the restart bu on to complete the
database restora on.

96
What is backed up ?
Absolutely all the metadata is backed up by the Backup database feature, including:
Comic-related metadata: all fields in the Details tab & Plot & notes tab of the Info dialog
Non-comic metadata: literally everything, including proper es of every single page of the book, page
type, rota on, bookmarks, last page read, date added/opened, ra ng, color adjustment, file modified
me, file crea on me etc.
Lists (both custom lists & smart lists), together with their individual layouts

The following features are not backed up by the Backup database feature:
Workspaces
List Layout presets
Op ons from preferences dialog
Export presets

Good Backup Prac ces

Backup to a remote loca on & backup o en

Backup your database to a safe and remote loca on; either a USB drive, or an free online backup
server like box.net or dropbox. Also, make a habit of backing up your database o en. A weekly
backup is recommended. However, your backup frequency should depend on how o en you mod-
ify the info of your library eComics, and how o en & how many new eComics are added to the
library.

Maintain your eComic folder structure

Just be sure to put all your comics files back into the same main folder they were in before when
you restore. So if they were in C:\Comics then thats where you need to copy them a er you refor-
mat. As long as the content of the file is the same as the original one, its name and sub-folder can
be dierent. On the other hand, if the file path and name is iden cal as the original one, the con-
tent of the file may be dierent.

Manually backup the Config.xml file

Please note that the database backup does not include your preferences, export presets, list layout
presets & workspace presets. So, if you would wish to backup them also, you would have to do so
manually. Open an explorer window and just go to: %APPDATA%\cYo\ComicRack\
Copy the Config.xml file to a safe loca on. While restoring the database, paste this file back in this
loca on. On restar ng ComicRack, all your preferences & presets will be preserved.

97
L

This chapter introduces

you to lists, which form the
quickest way to access a set
of eComics based on the
metadata present. Essen al
reading for ComicRack us-
ers !
I 100
Custom Lists vs. Smart Lists 100

C L 101
Create a new Custom List 101
How to use custom lists for making eComic chronolo-
gies 102

S L 103
Create a new Smart List 103
Smart List Basics 104

W L 105
Open a list in its own tab / window 105
Duplicate current list 105
Edit a smart list (change its rules) 106
Delete an eComic from a custom list 106
Delete a list 106
Working with reading list folders 106
Export (or backup) Lists 107
Expor ng basics 107
How to export lists 107
Import Lists 108
Impor ng basics 108
How to import lists 108
 I

By default, all your ComicRack eComics are located in the Library folder.
As me passes, managing your eComic collec on can become quite dicult without some form of organiza on. This
is where reading lists come into play. A Reading List is a compila on made up from eComics in your comic library
These are analogous to playlists that you make in your music player. You can make as many reading lists as you want
and give them any name you desire. It is useful to organize eComics into lists to suit a par cular reading style or
mood. Not only will your eComic collec on become more manageable, any group of eComics matching a par cular
criteria will then be just a click away.

Custom Lists vs. Smart Lists

Once you reach a few gigabytes of eComics, lists and smart lists become an essen al tool to keep
your eComic collec on manageable and enjoyable. In the sidebar, custom lists and smart lists can
be easily dieren ated by their dis nct icons. However, the dierence between custom lists and
smart lists doesnt stop at their icons only!

Custom Lists Smart Lists

Custom Lists work great if you want to group a set number of Smart lists are based on criteria of your choosing. Smart lists will
eComics together. You have total control over what eComics get scan your en re library to find whatever matches your criteria.
into the list. Great if you know exactly what you want.
A regular custom list always contains the exact eComics you Smart lists are automa cally updated as new eComics are added
manually added to it. to your ComicRack collec on.
Individual eComics can be added or removed from custom lists Manually adding / removing individual eComics in smart lists
whenever and as many mes as you wish. is not possible, because smart lists are bound by the rules you
specify.
Dele ng an eComic from a custom list only removes the refer- Dele ng an eComic from a smart list removes the eComic from
ence to the eComic from the list. the library itself!
Both custom lists and smart lists can be exported & imported, renamed, added to favorites, opened in their own tab / window,
organized in folders / subfolders, and obviously, deleted.

Keep your Sidebar On

All the reading lists (custom lists as well as smart lists) load in the sidebar. If you
have toggled the sidebar o, you will be able to access only recently viewed lists
through the back/forward bu ons on the browser toolbar. Moreover, if you have Sidebar On
selected a list first & then toggled o the sidebar, you wont be able to access your
complete library ll you bring back the sidebar and select the library folder. So, it is
highly recommended to keep your sidebar on. For more details, read the sec on
on the sidebar in the browser chapter.

Sidebar O

100
 C L

In its most general form, a custom list (o en simply called a list or a regular list or even a reading list) is simply
a list of eComics. Custom lists are virtual folders you can create to filter dierent types of eComics. Regular lists
are just that: folders. But ComicRack also supports Smart lists: these are intelligent folders which can keep their
contents updated, following some condi ons you create. These smart lists will be discussed in the next sec on. This
sec on will introduce you to the regular and simpler custom lists.

Create a new Custom List

1. To create a new custom list, either click the new list icon on the sidebar 1
toolbar, or choose New List from the Sidebar context menu (appears on
right-clicking anywhere inside the sidebar).
2. The New List dialog box opens up. Here you can give your new list a
name. The New List icon on the sidebar toolbar.
3. Your New List shows in the Sidebar. It can be dragged up or down the
lists, or in or out any folders. 2
4. The new list is empty; adding eComics to the list can be done in 2 ways:
a. Drag the eComics from the Browser and drop them on top of your
list. You can drag & drop them either one by one, or selec ng mul -
ple eComics in the browser (using the Ctrl key). The new list dialog
b. Alterna vely, you can right-click any (or a group of) eComic(s) in the
browser to open the browser context menu, and goto Add to List. 3
Select from names of all the reading lists in your library.

The New List showing in the Sidebar.

4a 4b

Drag & d
D drop to add
dd new eComics
C i to your list
li to List
Use the Add to Listt op on to add eComics to your
o r list

101
 How to use custom lists for making eComic chronologies
Custom lists are best suited for organizing chronologies of comic
book events. To demonstrate the power of custom lists, we made a
demo list for Siege, a recent comic book event. Free preview pages
were used to make the demo eComic files shown in the list. Here is
how to use custom lists for making eComic chronologies:

Select all eComics belonging to a par cular crossover / storyline and then add
them to the list. Select this list in the sidebar, so that all the eComics in this
list are now visible in the browser window.
Now, we have to arrange them in chronological order. Here the Alternate
number field in the Info dialog comes to play.

For each individual eComic in the list ,you will have to input a numerical value
in this field to help ComicRack decide the chronological order of the eCom-
ics. Here you can use the Autonumber wizard script for numbering. The Alter-
nate series number should not be confused with the series number.
Select the details view in the browser.
If not already selected, right-click on the details columns
and select the Alternate number field to be displayed. Drag
the column to place it on the extreme le . Now, click on the
alternate number column tle to arrange the eComics in the
list according to it.
You can now view the eComics in the chronological order
any me by clicking on the list in the sidebar.

Any Custom list you already created can also be changed later on:
rename it, add or remove eComics from it. You can, of course, delete
an old custom list, and backup or export your lists out of Comic-
Rack. These topics are discussed in detail later in the Working with
lists sec on.
Disclaimer:
This list is for demonstra onal purposes only and in reality does not contain the actual eComics shown here. We used the freely
downloadable eComic covers and preview pages for the respec ve comic issues displayed and saved each of them as a small cbz file.
The list is made of these cbz files.

How can I quickly access the lists I use the most?

If you have lists that you use very frequently, you can have them
displayed in the favorites window. Just right-click on any custom
list (or smart list) and select add to favorites. Your list will now
show in the Favorites window and can be accessed more quickly.
Add
d to favorites op on in the The
he favorites window showing
sidebar context menu the added reading list

102
 S L

ComicRack gives you the ability to organize your eComics with Smart lists: these work much
like rules in email programs (mail filters). Any eComic that matches the condi ons you set out
will automa cally appear in the smart list. Smart lists thus consist of rules the user can define
in order to create dynamic, self-upda ng lists of comics. ComicRack itself comes with seven
built-in smart lists: Files to update, My Favorites, Never Read, Read, Reading, Re-
cently Added and Recently Read.
You could, for example, create a Smart list of all eComics you rated more than four stars.
Any me you rate an eComic four or five star, ComicRack would automa cally add it to your
smart list. - this cannot be achieved with a regular ComicRack custom list, unless you manu-
ally added or deleted some of them. Smart Lists can have mul ple condi ons, which limit their
poten al only to your crea vity.

Create a new Smart List

1. To create a smart list, either click the new smart list icon on the sidebar 1
toolbar, or choose New Smart List from the Sidebar context menu (ap-
pears on right-clicking anywhere inside the sidebar).
2. The Edit Smart List dialog box opens up.
Click the New Smart List icon on the sidebar
Select this op on to toolbar.
Name show the smart list in
the Quick Open box
2

Limit by number
or size
Remove rule
Match All/Any rule in
Library/List

Negate rule Add rule group

Add rule

Metadata field Instruc on Keyword

3. Pick a metadata field from the le most drop-down menu, choose an instruc on from the second, and fill in a
complete or par al keyword in the third (text) field.

103
 Smart List Basics
Here we explain you the basics of making smart lists, from the most simple smart lists to the rela vely more com-
plex. As a general rule, you should make your rules as open-ended as possible to op mize their matching scope;
the more detailed the rule, the shorter the smart list results.
1 2

In its default state, every smart list contains one rule that will search for The ! (nega on) bu on finds the opposite of what you specify. To con nue the
anywhere in All the comics data that contains New Smart List. You can X-Men example, if you set the ! bu on, the smart list would display any com-
change New Smart List to anything you like. For example, if you want to find ics that do not contain X-Men.
any comics that have X-Men in its data. You could change New Smart List to
X-Men and click Ok and the smart list would display any comics with X-Men
in its data.

3 4

If you only want to search for a phrase in a certain field, you can change the You can also change the instruc on field (second drop-down menu). For exam-
metadata field All to something else. For example if you wanted to find all the ple if you want to find an exact word or phrase you could change the op on
Batman tles you could set the search to be: Series contains Batman from contains to is.

5 6

If you specify Match All, then all the rules would have to be true for a comic
in order for it to be displayed. If you specify Match Any, then if any one rule is
true for a comic it will be displayed. Click the + bu on next to a rule to add a
new rule to the smart list. Click the - bu on to delete a rule.

To create complicated and very specific rules, you can create rule groups. Click
the .. bu on to add a rule group. With each group you can specify to follow
all or any of the rules in the group. The example above displays a smart list
designed to find Detec ve Comics 327-342 and Batman 164-174.

