Pleco 2.0 Instruction Manual : Preferences
To open Pleco's preferences screen on:
Windows Mobile - tap on the "Dict" menu at the bottom left corner of your handheld's screen and select "Preferences."
Palm OS - tap on the menu button at the top right corner of your Palm's screen (the rightmost button in the toolbar) and select "Preferences" from the "Dict" menu.
Once you've opened the Preferences screen, tap on the popup menu at the bottom right corner of the screen (next to "GO TO" or "GO TO PANEL") to jump between panels.
To reset preferences to their default settings, open up the Preferences screen, go to the Misc panel and tap on the "Reset all prefs to defaults" button.
All of the screenshots below reflect the default settings for each panel.
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Headword display mode: selects how Pleco displays Chinese-character headwords which have both simplified and traditional character variants.
Mandarin pronunciation: selects how Pleco displays the Mandarin Chinese pronunciations of characters and words.
Please note that since haven't yet encoded all of our dictionaries to use this new multi-pronunciation system, example sentences in some dictionaries will still show up as Pinyin with tone marks regardless of what setting you select here.
Head / pron / defn on separate lines: with this option enabled, Pleco puts the headword / Pinyin / definition portions of Chinese-to-English entries (and the headword / definition portions of English-to-Chinese ones) on separate lines, improving readability on screens large enough to accommodate the extra text.
Dict Name: Append to definition: insert the name of the source dictionary at the end of each dictionary definition.
Dict Name: Flash when changed: flash the name of the currently-active dictionary on the screen whenever you switch to a new dictionary.
Palm OS options: (options for fonts on Windows Mobile are configured in the separate Fonts panel below)
Magnify characters in headword: display Chinese characters in dictionary headwords at double their normal size, helpful for seeing the details of unknown characters more clearly.
Mag headword length limit: limits the number of characters in a magnified headword; if the headword is longer than this, it will be displayed at normal size.
Large font in: Defn: use a larger font in dictionary definitions, improving readability.
Large font in: List: use a larger font in the Entry List, improving readability.
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Font rendering mode: selects the method Pleco uses to smooth (anti-alias) large characters on the screen.
Definition font size: selects the size of the font used in dictionary definitions.
Entry List font size: selects the size of the font used in the Entry List.
Headword font size: selects the size of the font used in Chinese-character dictionary headwords.
Magnified headword length limit: limits the number of characters in a magnified headword; if the headword is longer than this, it will be displayed at the normal Definition font size.
Zoom size: selects the size of the font used with the Magnify Characters feature.
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Language auto-detect: select whether Pleco should automatically detect whether a dictionary search is in Chinese or English. With "Enabled," it'll do this with all search terms, even Pinyin; "Hanzi Only" will cause it to switch to Chinese mode when it detects Chinese characters in the Input Field but do nothing otherwise, and "Disabled" prevents it from ever changing the search language automatically; you can still manually tap on the Switch Language toolbar button (or select the corresponding menu command) to switch between English and Chinese searches.
Match search length: this option lets you customize whether Pleco will prioritize search results which exactly match the length of the search query over longer results. This deals with the situation where you might be looking for a two-character word, one dictionary has an entry for a four-character expression beginning with those two characters while another dictionary has an entry for those two characters exactly. With this option set to "Always", Pleco will always search all dictionaries for an exact length match before accepting a longer one; with "Never," it'll always accept a match in the current dictionary even if it's the longer than the search query; and with "Non-user only," it'll try to find an exact-length match in fixed / non-editable dictionaries, but will accept a longer match in user-created dictionaries (useful because user dictionaries often don't contain single-character entries for the first characters of multi-character words, causing the software to automatically switch out of them when you enter that first character).
Clear Input Field on lang switch: automatically erase the contents of the Input Field whenever you manually switch between English and Chinese searches.
Pinyin: Match length: with this option enabled, Pinyin searches will only return results that exactly match the search query entered. For example, "zhonggu" would match only the word zhong1gu3 and not zhong1guo2. Turning this option off means you don't have to finish entering a word to get search results for it, but you may need to look through more entries to find the word you want.
