Kobo Libra Colour · Guides
Page-turn buttons and gestures on the Kobo Libra Colour
What every button press, tap and swipe does on the Libra Colour, and which actions you can change in Settings.
The Libra Colour is built around one-handed reading, so it is worth a few minutes to know what each control does. The buttons and the touch screen work together: you can turn pages with either, and the reading menu, navigation bar and light controls each have their own edge to swipe from. The one adjustment most people make is reversing the buttons, which lives under Reading settings.
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Learn the default button behaviour
The two physical buttons sit on the wide bezel. Held in the right hand, the lower button turns the page forward and the upper button turns it back. The buttons work in any orientation; the device senses which way you are holding it and keeps "forward" as the button nearer your thumb.
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Swap the buttons if forward and back feel wrong
Go to the home screen, open the menu, then Settings, then "Reading settings". Find the option for page-turn buttons and switch it to the reversed layout. This is the setting most left-handed readers change, and it also helps if you prefer the top button for forward.
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Learn the tap zones
While reading, a tap on the right third of the screen turns the page forward, a tap on the left third turns it back, and a tap in the centre opens the reading menu. These zones work alongside the buttons, not instead of them.
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Use swipes for finer control
Swipe left or right to turn pages. Swipe up from the bottom for the quick navigation bar and chapter list. Swipe down from the top for the brightness and warm-light sliders and the settings shortcut. A swipe from the left edge, if enabled, goes back a screen.
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Adjust brightness with a button-and-swipe shortcut
Press and hold either page-turn button, then slide your thumb up or down the left edge of the screen to change the front-light brightness without opening any menu. This is a Kobo shortcut, not something you need to turn on.
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Know what you cannot change
Kobo's stock software lets you reverse the buttons but not assign them to other actions such as bookmarks or notes. If you want fully remappable buttons, that is one of the reasons people install [KOReader](/devices/kobo/libra-colour/koreader/), which exposes every gesture and button as a configurable action.