104
 W L

Your ComicRack lists are not fixed in stone: you can easily rename lists, delete lists, edit smart lists, create, re-
name & delete list folders, etc. It is noteworthy that manually adding / removing individual eComics in smart lists
is not a valid op on, because smart lists are bound by the rules which define them. Individual eComics in custom
lists, on the other hand, are supposed to be only manually added or removed.
Open a list in its own tab / window
ComicRack lets you open a list (both custom lists & smart lists) in its own tab or window, which
eases working with mul ple lists at a me. If you have loads of entries in your library (folders,
lists, smart lists) and want to work with some, it is lot easier to open them as tabs (or windows)
instead of clicking or scrolling around in your smart list. You can also drag an eComic(s) from a list
/ smart list in one tab and drop to a list (not smart list) in another tab. To open a list in its own tab
or window, right-click on the list name, and choose Open in new window or Open in new tab.

Reading list open in own window Reading list open in own tab

Duplicate current list

The duplicate current list op on is something dierent than simply copying/pas ng a list. It builds a new smart list
out of your current se ngs. If you did not make any changes, it does not create a new list. It takes into account the
filters in Search Browser, Quick Search and op ons in Views (read / not read / reading / duplicates).
Click a list (either custom list or smart list), type something in the quick search or choose a filter in the search
browser. Once the filtered eComics show up, click the duplicate current list bu on and you will get a new list (with
the same name) in the temporary lists folder, following the rules of the original list PLUS whatever extra filters you
applied. This is the quickest way of crea ng smart lists.

In this example, we filter the Siege demo list using the

search browser. We select Brian Michael Bendis from
the writers field in the search browser, which filters the
total 44 comics in the list to 14 wri en by Bendis. Now,
click the duplicate current list bu on on the browser
toolbar. A new smart list tled Siege appears in the
temporary lists folder. Click edit to see what its rules are.
You will find that smart list has filtered the original siege
list according to the criteria we chose. If you wish to
store this list, you have to move it out of the temporary
list folder to somewhere else in the sidebar.

105
Edit a smart list (change its rules)
To edit a smart lists rule, right-click on the list, and choose Edit. If the Edit menu
item is greyed out, you are probably clicking on a standard list. Choosing Edit will
open the Edit Smart List dialog box: this is the same dialog you used to create
the smart list in the first place. This obviously only applies to smart lists, since
standard custom lists are managed manually.
Delete an eComic from a custom list
To remove an eComic (or a batch of eComics) from a custom list, select the
eComic(s), right-click, and choose Remove. This will only remove a reference to
the eComic from the list, not delete the actual eComic from your system. Please
note that in case of smart lists, the Remove func on actually deletes the eComic
from the library itself.

Delete a list
To delete a list (both custom lists & smart lists), simply right-click on the list you
would like to delete, and choose Delete. Note that since a list contains only
links to the actual eComics they contain, dele ng a list only deletes references
to these items, and none of your content will actually be deleted.

Working with reading list folders

You can organize any number of lists and smart lists into well defined fold-
ers. Each non-empty folder has a disclosure triangle which allows you to
hide or show the folders content.
To create a list folder: click the New Folder icon either from the sidebar
toolbar or from the sidebar context menu. Click the New Folder icon on the sidebar toolbar.
To create subfolders (folders inside other folders): first click on the de-
sired would-be parent folder, and then click the New Folder icon.
To promote a subfolder to a folder: simply drag the folder towards the
le , and release once the cursor changes appearance to that of a hori-
zontal dividing line.
To move a subfolder to another folder; simply drag the subfolder and
drop it above the des na on folder. All items stay inside and accom-
pany their containing folder wherever you put it. Conver ng a subfolder into a folder
To move exis ng lists and smart lists in a folder: simply drag the list,
and drop it on the desired folder label.
To create a list directly inside a folder: first click on the desired folder,
and then create the list.
To move a list from one folder to another: simply drag the list with your
mouse, and drop it on the new, des na on folder.
To remove a list from a folder: drag the list upwards or downwards,
un l you get a horizontal divider; at that point, release the list.
You can rename list folders at any me, much like you rename regular
folders on your computer: it will not aect the folders content. Placing a list into another folder

106
 Export (or backup) Lists
Both custom lists and smart lists can be exported from ComicRack. There are a number of reasons why youd
want to export a list: first, you could export the list to import it into another ComicRack installa on (like your
laptop). Second, you can export a list to put it online, or email it to a friend, for example.

Expor ng basics
Expor ng lists only backs up the informa on related to the list; expor ng lists doesnt backup your eComics. The
list is exported as .cbl (which is a modified xml format) or plain .xml format, which allows to display informa on
in a simple way, which can then be used by any applica on, even outside ComicRack. Backup your exported lists
in a safe loca on: since the exported list file is plain text, it takes very li le space. As a rule of thumb, you should
always have at least one backup at a remote loca on: either a geographically dierent, like a rela ves house or
your oce, or virtually dierent, like an email or FTP server. This way, if your house burns down, you will s ll have
your exported lists to console yourself (provided you also backed up your eComic collec on!).

Heres a look at the XML of an example exported list. This excerpt displays
the most meaningful fields of informa on related to eComics in Comic-
Rack; you will recognize them from the Details tab of the Info dialog.

How to export lists

1 2

Right-click on any list (custom list or smart list) in the sidebar and
select the export reading list op on. Alterna vely, you can select Browse through
h h the
h export reading
d list
l window
d to a loca
l on
the list and use the Ctrl+Shift+C keyboard combo. of your choice and click Save.

107
 Import Lists
Both custom lists and smart lists can imported into ComicRack. Impor ng a list is a quick and easy way to exactly
reproduce a par cular compila on of eComics without having to manually add the eComics, or adding them in a
par cular order.
Impor ng basics
Impor ng lists only adds the informa on related to the eComics added in the list; impor ng lists doesnt copy
actual eComics. While the process of impor ng either custom lists or smart lists is the same, there are a few dier-
ences. Smart lists simply match the defined criteria to the eComics present in your Comicrack library, and present
a compila on of eComics matching that criteria. On the other hand, custom lists literally contain a list of eComics,
o en arranged in a par cular sequence. When custom lists are imported, each eComic in the list is matched one
by one in the search to find its corresponding actual eComic in your ComicRack library.
How to import lists
You can also right-click on any list in windows explorer and select the Import eComic list into ComicRack op on.
You can simply double-click any reading list from Windows Explorer and it will be imported to the Temporary lists
folder of the ComicRack sidebar. Alterna vely, you can import lists from within ComicRack by following the
steps
p outlined below. Please note that the last 2 steps apply only to custom lists & not to smart lists.
1
2 3

Right-click anywhere in the sidebar (preferably over

the folder in which you wish to import the list) and Browse through the import reading list window to a loca on ComicRack will match the eCom-
select the import reading list op on. Alterna vely, of your choice, select the list you want to import and click ics in the custom list with those
you can use the Ctrl+Shift+V keyboard combo. Open. in your library. If some ecomics
are not present/matched, you will
get the op on to s ll add them
4 to your library as fileless comic
entries.

The newly added list will appear in the Sidebar, and can be moved
up/down the order or in/out any folder. You can click on the list to
access its eComics. The list will contain both the eComics that you
already had in your library and those which have been added (if
chosen by you during the import) as fileless entries.

108
S
Scripts are small pieces
of so ware that add new
features and func onality
to ComicRack. Through
scripts, you can execute a
number of tasks with a single
click. This chapter discusses
all you need to know about
scripts.
S :B 111
Installing Scripts 111
Uninstalling Scripts 112
C P S 113
B I S 114
Autonumber Wizard 114
Commit Proposed Values 114
Export Comic List 115
Rename Files 115
Search & Replace 115
Web Link 115
D I S 116
Comic Vine Scraper 116
New Comic Entry via Barcode 119
C S 120
Arturos New Comics Toolbox 120
Convert 10-point Ra ng 120
Insert Ra ng 120
Import tags from filename 121
Other Scripts 121
F M S 122
Books Collector 122
Convert eComics to Fileless 123
Guided Rename 123
Move Files 124
Organize Library Files & Folders 124
S L S 125
Books with pages marked 125
Find Missing Issue Gaps 125
Other Scripts 126
Next Issues To Read 126
Series Count Is 126
I P S 127
CoverFlow Info Panel 127
Metadata Info Panel 127
Series Info Panel 128
M S 129
Create Combined Script 129
Extract all pages 129
Extract first page 129
Open With Script 130
List Comic Files in Directory 130
Remove all Bookmarks 130
Remove Scanner Credits 131
Write Missing Issues to Text File 131
Weekly Comic Releases 132
 S :B

ComicRack has built in Python scrip ng support. Scripts are essen ally plugins or add-ons that extend the func-
onality of ComicRack. With scripts you can batch process eComic books in ComicRack. The scripts are usually
distributed as packaged zip files. They can be downloaded from the Downloads sec on or the News/Announcement
sec on or the Scripts sec on of the ComicRack forum.

Installing Scripts
ComicRack scripts have underwent a lot of advancements with me. This is evident not only in
their eciency & stability, but also in the way the scripts are installed. At present, there are 3 ways
of installing a ComicRack script. As these have evolved over me, the scripts are o en classified
into genera ons based on the installa on procedure. These are:
1st genera on scripts
2nd genera on scripts
3rd genera on scripts
All the scripts have backwards compa bility, i.e. all 3rd genera on scripts can be installed like ei-
ther 2nd or 1st genera on ones, and all 2nd genera on scripts can be installed like the 1st genera on
ones. However, the reverse does not hold true.

1st genera on Scripts

These are the earliest ComicRack scripts, distributed as a zip file. You can install a 1st genera on script by extract-
ing the zip contents to your ComicRack scripts folder (default loca on is C:\Program Files\ComicRack\Scripts) and
restar ng ComicRack. These scripts can be installed only this way, and not through the scripts manager.

A first-genera on ComicRack script in win- Contents of the script in a zip file manager Extrac ng the zip file contents to the ComicRack scripts folder
dows explorer

Among the current popular scripts, only the Guided rename script (described later) falls in the category of 1st genera-
on scripts.

2nd genera on Scripts

These are also distributed as a zip file, but are compa ble with installa on via the inbuilt scripts manager of Comic-
Rack. A large number of ComicRack scripts are 2nd genera on scripts. In the coming future, most of these scripts
are planned to be upgraded to the 3rd genera on.
Unless otherwise men oned, installing a script refers to the installa on procedure needed for a 2nd genera on script.
Please note that a basic knowledge of the preferences dialog is needed for installing these scripts.

111
Here is how to install a 2nd genera on script:
1 4a

Restart ComicRack and the script(s) will be installed

and available
ava to use.
2
4b
3

1. Open the Preferences dialog, and click the 3. Now you will see the script under the heading
Scripts bu on. to be installed (requires restart). If you wish to
2. Click the Install bu on. Browse to the down- install more scripts, repeat step 3, otherwise If an earlier version
ersion of a script is already
alread installed and
loaded zip file and select it. click Ok. you wish to update it with a newer version, you can sim-
ply install it without uninstalling the older version. A er
installa on, just click yes in the dialog box asking your
permission to overwrite the preexis ng script.