Pinyin: Strict syll splits: with this option disabled, Pleco will search for any combination of Pinyin syllables that matches the spelling of your search query, assuming you haven't entered tones or other marks to specifically split them - "xian" will match both "xian" and "xi'an" and "changan" will match both "chang'an" and "changan." Enable this option and Pleco will require mid-word syllables beginning with a vowel to have a space, apostrophe, or tone number in front of them, so "xian" would only match "xian."
Don't auto-search on backspace: with this option enabled, Pleco won't update the search results when you delete a character from the Input Field, but only when you add a character to it. This may make deleting text a bit faster, but also means that if you accidentally type an extra character or two at the end of a word you'll have to do some extra deleting/re-typing to get Pleco to search again for the correct word.
Single-char wildcard / Multi-char wildcard: selects which characters are used as wildcards in dictionary searches.
The single-character wildcard replaces exactly one character/syllable, so "@hao3" for example would find you all words in which the second syllable was pronounced "hao3".
The multi-character wildcard replaces anywhere between 0 and 3 characters/syllables, so "$hao3" would return all entries in which the first, second, third, or fourth syllable was pronounced "hao3".
Full-text search prefix: selects which character is used to invoke a full-text search. Enter this character at the start of a search query to tell Pleco to search dictionary definitions instead of headwords; it'll return a list of all dictionary entries which contain that word in their definitions. Enabling Lock will prevent this character from being deleted on a Clear or Copy to Input command - this is useful if you want to do a bunch of full-text searches in a row (for example, to find usage examples for a list of new words you're learning). With Lock enabled, you can still delete the full-text prefix with a backspace or the "Full-Text Search" toolbar / menu option.
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Delay before search: selects how long Pleco will wait after you've entered a new character in a search query before it starts searching. If you enter another character before the delay is finished, it resets its timer and waits again. This is very helpful during English and Pinyin searches, since you can enter multiple letters in a row without having to wait for Pleco to return results after each new letter; for example, if you set this option to 1 second, then enter the word "hello," Pleco would wait until 1 second had passed after you typed the 'o' to make sure you weren't going to type any more letters before beginning its search. The optimal setting for this depends on both the speed of your handheld's processor and the speed with which you can enter text, so we suggest playing around with different settings to find the one that works best for you. If you prefer that Pleco not search at all until you tell it to, select "Button Only" and add the "Search" button command to Pleco's toolbar; tap on that Search button to do a search.
Sort results by: selects how Pleco sorts the results of Chinese-language dictionary searches.
Search dictionaries: this controls the order in which dictionaries are searched. "From Current" will begin the search with the currently-selected dictionary, "From First" will begin all searches with the first dictionary in the search order (as configured in Manage Dictionaries), and "Current Only" will only search for words in the current ditionary and won't check any others unless you specifically switch into them. "From First" is particularly useful if there's a smaller dictionary you prefer over the larger ones, since it'll let you always check that dictionary for a result first before falling back on the larger dictionaries.
Partial OK / Stop search on partial match: this option affects the way in which Pleco switches between dictionaries when you tap on the Dictionary Switch button while in the middle of a search (i.e., when there's text entered in the Input Field). With this option disabled, Pleco will only switch to dictionaries with the longest possible match (maximum number of matching characters) for the search term, skipping over any others; with it enabled, Pleco will switch to any dictionary with even a 1-character match.
1-char results for 1-char search: with this option enabled, searches with one Chinese character or one Mandarin syllable will only return results that are also one character / one syllable long. This makes those searches significantly faster, and is also helpful if you know the Pinyin for the first character of a word: enter the Pinyin, select the matching character from the Entry List, tap the Copy to Input button to put that character in the Input Field, then enter the second character / syllable. This is much more efficient than entering that character with handwriting/radical input, or wading through a long list of Pinyin matches.
Note that disabling this option may make searches for some common characters like 
very slow, since they generate a very long list of results for Pleco to check and sort (owing to all of the dictionary entries that start with them).
Chinese results always in list mode: with this option enabled, Pleco will always put the Entry List in Results Mode after a Chinese (character or Pinyin) search, even if there's only one result available. Normally in those cases Pleco will automatically jump to that result's location in the dicitonary, but with this option enabled it will instead just display a 1-item list containing that result.
Integrate full text in: Eng-Chn: with this option enabled, searches in Pleco for English words will span both English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English dictionaries, searching the full text of entries in the latter. Chn -Eng does the same with searches for Chinese words (characters only).