3rd genera on Scripts

These are the most recent scripts. Unlike its predecessors, the 3rd genera on script is distributed as a .crplugin file.
The Comic vine scraper (v 1.0.25) was the first script to be available in this format. Most of the new scripts belong to
the 3rd genera on . Installing a 3rd genera on script is the easiest of the three.

1 2

Simply double-click a crplugin file to start the in- Alterna vely, you can right-click the file and then select The script manager displays the script under the
stalla on process. You can also select the file and Install plugin into comicRack from the context menu. heading to be installed (requires restart). Click Ok to
then click Install plugin into comicRack from the restart and complete installa on.
windows 7 explorer toolbar.

Uninstalling Scripts
All the 3 genera ons of scripts are uninstalled in the same way: using the scripts manager. To uninstall (remove) a
script:
1. Open the Preferences dialog
2. Go to the Scripts Tab
3. Select the script you wish to remove
4. Click Remove
5. Restart ComicRack

112
 C P
S
Here is an index for all the popular user-developed scripts for tweaking your ComicRack experience. The index (and the
coming sec ons) is divided into categories, based on the scripts func on. All of these scripts can be freely downloaded
from the forum. Please note that the index does not list the built in scripts, which are auto-installed with Comicrack.
We follow this index with a descrip on of the currently recommended & top-rated ComicRack scripts, along with the
usage of the built in scripts.

Script Category Name of the Script Genera on Author Last Update Page No.
rd
Comic Vine Scraper 3 cbanack September 6, 2010 116
Database importer nd
Bedetheque Scraper 2 Mikrobe, Franck April 13, 2010 none
Scripts
New Comic entry via barcode 3rd Stonepaw September 30, 2010 119
nd
Arturos New Comics Toolbox 2 perezmu July 14, 2009 120
Convert 10-Point Ra ng 3rd Stonepaw July 25, 2010 120
Copy Fields 3rd quidam July 4, 2010 121
Comic Informa on Copy Series to Alternate Series 2 nd
bugger July 27, 2010 121
Scripts Copy Series to Title 2 nd
bugger July 27, 2010 121
rd
Erase Database Tags 3 Stonepaw July 13, 2010 121
nd
Import tags from filename 2 YellowBox May 10, 2008 121
rd
Insert Ra ng 3 Stonepaw July 25, 2010 120
rd
Books Collector 3 repan October 27, 2010 122
rd
Convert to Fileless 3 Stonepaw September 21, 2010 123
File Management Guided eComic file renaming 1st wadegiles July 10, 2008 123
Scripts Move Files 2nd wadegiles July 21, 2009 124
nd
Organize Library Files & Folders 2 oraclexview February 19, 2010 124
nd
Standardize Library Script Tweaked 2 oraclexview June 10, 2009 none
rd
Books with pages marked 3 Stonepaw July 29, 2010 125
nd
Find Missing Issues gaps 2 Stonepaw February 2, 2010 125
nd
Get Notes with Tags 2 Stonepaw August 21, 2009 126
Smart list Scripts rd
Next Issues To Read 3 pescuma September 7, 2010 126
Series Count Is 3rd Stonepaw July 9, 2010 126
Series Read and Unread 3rd Stonepaw August 2, 2010 126
rd
CoverFlow in Info Panel 3 perezmu September 8, 2010 127
Info Panel Scripts Metadata Info Panel 3 rd
perezmu September 1, 2010 127
rd
Series Info Panel 3 pescuma September 4, 2010 128
nd
Create Combined Script 2 Stonepaw May 31, 2010 129
nd
Extract All Pages 2 wadegiles December 30, 2007 129
nd
Extract First Page 2 wadegiles February 28, 2009 129
List Comic Files in Directory 2nd oraclexview February 2, 2010 130
Miscellaneous Scripts Open With Meta-Script 2 nd
wadegiles August 12, 2009 130
nd
Remove all Bookmarks 2 Stonepaw May 28, 2010 130
nd
Remove Scanner Credits 2 dfuse August 2008 131
rd
Weekly Comic Releases 3 Stonepaw April 15, 2010 132
nd
Write Missing Issues to Text File 2 Stonepaw February 27, 2010 131

113
 B I S

ComicRack comes pre-loaded with a number of scripts. This sec on

briefly discusses these built in scripts, while the forthcoming pages dis-
cusses scripts downloadable from the ComicRack forum.
Most of the built in scripts (and also those that you install later) can be
accessed from their respec ve icons on the browser toolbar. Some of the
scripts require going to Browser context menu Automaon.

Autonumber Wizard
This is a script to renumber the selected eComics. To use the script, either click its icon on the browser toolbar, or
right-click the selected eComic(s), and via the Browser context menu go to Automaon Autonumber wizard.
Number Series: changes the number field of the series accordingly
Number Alternate Series: helpful in making chronologies (see example below)
Begin at number: the star ng issue number of the series being renumbered
Save total number: this will be the total count of the series

Arrange the eComics in the chronological order While keeping all the eComics selected, open the Autonum- The series now has all the alternate number
you want them in. Sort descending by the posi- ber wizard. Choose number alternate series from the drop- fields in order. You can now arrange them by
on field. down menu. Begin at number 1 & also input the total count. the alternate number field.

Commit Proposed Values

Proposed values are metadata fields that ComicRack auto fills by processing the filename. The commit proposed
values is a script to make the proposed values for the eComics permanent.
To use the script, right-click the selected eComic(s), and via the Browser context menu go to Automaon commit
proposed values. A dialog will appear, asking for your confirma on. Clicking Write will make the proposed values
permanent.

Proposed values are generated from the filenames, and are dis- The Commit proposed values The proposed values now appear like any other metadata fields.
played in grey. script dialog

114
 Export Comic List
This is a simple script to export the list of selected eComics (or the en re library) into a csv file. You can open
and edit this csv file with any editor of your choice (like Microso Excel).

Rename Files
This is a script to rename the selected eComic filenames to the format:
Series Volume #Number (of Count) (Year).
To use the script, right-click the selected eComic(s), and via the Brows-
er context menu go to Automaon Rename Files to Series Volume
#Number (of Count) (Year). The file name of the selected eComics will
change immediately.

The original eComic file name, as viewed The eComic file name a er running
in windows explorer. the rename files script.

Search & Replace

This is a script to search and replace values in selected eComics. From the drop-
down menu on the top, you can select the metadata field, the value of which you
would like to replace. Input the preexis ng value (to be changed) in the search
box, and the new value in the replace box. Click Ok and the changes will be done.

Web Link
This is an Info Panel script (see the corresponding sec on on page 118) that displays the web link content from the
web metadata field of the selected eComics Info dialog (Details tab). A er enabling this script, switch on the Info
Panel from the Browse menu. On selec ng an eComic now, the Info Panel will display the web page that is set as its
internet link. You can browse this page in the Info Panel just like any ordinary web page. The Web Link script is de-
scribed in detail in the sec on on the Info Panel in the Browser chapter, while other Info Panel scripts are discussed
later in this chapter.

115
 D I
S
Comic Vine Scraper
The importance of metadata in organizing and managing eComics has been already emphasized
at many places earlier in the manual. Manually filling the metadata fields can be a very slow
and inecient process. Neither would it be easily possible to be accurate and complete. Here is
why the concept of automa zed metadata filling was introduced and the Import Comicvine Info
script was designed. The Comic vine scraper is a modern adapta on of that script.
Comic Vine scraper downloads eComic informa on from the Comic Vine online database, and automa cally fills all
the metadata fields in the Info dialog. It is a highly recommended ComicRack script. To open the scraper, select an
eComic (or a batch of eComics) and either click the green icon on the library browser toolbar, or Right-click Auto-
maon Comic Vine Scraper.

1 2
The Comic vine scraper dialog
pops up. If you are new to it and
wish to proceed straightaway,
just click the Start scraping
bu on and proceed to step 3. If
you wish to tweak the scraper
2a to your taste, click the Sengs
bu on.

i i

ii
ii

iii iii

iv

Clicking the Se ngs bu on open up the comic vine
scraper sengs dialog. It contains 3 tabs: Details,
Behaviour and Data. The details tab contains a large
number of checkboxes. These are the metadata
fields that you will recognize from the Info dialog. By
default, all fields are selected. You can select the fields
you would like to update. You also have the bu ons
for selec ng all or no metadata fields.
The Behaviour tab contains 4 op ons:
i. Rescraping (if needed) eComics becomes faster
if the previous choice is saved. This op on lets
you choose if and where the choice should be
saved.
ii. Selec ng this op on lets the scraper ask only
once for all issues belonging to a single series.
iii. With this op on on, every eComic scrape is
preceded by a prompt for the series name. This
comes in handy when the eComics that have to
be scraped have mis-spelt file names.
iv. Uncheck this op on if you have a slow internet
connec on. However, in usual scenarios, we rec-
ommend this op on enabled, as it increases the
func onality of the scraper by displaying cover
images of the series/issues being scraped.
The Data tab contains 3 op ons:
i. Use this op on to convert imprints (like Ver go)
to parent publisher (like DC).
ii. Selec ng this would overwrite any metadata
fields already filled in the Info dialog. You also
have a sub-op on for not overwri ng old values
with empty new values.
iii. Just as it can get you eComic metadata, the
scraper can also fetch thumbnails for fileless
comics from the internet. Select this op on
to allow the scraper to download and update
fileless comics thumbnails. You also have a
sub-op on for not overwri ng pre-exis ng
thumbnails.

116
 2b
Once you are done with the se ngs,
ngs Click Start
St rtt scr
Sta scraping
aping
api
ing to start
the scraper find matches in the Comic Vine database for your
selected eComics.

3a
The
T scraper finds a number of matches for the series being
scraped.
s Most of the mes, the desired series would be found at
the
t top of the list. Choose the correct series, and then, either use
the
t Show issues bu on to preview the individual issues for the
d
desired series, or simply click Ok to move to the next step. Use the
SSearch again bu on for a fresh search. Clicking Skip omits the par-
cular issue from the scrape and moves on to the next in queue.
TThe Cover art can be toggled o/on at all stages of the scrape.

3b TThe Show Issues bu on opens the Choose a Comic Book Issue

dialog,
d which provides the issue list for the chosen comic series.
This
T helps in choosing an individual issue, if required. The Go
Back
B bu on takes you one step back to the series list, where, if
n
needed, a dierent series may be chosen.

3c Comic vine scraper also helps you choose between variant cov-
C
eers for an issue. Simply click the small arrow below the issue
ccover and you can browse through all the alternate/variant cov-
eers of that issue present at the comic vine website. Once you
aare sa sfied that you have correctly matched the issue at hand,
cclick Ok.
PPlease note that you can cancel the scrape any me during all
tthese steps by simply clicking at the cancel bu on at the bo om
of o the main scraper window.

4
Watch
W the scraper
gather
g details and de-
clare
c that the scrape
is
i complete. This is au-
toma
t zed metadata at
its
i best.

117
 The Info dialog prior to scraping shows only basic The Info dialog a er scraping now has most of the metadata, as seen in the Details and Plot & Notes tabs. This
data pulled by ComicRack from the eComic filename. metadata is the key to organizing/managing eComics with ComicRack.

Similar to its use with eComics, the Comic Vine Scraper can also be used to download metadata for entries of file-
less comics in ComicRack. It can also search the comicvine database and download the thumbnail for the fileless
comics. This way you can keep all the comic metadata without actually needing the digital comic book archive on
your system.
The Comic Vine Scraper Project
The Comic Vine Scraper also has its own project page. Here you can find the latest
version of Comic Vine Scraper in the downloads sec on. You can also subscribe
to the project feeds, and input your sugges ons or report any bugs encountered
in the issues sec on. If you like this script, you may show your apprecia on by
joining Comic Vine and helping to build their community.

I accidentally scraped the wrong comic book Info by choosing the wrong series, and now
even if I re-scrape, the same metadata appears again. Ive already tried dele ng all the info
metadata fields to trigger a reset, but it will s ll scrape as earlier. What should I do ?
Delete the tags field of the details tab & the notes field of the plot & notes
tab. Switch the Proposed Values from Yes to No. See if the series field is
clear, if not: Clear the series field also. Then validate the change by click-
ing on Ok which will close the info window. When you will open the info
window again, the series field will be blank and you will be able to specify
whatever you want.
If you o en accidentally choose wrong values, it may help to disable the
save previous choice op ons in the comic vine scraper se ngs window.

118
 New Comic Entry via Barcode
This script adds a new fileless comic entry via a scanned barcode. It searches Google Base for
series names, issues numbers and publishers are added automa cally from the barcode.

1 2

From the File menu, select the New Comic The Scan barcode dialog will open. Input the barcode a er scanning with your barcode scanner. If you do not have a
Entry via barcode menu item. Alterna vely, barcode scanner, you can use any webcam, or even simply manually write the code. Click on the search bu on to let the
you may use the right click Automa on menu, script search the internet for the barcode that you have inpu ed.
or the barcode icon on the browser toolbar.

3 4

The new fileless entry has the se-

Once the script completes its search, the select series
dialog will open, displaying all the possible matches
for your barcode. Select the series corresponding
with your comic, and click at the Accept bu on. Your
fileless comic entry will appear in the library.
ries, issue and publisher fields filled
by the script automa cally. While
you can always manually input all
the remaining metadata fields, we
highly recommend the ComicVine
Scraper script (discussed earlier)
for this purpose. Select your newly
created fileless entry and run the
scraper.

5 The complete fileless comic book entry is an excellent rep-

lica of the original. All these steps are automated and none
requires manual filling in of the details by the user.

Please note that the new comic entry via barcode script
uses Google Base for finding the required details. Hence,
some comics which currently do not find a place in the
google base database would turn up a no results found
search.

119
 C
S

Arturos New Comics Toolbox

Arturos new comic toolbox is a compila on of many scripts. It is meant
for users who like to keep the name of the scanners in their comics
to give them credit, or choose between c2c, noads or all those many
choices. A er installing the script, right-click any eComic and go to the
Automaon menu to get the toolbox op ons.

The scripts ScannerTagsFromName and ScanTypeFromName save

the scanner name (if any) and the scan type (c2c, etc...) as tags for
the comic.
All this info, i.e., the scanner type, the scan type and the database
reference, are stored as tags, which are not saved to the comicinfo.
xml file. The next two scripts solve this problem: SaveTagstoNotes
and RetrieveTagsFromNotes move tags to the notes fields & vice
versa, making sure no one is duplicated, all the me respec ng ex-
is ng tags and notes.
You can also use the Clear Notes & Clear Tags scripts for self-ex-
planatory purposes.

Convert 10-point Ra ng
This script is specifically meant for users who likee 1
to rate their eComics on a scale of 1 to 10 . Also,,
some websites (like IGN) follow a 10-point ra ng
scale (with a 0.1 increment). While ComicRack
supports a 5-point ra ng, a 10-point ra ng can
be converted to its halved counterpart using this 2
script. This automates the process of manually di-
viding the 10 point ra ng, down to the last deci-
mal point.
1. Under the right click Automaon menu, select the Convert 10-point
rang menu item
2. Just write the 10-point ra ng in the dialog, and assign it either to the
my rang or to the community rang field.

Insert Ra ng
Similar to the Convert 10-point rang discussed
above, the insert rang script allows you to in-
sert a 5-point ra ng via the keyboard instead of
clicking on the stars. Write the 5-point ra ng in
the dialog, and assign it either to the my rang
or to community rang field.

120
 Import tags from filename
ComicRack does a pre y good job of guessing the tags from the file name when you scan your
comic folders, but some mes you may encounter eComics with unconven onal file naming
pa erns. In these scenarios, this script can be used to import tags from the exis ng file names
using a regular expression. A basic knowledge of regular expressions is required to use this
script. The script will parse the path and file name, but not the extension. It also can save tag
pa erns for later reuse. To use the script, right-click any eComic(s), and from the Automaon
menu, select the Tags from filename menu item. Enter your regular expression in the open
dialog box, and click apply.
The script also supports opening and saving your RegEx pa erns as single-line
g text files,, savingg byy default to Comi-
cRack\Scripts\TagPaerns. If the script encounters an error in
matching one of your comic files, it will prompt you to skip the
file. In addi on, the prompt oers you the op on of entering a
dierent RegEx pa ern for that unmatched file, and will then
con nue matching the rest of the files with the original RegEx
pa ern.
The script supports the following tags:
Textual: Writer, Publisher, Penciller, Inker, Series, Number, AlternateSeries, AlternateNumber, Title, Summary,
Notes, Genre, Colorist, Editor, Le erer, CoverAr st, Web, Imprint, Tags
Numeric: Count, Year, Month, Volume, AlternateCount, Ra ng

Other Scripts
Other scripts in the comic informa on category are briefly men oned below. To use any of these scripts, right-click
any eComic(s), and from the Automaon menu, select the menu item with the name of the corresponding script.

Copy Fields: Some eComics have a 5 digit ID number at the beginning. On impor ng such eComics into Comi-
crack, the ID number gets pulled into the Series field. This script remedies this problem by copying the first 5
characters from the Series field into Tags, and then dele ng the first 6 characters from the Series field.

Copy Series Title to Alternate Series: This script copies the series field to the alternate series field if the alter-
nate series is already empty.

Copy Series to Title: This script copies the series field to the tle field if the tle is already empty.

Erase Database Tags: This script removes the CRDB tags from the selected eComics.

Remove Numbers At the Beginning: Removes the numbers at the beginning of the series field

Remove Spaces: Removes the spaces from the beginning and end of the series field. Also has a version for the
alternate series field.

121
 F M
S
Books Collector
This script imports file formats not yet supported na vely (like .chm, .lit, .epub, .txt, etc) into
ComicRack. It expects to find the ComicDb.xml in its default posi on. Searches for the directo-
ries added in the library. Parses each directory for files not yet present in ComicRack.

1 2 3

Your scraped books will be displayed in the fileless format, as evidenced by the
violet star state indicator. Right-click any of these to open the Info dialog, where
you can add other details relevant to your book. You can also rate the books just as
From the File menu, select the BooksCol- Th
The Scr apii di
Scraping l will
dialog ill open. Click
Cli k att the
th
you would rate your eComics.
lector menu item. Start bu on. Once the scrape is complete,
click at the cross bu on to exit the scrap-
ing dialog.

For each file, the script adds a fileless entry in ComicRack

with the Web field poin ng to the actual file. It then scrapes
google images for the filename. The first entry returned is
used as the thumbnail in the ComicRack browser. Click-
ing the web link from the entry info opens the file in the
default assigned windows applica on.

122
 Convert eComics to Fileless
This script converts selected eComics to fileless entries. This would be useful when you have read
the book and want to keep track of it but consider it not worth storing on your system, or just
wish to save precious hard disc space. Using this script, you can change type to fileless, delete all
images in archive, and s ll retain the thumbnail and metadata.

Select the eComic(s) that you wish to convert Your selected eComics will get converted to
to fileless. From the Browser context menu, the fileelss format, as evidenced by the vio-
goto Automa on -> Convert to fileless let star state indicator.

Guided Rename
This 1st genera on script allows for a highly customized user-specified file renaming of selected
eComics. As this is a 1st genera on script, it can be installed only by extrac ng the zip contents
to your ComicRack scripts folder.
Right click on the selected eComics to rename. Under the Automaon menu item, click on the
new item named Guided Rename. The script displays a dialog in which to specify the pa ern for
renaming files.
This script does not rename files using ComicRacks file renam-
ing limita ons. The only illegal characters are \ / : * ? < > |
If any fields are missing for a selected eComic, that comic wont
be renamed using the missing field nor any of the prefix or post-
fix values specified for the field. This allows you to specify things
like (of ) without having a bunch of files missing a count being
renamed as (of).
If the rename cannot be completed, that comic will be skipped.
Remembers the last pa ern used for renaming and loads it for
subsequent renames. Just click Reset to start a new pa ern. The following fields can be specified to use as part of the new filename: Series, Vol-
Tool ps are displayed when you hover the mouse over a control. ume, Number, Count, Alternate Series, Alternate Number, Alternate Count, Year,
Month, Publisher, Imprint, and Title. Numeric fields that have numeric values can
be le -padded with zeroes to ensure a minimum width.

123
 Move Files
This script prompts the user for a des na on folder and moves all selected eComic files to that
folder. It also updates the file path informa on in ComicRack for the eComic so you dont have
to re-add them. When choosing the des na on, you can elect to create a new folder as well.

If an eComic of the same name already exists in the des na on chosen, it wont be overwri en
and the next selected eComic is processed. The selected eComic will remain in its original loca-
on with no update to its ComicRack informa on.

1 2 3

At the end of the opera on, this status mes-

From the main menu select File Automaon Move eComics
sage means that your files have been moved
successfully!
Select the des na on folder to which se-
lected eComics will be moved. Exis ng files
in the des na on folder will not be aected.

Organize Library Files & Folders

Organize Library Files & Folders is an add-on for ComicRack that lets users organize / standard-
ize their eComic library naming and structure in windows explorer. It is a recommended Comic-
Rack script. The user must first manually set the root directory where they want their eComics
to reside on the computer. Then, a er selec ng the desired comics in the library, the script is
run.
The script then creates a new subfolder of the Publisher within the root folder, then an Imprint subfolder if it exists,
and finally a Series subfolder. The Series subfolder also gets the beginning year it was published at the end.

The folder structure looks like this:

[root directory] \ [Publisher] \ [Imprint if exist] \ [Series] ([YearBegan] Series) \

The file naming syntax within the folders is:

[Series] Vol. [Volume] # [Number with leading zeros] (of [Count if exist] ) ( [Month in text format] , [Year] )

The perezmu variation of this script uses the volume field as the Beginning Year.

124
 S L S

Smart list Scripts are a special category of scripts that can be used only with smart lists. On crea ng a new smart list,
the Edit Smart List dialog box pops up. It contains a metadata field called User Scripts. Scripts used in accordance with
this field are called Smart list Scripts.

Books with pages marked

This is a smart list script that pulls comics that have any pages marked with the entered type.

1. Create a new smart list.

2. In the Edit Smart List dialog box, set the metadata field (first drop-down menu) to User
Scripts and set the instruc on field (second drop-down menu) to Books with pages marked.
3. Next to the instruc on field is the op on text box. Here you write the Page type. The cur-
rently supported page types are also shown alongside. Click Ok once you are done.

4. Select the smart list in the sidebar, and you now get all eComics that have the page type you
specified.
Find Missing Issue Gaps
This script finds the missing issues in a series and displays the start and end of the gap.
1. Create a new smart list.
2. In the Edit Smart List dialog box, set the metadata field (first drop-down menu) to User Scripts
and set the instruc on field (second drop-down menu) to Find missing issue gaps.
3. Next to the instruc on field are the two op on text boxes. In the first Text Box, write the name
of the series (not case-sensi ve) you wish to find gaps in. The second Text Box is for the Vol-
ume number and is op onal.

a. If series is le empty, the script will go through the en re library and find any missing issues. This requires a
well organized library to work really well.
b. If series is specified but the volume is le empty the script will now go through each volume separately.
4. Name the smart list to something like Find Gaps in xyz series or anything you wish, and click Ok.
5. Select the smart list in the sidebar, and you can see the start and the end of the gaps (if any) in the browser.

125
 Next Issues To Read
This script displays unread or par ally read comics where the previous issue in the series has
been completely read.
1. Create a new smart list.
2. In the Edit Smart List dialog box, set the metadata field (first drop-down menu) to User
Scripts and set the instruc on field (second drop-down menu) to Next Issue To Read.
3. Select the smart list in the sidebar, and you now get all eComics that have the page type you
specified.
The script ignores any eComic that has been opened ll the first 3
pages. This comes in useful when you are in the habit of opening up
newly added eComics just to get a look at them. eComics that have
been read further than 3 pages are counted by the script to be signif-
icantly par ally read to be displayed. However, you can change the
number of pages to be ignored by edi ng the New Comics.py file.

Series Count Is
A smart list script that pulls series based on how many issues a series contains.
1. Create a new smart list.
2. In the Edit Smart List dialog box, set the metadata field (first drop-down menu) to User
Scripts and set the instruc on field (second drop-down menu) to Series Count Is.
3. Next to the instruc on field are the two op on text boxes. In the first Text Box, enter any of
the operators < (less than), > (greater more than) or = (equal to). Enter number of issues in
the second text box.

This shows an example of using the Series count is script to make a smart list for all eComics that span
upto 10 issues. For this mini-series script, we enter the < operator in the first text box, and the number
of issues as 10 in the second text box.

Other Scripts
Other scripts in the smart list script category are briefly men oned below. To use any of these scripts, first create a
new smart list. Then, in the Edit Smart List dialog box, set the metadata field (first drop-down menu) to User Scripts
and set the instruc on field (second drop-down menu) to the corresponding script.

Get Notes with Tags: A smart list script that pulls any comics that have had perezmus Save Tags to Notes script
run on them.
Files Not Found: A simple smart list script that shows the books where the files are not found on disc. There is a
second smart list to show the ones that the files are found too.
Proposed Values: Finds eComics that contain proposed values. To filter results to a specific field you can specify:
volume, series, count, format, number, tle or year.
Series Read and Unread: A smart list script that pulls series that have both read and unread issues. The Next
issues to read script can be considered as an advanced alterna ve to this script.

126
 I P S

Info Panel Scripts are a special category of scripts that can be used only with the Info Panel. The Info Panel is an op-
onal window that opens in the browser, using either the Browse menu, or the Shift+F9 keyboard combo, or by
clicking the Info Panel docking grip at the bo om of the browser window. However, the Info panel doesnt show up
ll any Info panel script is enabled. Here we detail all the currently popular Info Panel scripts.

CoverFlow Info Panel

This script displays a coverflow of the selected comics in the Info Panel. CoverFlow is an ani-
mated, three dimensional graphical user interface for visually flipping through thumbnails of se-
lected eComics. Many users find it quite useful for skimming through a tle for a par cular issue
or cover art.

With the Info Panel enabled and the CoverFlow script installed,
select a bunch of some eComics. You can then browse the Cover-
flow using the mouse wheel scroll or le /right keys. Clicking on an
eComic opens it in the reader window.

Please note that currently the script takes a few moments to pre-
sent the coverflow of the selected comics. This also depends on the
number of comics selected. So, please be pa ent while the Cover-
Flow loads and dont overload the script with a huge number of
eComics.

Metadata Info Panel

Shows most of the available metadata of the selected eComic in the Info Panel, without re-
quiring to invoke the Info dialog. With the info panel enabled and the metadata info panel
script installed, select an eComic (or a group of eComics). The Info Panel will show almost all
the available metadata in a visually elegant manner. The metadata info panel shows best with
the Info Panel docked right on a widescreen monitor.
You can also modify the metadata info panel to suit your taste.
However, this requires making manual altera ons in the Comic
info panel.html file, using an editor like Kompozer. Many users
have already posted their own Comic info panel.html files at the
forum, that can be copied & pasted in the script folder. Notable
among these is the narrow version of the metadata info panel.

For users who find manual edi ng of html files too much of a
hassle, the next script, called series info panel, is the perfect
solu on.

127
 Series Info Panel
The Series Info Panel is a (much enhanced) fork of the metadata info panel, and hence the two
scripts are func onally and visually similar. However, the series info panel scores over its parent
in more ways than one:
Configura on window
Support for skins
Ability to display missing issues
Shows the Next to read eComic form the selected series
Users can hide empty fields
Can display a filmstrip of the first few pages of the selected eComic

The default configura on for the Series The Series Info Panel showing a small series The small wide configura on for the Series Info Panel. Shows best with the
Info Panel. Shows best with the Info Panel of 30 issues. Missing issues are displayed in Info Panel docked below in its default posi on, especially when you wish to
docked right on a widescreen monitor. red. Duplicated issue numbers are also dis- preserve precious horizontal space on your screen. This skin is best suited for
Here we see the series infopanel when a played. The next to read issue appears as viewing mul ple series in the series info panel.
single eComic is selected. a link, clicking at which opens the eComic in
the reader.
The Series Info Panel can be easily configured The Skins drop-down menu
lets you choose from a num-
to suit your needs. To open the op ons win- ber of skins for the Series Info
dow, from the Main menu, go to File menu Panel. While currently, only
the default and small wide
Automaon Series Info Panel Opons. skins are present, a number
All the metadata fields are seen in 2 columns of skins are under develop-
ment and shall be released in
, one for the series view and the other for the future versions.
issues view. Here you can select the fields you
wish to be displayed in the Info panel. Move any selected metadata
field up or down. Add separa-
tors between groups of fields.

Using this op on, you can

set the script to hide empty
metadata fields.

The Series Info Panel can

display any number of pages
from the selected eComic in
the form of a filmstrip at the
bo om of the panel. Here
you can select the number
of pages you wish to be dis-
The Series Info Panel Op ons dialog provides for absolute played. Please note that this
user control for customizing the Series Info panel. Play with func on slows the script a
it for a while to see what suits you best ! bit.

128
 M
S

Create Combined Script

Technology breeds technology. So, if you get red of running
script a er script, this create combined script here creates a
new script that simply executes several scripts one a er the
other on the selected comics. As usual it is package manager
ready. Find it in the File Automaon menu.

It has a selec on form that allows you to select what scripts

you want and put them in the order you desire.

Extract all pages

This script extracts all the pages of an eComic to a user specified folder. Such a script comes in
handy when you need to unzip an eComic archive for whatever reason. Rather then opening
windows explorer & naviga ng to the folder containing the eComic to be unzipped, then open-
ing the cbz/cbr file with a zip file manager (WinZip/WinRar) and extrac ng the pages, it is far
quicker to extract pages of selected eComics using this script.

Select the eComic(s) you want to extract. Right click on the selec ons and look under Automaon for a new entry
labelled Extract All Pages. There will be a li le folder icon with a green arrow next to the entry. For each selected
eComic, youll be prompted for a des na on folder. If you hit Cancel when prompted for a folder, the opera on will
not process any addi onal extrac ons. However, you cannot cancel eComic extrac ons for which you have already
specifi
p ed a des na on folder. Those extrac ons will complete.
1 2 3

Right-click on the selected eComic(s), and from the Automa- Browse for a folder on your computer to ex- Wait a moment for the Extracon successfully completed
on menu, select Extract All Pages. port the pages from the selected eComic. message. You can now access the individual eComic pages
Click Ok when done. from the folder you specified in the last step.

Extract first page

This script is a child of the previous script, and is quite similar in opera on. This will extract only
the first page of all selected eComics. The file name is generated based on the eComic series
name, volume number, and issue number.
1. Select the eComic(s) for which you want the first page extracted.
2. Under the right click Automaon menu, select the Extract First Page menu item.
3. Choose the folder in which you want the cover page to be saved, and click Ok.

129
 List Comic Files in Directory
Runs outside of ComicRack. This script lists all the CRB and CBZ files located in a user selected
directory and all its sub-directories. There are two version of this script: one exports the list to a
txt file, the other exports to an xls/xlsx file but requires Microso Excel.

Open With Script

This script allows you to extend ComicRack by adding your own Open With program shortcut
to the right click Automaon menu. Add as many items as you need by running it mul ple mes.
When you are choosing file types, be SURE that the program you select will handle those file
types, otherwise the program will probably give you a nasty error message about not recognizing
that file type.

1 2 3

The script will prompt you for a label and the eComic Browse to the loca on of the program
file types you want to allow be used with which you would like to open
From the main menu select File Automaon eComics from ComicRack. Select the
Build Open With Menu Item... program exe file.

4 5 6

A er correctly comple ng all the previous steps, the

script will flash this message. click Ok and restart Comi-
cRack.

If you ever want to get rid of any generated Menu

Right click on an eComic, select Automa on, Items, either uncheck the open with entry from
and youll see Open With Something You the available scripts sec on of the scripts tab, or
Typed. delete the corresponding files from the \Comic-
Rack\Scripts\ folder.

Remove all Bookmarks

Removes all the bookmarks from the selected books.
1. Select the eComic(s) from which you wish to remove the bookmarks
2. Under the right click Automaon menu, select the Remove all Bookmarks menu item.
3. The script promptly removes all bookmarks from the selected eComic(s).

130
 Remove Scanner Credits
Marks the first page as adver sement and following page as the front cover. Useful when the
scanner credits are the first page.
1. Under the right click Automaon menu, select the Remove Scanner Credits menu item.
2. Your selected eComics will get their first page marked as adver sement and following page
as the front cover.

Select the eComic(s). From the Browser context First page scanner credits are now re-
menu, goto Automa on -> Remove Scanner Credits moved

Write Missing Issues to Text File

Writes a list of missing issue in a series to a user specified text file. It can be run on the whole
library or on specific series and volume.

I have got an idea for a new script, but do not know how to make it.

Just post your script idea as a new thread in the ComicRack forums
Scripts sec on, and our developers will try their best to make a new script.
A script request should be preceded by the [Request] tag followed by the
proposed name of the script.

131
 Weekly Comic Releases
Weekly Comic Releases is a recommended add-on script for ComicRack that gets you the latest
RSS feeds about the new comics coming out each week. You can filter the results by date, tle or
publisher. Blacklist func on to exclude results from unwanted publishers is there. You can also
export the comic list to a text file or to fileless comic entries in your ComicRack library.
1 2 From the preferences dialog,
you can choose to turn o
the Price, Cover and Publisher
columns in the right pane of
the weekly comic releases
window.

To open the script, from the Main menu,
go to File menu Automaon Weekly
Comic Releases
The script immediately starts parsing the You can use the add bu on
data from ComicList.com. It also downloads here to manually add any
the available eComic covers. The me taken publisher to the blacklist.
for this ini al online opera on may vary, de- Such blacklisted entries are no
pending on the speed of your internet con- longer displayed by the script
nec on. in your eComic feeds.

3
Here you can
choose the week
for which you wish
to view the comic
releases.

You can filter the

results by the tle
of the comic you
want to search for.

Here you can select

the publisher(s) for 4
which you want
to view the comic
release list. Once
you get the desired
comic names in the
right pane, you can
further select one/
few/all accordingly.

5
In this example, we see the comics Rig
Right-click on an exis ng tle
we had selected from the above win- and choose the add to blacklist
dow. We exported these comics to op on to add that publisher(s)
the fileless format. We then run the to the blacklist.
ComicVine Scraper script to automat-
ically add metadata and front cover You can export all/selected tles
thumbnail. You can later link them to to either a text file or to fileless
actual eComics (cbz, cbr, etc) and get comic entries in your Comic-
your zero-day collec on updated ! rack library. You can have the
op on of adding tags to these
entries before the export.

132
W C

If you like to read comics

published on a website,
ComicRack can download,
save and update them for
you. Read this chapter to
learn how!
W C B 135
Ge ng Web comics 135
ComicRack forum 135
Create Web comics on your own 135
Using Web comic Templates 136

W W 138
Alter a Web comics star ng date 139
Save a Web comic for oine reading 139
Upda ng Web comics 139
 W C B

ComicRack supports Web Comic (.cbw) files. With Web Comics, ComicRack can read comics directly from web
pages and display them as if they were standard eComics (CBR, CBZ). Web Comics can be exported to other formats.
If the defini on supports it, a Web comic can update itself to add new pages (like for daily or weekly comics).

There are 3 basic elements of a Web comic:

1. Info: This is where ComicRack will store its eComic info (when you edit the
values with the Info Dialog or execute a script to get the values).
2. Variables: This is an op onal collec on to define textual variables you can reuse
in the image entries.
3. Images / Image: This is a collec on of Image entries that define the actual pages
of the Web comic. In the simplest case this can be direct links to images on the
internet or it can be complex scraping defini ons.
Heres a look at the XML of an example
Web comic

Ge ng Web comics
1. ComicRack forum
This is the easiest way. Just login to the ComicRack forum and go to the Web
Comics section. Our developers there have already posted a good collec on
of Web comics that you can download and use. New Web comics are regularly
posted and requests for specific Web comics are entertained.

2. Create Web comics on your own

Making a Web comic has 3 main steps:
1. Go with the browser of your choice to your Web comic page. Decide if you need to create a Url based (simple) or
a regex based (BrowseScraper, IndexScraper) Web comic.
2. To find the regular expressions, select View Source in your browser and copy the html code into a regex tes ng
tool of your choice. Play around with the regular expression. If you think youre done, put the expressions into the
Web comic file and open it with ComicRack.
3. Please note that ComicRack works with the .NET implementa on of RegEx. If the expression contains a link
group, this one is used. Otherwise the matched expression is used.
For addi onal informa on on making Web comics, please read the ar cle on the ComicRack wiki page.

135
3. Using Web comic Templates to make Web comics

A Web comic template can be easily edited to make the Web comic of your choice, which you can read (with daily up-
dates) from within ComicRack. Here we discuss the Web comic Template for Gocomics.com (a website that contains
a large number of daily comics) and Onemanga.com (a website containing lots of manga). You can freely download the
Gocomicstemplate.cbw & Onemanga.cbw files from the ComicRack forum.

2. Now we will choose the date from which we want our Web comic to begin.
1. Goto the A-Z comic lis ng at Gocomics.com. From
For this right-click on the double-backward arrow icon near the date.
quite a large number of comics, choose the comic
3. Click on Copy link loca on. Now, we have the link for the beginning
you want to create the Web comic for. Click the
comic strip for our Web comic. The link can be easily changed manually
name of the comic. In this example, we choose
to select any date from which we would like our Web comic to begin. e.g.
Red And Rover. A new page for that comic will
change the date in the link from .../2003/01/01/ to .../2010/01/01/, and
open.
well get the comic from January 2010 onwards.

4. Open the template GoComicsTemplate.cbw with 7. Your Web comic is ready. Double-click to open it with ComicRack,
any text editor you like. In this example we choose and enjoy !
Notepad++. Your simple windows notepad will do
as well. Replace the Image Url in the file with the
link we copied in step 3.
5. To save the Web comic, go to File->Save as, and
replace the name with that of your choice, in this
case, Red And Rover.cbw
6. Dont forget to choose All types in the Save as
type dialog of your text editor.

136
 3. Now we will choose the date from which we want our Web comic to be-
1. Go to the Manga directory at Onemanga.com. Scroll down to choose the gin. Usually, this would be the first chapter of the manga. For this, scroll
manga you want to create the Web comic for. down the chapter list to reach the first chapter (at the bo om of the
2. In this example, we choose Dance in the Vampire Bund. Click on it and a page). Click on it to reach a new page.
new page for that manga will open. 4. Find the link tled Begin reading Dance in the Vampire Bund 1 (or
name of your chosen manga) near the bo om of the page. Right-click on
this link and then Copy link loca on.

5. Open the template Onemangatemplate.cbw with any text editor you like.
In this example we choose Notepad++. Your simple windows notepad will
do as well. Replace the variable key Url value in the file with the link we
7. 7. Your Web comic is ready. Double-click to open it with ComicRack,
copied in step 4.
and enjoy! You have successfully converted ComicRack into an online
6. To save the Web comic, goto File->Save as, and replace the name with that
manga reader!
of your choice, in this case, Dance in the Vampire Bund.cbw. Dont forget to
choose All types in the Save as type dialog of your text editor.

137
 W
W
ComicRack treats Web comics just like standard eComics. All features of ComicRack have the same level of func-
onality for Web comics as well. The only dierence is that reading a Web comic is dependent upon the speed of
your internet connec on. This also depends upon the total number of Web comics in your collec on, the internet
cache size, and the dates from which the Web comics begin (overall size of a Web comic). In most cases, however,
the individual pages of a Web comic are rather small in size & get updated very quickly.

Double-clicking any web comic (.cbw file) opens it directly in Comic- While a Web comic is upda ng, clicking on the Pending background tasks indicator
Rack and starts displaying the pages as they are downloaded from reveals the pages ge ng downloaded.
the web.

If your file is in the Library, then the page at which you have stopped If you have downloaded a cbw file, then either save it in a folder thats added
reading the web comic should be remembered so the next me you to your Library or enable the op on to add the files to your Library upon first
open the web comic, this last page should be displayed instead of the opening:
first page. Preferences Behavior Add eComics to Library

138
 Upda ng Web comics
As Web comics link to comics from web pages, they need
to be regularly updated to keep reading the latest pages.
There are 2 ways to update:
1. Manual Updates: From the Main Menu Update Web
comics (or use the keyboard combo Ctrl+Shift+W)
2. Automa c Updates: From Preferences Behavior
Starng ComicRack Select the op on Update
Web comics. This way, ComicRack will check & down- Main Menu Preferences
load all updates for all your Web comics on startup.

Alter a Web comics star ng date

The date from which the web comic file begins is in the
code shown in the example alongside. So, in this case, the
web comic will begin from 2010/01/01 and move on to the
present day. You can change the date in the code to deter-
mine the last day ll which the web comic will be scraped
(or in other words, the day from which the web comic will
begin). Now, you have a web comic that is updated from
today ll its last day, and its going to sit like that in the
Right-click the cbw file to open in a notepad or any text editor of your choice. Modify
library. Whenever you update next, the latest page will au- the date accordingly, and save as a cbw file. Reload the file into ComicRack.
toma cally be displayed and you can scroll back to read
previous pages if you wish, going backwards ll you reach
the last one.

Save a Web comic for oine reading

If you wish to save a Web comic for oine reading, just export it to a place on your computer. The Export eComics
func on works for Web comics with exactly the same func onality as it does for regular eComics. Please note that
the Web comic would be exported only ll the last page that has been retrieved from the net. While expor ng Web
comics, it is not recommended to delete the original pages a er export, as ComicRack would have to download
them again if you re-update it.

Click the pending background tasks indicator during the export to

Right-click the Web comic from the browser and go to the Export eComics op on. Choose your note the current state/progress of the export. If you wish to stop
preset, or use op ons in the export dialog to fine-tune the export process to your choice. the export for some reason, click the abort bu on.

139
N S

You can access remote eCom-

ic libraries of your friends
and family using the network
sharing features of Comic-
Rack. Learn more in this
chapter!
O R L 142

E N S 144
Allow ComicRack through the firewall 145
Sharing on the LAN 146
Enabling sharing on the LAN 146
Sharing over the Internet 147
Enabling sharing via a modem 147
Enabling sharing via a router 147
 O R
L

Using the network sharing func onality of ComicRack, you can open the shared library of other ComicRack users
over the internet. In this sec on, we explain how to work with remote libraries, while the next sec on will focus on
sharing your own library with other ComicRack users. Please follow the copyright laws for file sharing in your region.
1. Click on the Open Remote Library op on either from the 1
File menu, or from the Tools menu. Alterna vely, you may
simply use the Ctrl+Shift+R keyboard combo.

2. The Open Remote Library dialog will open. The names 2

and descrip on of available libraries could be seen. Also
seen are the Edit and Export proper es for the shared
libraries. Please note that the icon indicates a pass-
word-protected library, for which youll have to contact its
user through the ComicRack forum.
3. Double-click on any library name, and ComicRack will
try to connect to the server to get informa on about the
shared library.
4. The Shared library opens up in the Browser Tab Bar next
to the Library tab, and it tries to open connec on to the 3
remote server. If you wish, you can click the cancel but-
ton at this me to sop connec ng with the remote lbrary.
Similarly, you can clcik at the connect bu on to start the
process.

4a 4b

142
 5 6a 6b

5. If the library is password-protected, you will be asked to enter the password.

6. ComicRack will then retrieve the shared library from the server. In the case of an incorrect password or incorrect
network configura on or a network meout, an error dialog may announce the inability to retrieve the library.
7. The remote library will load in the Brows- 7
er Tab Bar next to the Library tab. The re-
mote library supports all the func ons of
ComicRack, just like your library.
8. Double-clicking on any eComic will retrieve
it from the users library and open it in the
Reader. The me taken to completely down-
load the eComic depends on your internet
speed and the file size.
9. Once fully retrieved, the eComic can be Ex-
ported / converted just like a regular eComic
of your library. Please note that this func on
is possible only when the shared library al-
lows the export facility.

8 9

eComics from shared libraries open just like your regular comics. Here we see an Right-click the eComic from the shared library browser and go to the Export eCom-
eComic open in the reader, with all its pages in the pages browser. Group, arrange, ics op on. Choose your preset, or use op ons in the export dialog to fine-tune the
stack, reorder, recolor shared eComics just like you would do for the regular ones. export process to your choice.

143
 E N
S
Now that you have learned how to access other users shared libraries, you would definitely like to share your own
library with your family and friends. We will now discuss how you can do this with ComicRack. This func onality
has slightly dierent set up if used within a LAN or over the Internet. While the dierences will be dealt with in the
coming sec ons, here we discuss the common features.
To enable network sharing, go to Edit menu Preferences Libraries tab Sharing sec on Click Add Share.
Here you can also select if you want to share your complete library or only selected lists. You can also select to make
your library password protected (recommended) or editable.

Choose a name & (mean-

ingful) descrip on for your Click the Add/Remove Share
library. bu on to add/remove mul-
ple libraries. New shares
appear in tabs alongside the
open library.

Choose a good password (recom-

mended). Decide if you would
like to keep your share private.
Choose whether you would like
clients to have edi ng & export
privileges. Please note that if
export is not allowed, they wont
be able to save the eComics.

Drag the slider to increase

or decrease the page quality
Share selected & the thumb quality of the
reading lists or all eComics in your shared
your library. library.

Keep your shared name same as your ComicRack forum user-

name
There is no way for a client to request you for a password for your shared li-
brary unless he recognizes your shared name. This is only possible if you use
your ComicRack forum username as the name for your shared library. This
way other users can PM you on the forum, and you could reply back your pass-
Get password requests as private meas-
word to those you wish. sages on the ComicRack forum

144
Allow ComicRack through the firewall

A Firewall is a So ware/Hardware which checks every informa on coming from the internet or a
network and depending upon the Firewall se ngs, it either blocks or allows the informa on to pass
through to your computer. If necessary, the firewall dynamically opens ports and allows your com-
puter to receive trac that you have specifically requested.

Typically when ComicRack starts for the first me, youre presented with a pop-
up window asking if you want to allow or block its access. Check Allow access to
allow ComicRack to communicate on both private & public networks.

If you are using a so ware firewall other than that of windows, the behavior is
almost similar to that of windows firewall. As ComicRack tries to communicate
with a remote computer, most firewalls pop-up a warning message asking for
your permission to allow or deny it
1. While you want to obviously allow ComicRack to communicate with a re-
mote compute, you would not want to repeat the same procedure every me
ComicRack shares its files. Most firewalls allow rule-based firewall access;
click remember acon / create rule (or its equivalent on your system).
2. Click Allow (or its equivalent on your system).

This isnt always the case though, and some mes you have to manually allow ComicRack through the firewall to
access the Internet. In this case, follow the instruc ons outlined below.
1. goto Control Panel System and security Windows firewall. Here click the op on Allow a program through
the firewall
2. This brings up the Allowed programs window. Click the Allow another program bu on at the bo om of this
window.
3. The Add a program dialog pops up. Scroll down the dialog to select ComicRack (If you dont see ComicRack
in the list, you may have to browse to its installed loca on & then add it). Click Add & then Click Ok to close the
window.

145
 Sharing on the LAN
LAN stands for Local Area Network. It is a rela vely small
network within a small geographic area (like a room, an
oce, a building, a campus etc). Most LANs today run un-
der Ethernet. If you connect two computers for sharing
data, you have a LAN. The number of computers connect-
ed on a LAN may be up to several hundreds, but most of
the me, LANs are made up of more or less a dozen ma-
chines. To connect two computers, you may only link them
using a cable. If you want to connect more, then you need
a special device called a hub, which acts like a distribu on
and link point. Cables from the dierent computers LAN
cards meet at the hub. If you want to connect your LAN to
the Internet, then you need a router instead of a hub.

Enabling sharing For ComicRack on the LAN

Enabling network sharing on the LAN requires almost no configura on. Here is what you need to do:
1. Allow ComicRack access to your firewall
2. Enable network sharing, via Edit menu Preferences Libraries tab Sharing sec on Click Add Share
3. Choose from all the op ons as described earlier, and click Ok.
4. Restart ComicRack
5. Open ComicRack in another computer on the LAN.
6. You will see a new tab with the name of the shared Library on the Browser tab bar. Click on it to access the shared
library

Using the preferences dialog to add a new shared
library
Give your share a name and a password. Choose
the lists you want to share. You have the choice to
allow your clients to edit/export your eComics.
The shared Library shows up in a separate tab on the
Browser tab bar. Opening mul ple libraries simultane-
ously opens each in its own tab.

146
 Sharing over the Internet
The configura on needed for sharing a ComicRack library over the internet depends on how you connect to the
internet. You can, for example, connect to the net simply by a aching an external modem to your desktop. Alterna-
vely, you may be connec ng via a router. Here we discuss these scenarios, along with the steps required to share
your library.

Enabling sharing For a PC connec ng via a modem

A modem is a device that can connect a computer to other computers
via a conven onal telephone line. Tradi onal modems used in dial-up
networking convert data between the analog form used on telephone
lines and the digital form used on computers. Broadband modems that
are part of cable and DSL Internet service, use more advanced signal-
ling techniques to achieve drama cally higher network speeds than
tradi onal modems.

The following steps are required for enabling network sharing for ComicRack for a PC connec ng to the internet via
a dial-up / DSL / cable modem:
1. Allow ComicRack access to your firewall
2. Enable network sharing, via Edit menu Preferences Libraries tab Sharing sec on Click Add Share
3. Choose from all the op ons as described earlier, and click Ok.
4. Restart ComicRack
5. Now your ComicRack is ready for sharing your library over the internet. Users who would like to access your
library have to follow the steps outlined in the Opening remote libraries sec on of this chapter. If your share is
password-protected, interested users may send you private messages on the ComicRack forum, reques ng the
password.
Enabling sharing For a PC connec ng via a router
Routers are physical devices that join mul -
ple wired or wireless networks together. On
the Internet, routers serve as intermediate
des na ons for network trac. These rout-
ers receive TCP/IP packets, look inside each
packet to iden fy the source and target IP ad-
dresses, then forward these packets as needed
to ensure the data reaches its final des na-
on. Routers for home networks (o en called
broadband routers) also can join mul ple net-
works. These routers are designed specifically
to join the home (LAN) to the Internet (WAN)
for the purpose of Internet connec on shar-
ing. Most of the broadband routers also oer
integrated firewalls.

147
The router has two IP addresses. It has the external IP address, and an internal IP address
which acts as the gateway for every computer on the network.

When a computer inside of the network wants to send data to a computer outside of the
network, it sends the data to the router. The router then takes this data and sends it out to
the computer on the internet via the external IP address. The same thing is true of computers
outside of the network. They can only see and send data to the external IP address of the
router. The router must then decide what to do with this data.

Port Forwarding simply tells the router which computer on the local area network to send the
data to. When you have port forwarding rules set up, your router takes the data o of the
external IP address:port number and sends that data to an internal IP address:port number.
Port Forwarding rules are created per port. So a rule set up for port 7612 will only work for
port 7612.

So, if the computer sharing the library is behind a router, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Go to the Router configura on, to a sec on called Port Forwarding (or similar, varies
across brands)
2. Create a new port forwarding for the port 7612 TCP, so that the External port 7612 is
forwarded to the IP of the computer sharing the library. For example, if the IP of the
computer sharing the library behind the router is 192.168.0.5, you will need to forward
port 7612 TCP to 192.168.0.5:7612.
3. Allow ComicRack access to your firewall
4. Enable network sharing, via Edit menu Preferences Libraries tab Sharing sec on
Click Add Share
5. Choose from all the op ons as described earlier, and click Ok.
6. Restart ComicRack
7. Now your ComicRack is ready for sharing your library over the internet. To connect to
this shared library, other users have to open ComicRack on their computer and go to
File Open Remote Library. Enter the external IP address of the router. If the port for-
ward is done correctly, they should see a new tab appear with the shared library name.

Why do my friends get an error message when they try to access my remote library ?

If you have a very large library and a slow connec on, your clients may en-
counter errors when they try to access your shared library. If it happens, try
sharing only part of the library instead, by going into Edit menu Prefer-
ences Libraries tab Sharing sec on Click Share selected lists (instead
of Share All).

148
S

The ComicRack team has

its own forum and facebook
page to help you in the best
possible ways. But, Comic-
Rack also needs your sup-
port to keep on providing
you the very best! Learn
more in this chapter.
F 151

F 152

N 153

D 154
Why donate ? 154
How to donate ? 154
 F

You can always find the ComicRack team hanging out at the forum.
If you also wish to interact, just register yourself at the ComicRack
forum (it is free and takes only a few moments), and login.

You can reach the forum through any of the following:

From the Help menu, click the ComicRack User Forum op on
Keyboard combo Ctrl+F1
Click me

You can get all the latest news about ComicRack in the News & Announcements sec on. Here you can down-
load the latest versions of the ComicRack so ware and all the scripts. If you are facing any problems while
using ComicRack, post it in the Help sec on. You may report any bugs that you encounter in the Bugs sec-
on; this helps us improve the so ware. You can even request any feature you would like to see in the future
versions of ComicRack in the Feature Requests sec on. Reading Lists and Web Comics can be posted &
downloaded from their own sec ons, respec vely. Apart from all this, you can simply discuss comics, share
user art (icons, wallpapers, etc) and much more.

151
 F

ComicRack is now ocially

available also on Facebook and
Twi er. Now you can connect
with ComicRack on the go.. on
your mobile, at your workplace..
Spread the word !
Please share this with all your fa-
cebook friends out there.

Just login to facebook, and sub-

scribe to the ComicRack fa-
cebook page. This would help us
increase our fanbase and sup-
port for ComicRack. Catch all
the latest ComicRack news on
Facebook too!

How to Join ComicRack on Fa-

cebook:
1. Click the Like bu on above
to join the community (Cant
see a bu on? Youre already a
member!)
2. Head over to the ComicRack
Wall to join in!

You will get a lot of variety on

the ComicRack facebook page.
ComicRack updates, script up-
dates, polls, cover of the week,
moment of the week, recent
news in the comics world, new
comic previews, ComicRack
screenshots, and much more..

152
 N

To find out when the new builds of ComicRack release and all the
other news, while you can always use the forum or your facebook
page, you also have the op on to check all the latest news from with-
in the comfort of ComicRack.
Here is what you need to do:
From the Help menu, choose the News op on
The Latest ComicRack News dialog will open
All the latest RSS feeds are present in the le column under the
tle heading.
Clicking on a tle opens up its news in the right column

Reading the Latest ComicRack

News is the easiest & fastest way
to keep in touch with all the latest
updates to ComicRack. You can
also enable the Check for news on
startup op on to open the news
dialog every me ComicRack
starts. This way youll never catch
an update late!

You can also use the Preferences dialog

to enable checking for the latest news at
startup:
Preferences Behavior Check for
the latest news on ComicRack

153
 D

Why donate ?
Hundreds of hours of work have been put into ComicRack to make it the best, most ver-
sa le and simply the most fun to use comic reader in the world. Star ng out as a small fun
project, it has evolved into what you currently see, a mul -language applica on with its
own web site and support forums; simply put, a place for the ComicRack community.
So if you think ComicRack adds value to your life, give something back. 10,000s of down-
loads and usually an average of 10 dona ons a month do not really fit together. Its not
about ge ng rich (as you can es mate from the above value), but it is about jus fying the
me and work put into this and also the feeling that there is some worth in it. So please help
to keep this project running.

How to donate ?

Go to the Donate page. You can go there by either by opening the Sup-
port ComicRack dialog from the Help menu (or when it opens during
statup) or by going to the Donate page from the ComicRack forum,
or by simply following this link.

All dona ons are processed securely via PayPal. You dont need to be
subscribed to PayPal to make a dona on and you can pay with a credit
card or debit card if you wish.

154
This page intentionally left blank
Index
Symbols Black&White 81
Bookmarks 95, 96
! 44 BooksCollector 122
1stgenerationScripts 111 Bookswithpagesmarked 125
2ndgenerationScripts 111 Browsemenu 23
3rdgenerationScripts 112 Browser 18, 68
.NETframework 3, 10, 11 Browsercontextmenu 37
BrowserTabBar 20, 29, 30, 142, 143
BrowserToolbar 20, 29, 31
A Browserwindow 29
Additembutton 82
Additemdialog 82
AddShare 144, 146, 147, 148 C
AddtoList 101 Cache 70, 138
AdjustColorToCurrentPage 71 Caption 21
Adjustments 64 Catalog 88
Advanced 70 cbr 3, 7
AgeRating 81 cbw 135
Alternatenumber 102 cbz 3, 7
AlternateSeries 81 Characters 83
Alt+Shift+F1 73 Chronologies 102
AnamorphicScaling 64 Colors 85
Application 68 Columns 35
Arrange 32 ComicDB.xml 7, 96
ArturosNewComicsToolbox 120 ComicDisplayLayout 76
AtoZ 33 ComicDisplaySettings 71, 76
Autofitallcolumns 35 Comicinfo.xml 7
Automation 114, 115, 116, 120, 123, 128, 129, 130, 132 ComicRackforum 111, 135
AutonumberWizard 114 ComicVineScraper 112, 116, 118
Autorotatedoublepages 59 Command-lineswitch 77
AutoScrolling 51 CommitProposedValues 114
Autosizeallcolumns 35 Communityratings 24, 91, 92
Autosizecolumn 35 Config.xml 74, 97
AvailableScripts 69 Convert10-pointRating 120
ConverteComicstofileless 87, 123
B CopyData 90
BackgroundColor 71 CopyFields 121
BackgroundTasksIndicator 21 CopyPage 40
BackgroundTextures 71 Copy/PasteLayouts 74
Behavior 68 CopySeriesTitletoAlternateSeries 121
CopySeriestoTitle 121
Covercount , 26
CoverFlowInfoPanel 127 F
CreateCombinedScript 129 F3 49
crplugin 112 F9 71
Ctrl+F1 151 F10 49
Ctrl+F9 , 56 F11 49
Ctrl+I 80 Facebook 152
Ctrl+O 13 Favorites 19, 42, 102
Ctrl+S 51 Favoriteswindow 29, 45, 93
Ctrl+Shift+A 13 Filelesscomicentries 86
Ctrl+Shift+C 107 Filelesscomicseries 87
Ctrl+Shift+F1 76 Filemenu 13, 22
Ctrl+Shift+R 142 FilesNotFound 126
Ctrl+Shift+V 108 FindGapsinseries 125
Ctrl+Shift+W 139 Firewall 12, 145
Ctrl+W 76 FitWidth(adaptive) 58
CurrentPageOverlay 55 Flowingmousescrolling 51, 64
CustomList 93, 100, 101 Folders 29
FoldersBrowser 20, 29, 38
D FoldersSidebartoolbar 42
Folderstab 38
DatabaseBackup 70, 96 Format 81
DefaultComicRackwindow 12, 18 Fullscreen 49
Deleted 40
Details 33
Detailscontextmenu 35 G
Detailsview 35 General 64
Displaymenu 23 GetNoteswithTags 126
DockFill 30 Ghostscript 3, 15
DockingGrips 19 Greenribbon 24
Dockmenu 30, 46 Group 32
Dog-ear 26, 33, 34 GuidedRename 123
Donations 12, 23, 154 Guidedrenamescript 111
Double-pageautoscrolling 51
Draganddrop 14, 35
Duplicate 32 H
Hardwareaccelaration 64
E Helpmenu 23, 151, 154
Hiddenmessages 70
eComicdisplayresizeslider 21, 33
eComicfolders 67
eComicssection 70 I
EditLayouts 73
EditListLayout 73 Import&export 68
Editmenu 22 ImportReadinglist 41, 93, 108
EditSmartList 103, 106, 125 Importtagsfromfilename 121
EditWorkspaces 76 Includeallsubfolders 38
Enablenetworksharing 144 Info 37, 80
EraseDatabaseTags 121 InfoPanel 30, 46, 127
ExportComicList 115 InfoPaneldockinggrip 19, 46, 127
ExporteComics 94, 139 InfoPanelRight 30, 46
Exportpresets 94 InsertRating 92, 120
ExportReadinglist 41, 93, 107 InstallingComicRack 10
Extractallpages 129 InstallingScripts 111
Extractfirstpage 129
K O
Keyboard 64 Onlyfitifoversized 52, 58
KeyboardMap 65 OpeneComic 13, 53
OpeninganeComic 68
Openinnewtab 105
L Openinnewwindow 105
LAN 146 OpenRemoteLibrary 142
Language 81 OpenWithScript 130
Languagepacks 3 Optionalwindows 29
Languagessection 70 OrganizeLibraryFiles&Folders 124
Layoutmenu 37, 74 Overlaymap 64
Libraries 67 Overlays 55, 64
LibraryBrowser 20, 29, 31
Libraryfolder 13, 29, 41, 100 P
Librarysidebartoolbar 42
Librarytab 31 PageContextMenu 39, 40, 84
List 101 PageFilterMenu 39
ListComicFilesinDirectory 130 PageLayout 52, 60
ListLayout 31, 72, 76 PageLayout(Fit) 58
ListOptions 73 PageLayout(Number) 57
Locations 83 PageRotation 60
Pages 29, 84
PagesBrowser 20, 29, 39
M PagesBrowserContextMenu 39
Magnifier 52 Pagestab 39
Mainmenu 18, 22 Pagestabcontextmenu 84
Manga 81 PageTransitionEffects 71
Markasdeleted 40 PageType 60
Messages&Statusoverlay 56 PaperEffects 71
Metadata 7, 43, 80, 90, 98 PasteData 90
MetadataInfoPanel 127 pdf 3, 7, 15
Modem 147 PendingBackgroundTasksDialog 25
Mouse 64 Pendingbackgroundtasksindicator 25
MoveFiles 124 Plot&notes 83
MovetoEnd 40 PortForwarding 148
MovetoStart 40 Preferences 63
MultipleeComicInformationdialog 89 PreviousPage 52
Multi-touchGestures 66 ProposedValues 81, 126
Myratings 24, 92
Q
N QuickOpen 54
NavigationOverlay 55 QuickSearch 31
Networksharing 142
NewComicBookSeries 87 R
NewComicEntry 86
NewComicEntryviaBarcode 119 Rating 37, 60
NewFolder 42, 106 ratings 91
NewList 42, 101 ratingscale 92
News 153 Reader 18, 20
NewSmartlist 42, 101, 103 Readercontextmenu 60
NextIssuesToRead 126 Readersetup , 55, 56, 55
NextPage 52 ReaderTabBar 20, 53
Notes 83 ReaderToolbar 20, 52
Readerwindow 49 Splashscreen 12
Reading 68 Stack 32
ReadingList 41, 93, 100 StacksLayout 36
Readmenu 23 Stackstoolbar 36
Redcross 40 Stars 24
Redo 31 StartingComicRack 68
Regularlist 101 StateIndicators 24
Remotelibraries 142 StatusBar 13, 18, 21, 25
Remove 106 Summary 80
RemoveallBookmarks 130 Support 23
RemoveNumbersAttheBeginning 121 SupportComicRack 154
RemoveScannerCredits 131 SystemRequirements 3
RemoveSpaces 121
RemovingDuplicates 32 T
RenameFiles 115 TabContextMenu 53
Reset 40, 84, 85 Tags 81
ResetListBackground 37 Teams 83
Restoredatabase 96 TemporaryLists 41
Ribbons 24 Thumbnail 33, 66
Right-to-left 68 Thumbnailsview 33
Rotation 52, 59 Tilesview 33, 34, 66
Router 147 Toolsmenu 52
TouchGestures 66
S TwoPages 57
TwoPages(Adaptive) 59
SaveWorkspace 76
Scan 13, 67 U
ScaneComicfolders 13 Undo 31
ScriptPackages 69 UnifiedTabbar 30
Scripts 69, 111 UninstallingScripts 112
ScriptSettings 69 UpdateWebComics 139
Searchactionlogo 13
SearchBox 44 V
SearchBrowser 19, 29, 43
Search&Replace 115 Views 31, 32, 36, 39
SelectAll 40 VisiblePagepartOverlay 56
SeriesCountIs 126
SeriesInfoPanel 128
SeriesReadandUnread 126 W
ServerSettings 67 WebComics 135, 136, 137, 138, 139
ServerStatistics 21 WebcomicTemplates 136
ShareAll 148 WebLink 115
Sharedlibrary 142 Weblinkscript 46
Sharing 67 WeeklyComicReleases 132
Shift+F5 41 Wikipedia 83
Shift+F7 45 WindowLayouts 76
Shift+F8 43 workspace 75
Shift+F9 46 Workspaces 75, 76
Shift+F10 22 Workspacesdialog 76
ShowMainMenu 52 WriteMissingIssuestoTextFile 131
Showonlyfilelessentries 87
Sidebar 18, 19, 20, 29, 41, 100 Y
SidebarContextMenu 41
SidebarToolbar 20, 42 Yellow ribbon 24
SinglePage 57
SmallPreview 19, 29, 45
SmartList 41, 93, 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106 Z
SmartlistScript 125 Zoom 52
SmoothAutoScrolling 51, 64
Manuals / Software

comicrack.cyolito.com
November 2010. Fall edi on. 2010 cYo So