Sort full by relevance: sort full-text (English-Chinese) search results by their relevance, putting the entries where the search term is listed by itself first, followed by entries where it comes first, entries where it appears anywhere in the definition, and entries where it appears in a parenthetical or an example sentence.
Open list on search: with this option enabled, whenever you do a new dictionary search Pleco will open up the Entry List if it's currently hidden. This is helpful if you sometimes like to hide the Entry List (by tapping on the list toggle button ('biao' character) in the toolbar) to have more space on the screen for a long dictionary entry. You can also combine it with the "Hide List" option under "List tap action" in the Stylus Actions panel; with both of those options selected, the list will disappear when you tap on an entry (to view it more clearly) and reappear when you enter a new search query. (this works even better if you set the list to "Fullscreen" mode)
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Windows Mobile options:
Input layout: 1.0-style: this option restores the one-character at a time handwriting / radical input boxes from PlecoDict 1.0, in place of the many-character-at-a-time ones in 2.0 - if you usually only enter one character at a time, or are accustomed to the old interface, this might be preferable to the 2.0 system.
Input layout: Left-handed: with this option enabled, the handwriting input box is positioned on the left side of the screen instead of the right, which may be helpful for some left-handed users.
Attempt to disable TouchFlo in fullscreen: (Windows Mobile only) With this option enabled, Pleco will attempt to disable the "TouchFlo" finger control system (used on some HTC smartphones like the Touch / Touch Pro / Touch Diamond) when capturing handwriting input in fullscreen mode - this may improve performance and prevent strokes from being jagged / lagging far behind the pen movements.
Palm OS options:
Input screen style: lets you customize the layout of the Input dialog. "Standard" gives you the standard Pleco 2.0 layout, with a copy of the Input Field at the top of the screen and a handwriting / radical / keyboard panel below. "1.0" restores the one-character at a time handwriting / radical input boxes from PlecoDict 1.0, where you draw / select a character and then tap on it to copy it to the Input Field. "Finger" is a new option designed mainly for Palm Pre users; it features an enormous handwriting input box and larger character choices to tap on, and like the 1.0-style screens, you draw / select a character and tap on it to immediately return to the main dictionary screen with that character entered.
Left-handed input interface: with this option enabled, the handwriting input box is positioned on the left side of the screen instead of the right, which may be helpful for some left-handed users.
Hide insertion point in HWR screen: this option disables the insertion point in the Input dialog, which will "trick" external handwriting input systems like PenPower into thinking that there's no text input field on the screen, allowing you to write characters without those systems interfering / taking away pen strokes.
Smooth HWR lines: Disable this option to turn off Pleco's built-in smoothing algorithm for pen movements in the handwriting recognizer; this will make the pen input feel a bit more responsive, at the expense of more jagged / wavy-looking lines.
Cross-platform options:
Clear Input Field before new input: with this option enabled, Pleco will erase the contents of the Input Field whenever you go into the handwriting/radical input screen - this can save you an extra stylus-tap if you always go there to enter a new word.
HWR auto-rec after: selects how long Pleco's handwriting recognizer will wait after you've finished drawing a stroke before it tries to recognize the character you entered. If you begin writing another stroke before then, it waits until you finish drawing that next stroke and then starts the timer again. With "Never" selected, it will only recognize the character after you tap on the Recognize button. With "Instant" selected, it will recognize characters "live" as you draw them, showing results after each stroke - with that option selected, instead of tapping on the Recognize button you simply tap on the correct character as soon as it comes up to input it and clear the stroke capture box.
Auto-enter best HWR match: with this option enabled, after recognizing a handwritten character, Pleco will automatically enter the first (= most likely) match in the Input Field; tapping on another match will delete that character and replace it with the newly-chosen one. This is useful if you usually find that the first character in the recognizer results is the correct one, or if you're accustomed to other Chinese handwriting recognition systems in which this is the default behavior.
Disable fullscreen after input: with this option enabled, if you're using the fullscreen handwriting recognizer (where you write characters in the main dictionary screen rather than in a separate box), after recognizing a character the handwriting recognizer will automatically be disabled, so that you can then use the stylus to click on / highlight text in dictionary entries. (you can then tap on the OFF/ON button to re-enable it)
Filter radical results by char set: With this option enabled, when you select a radical that's specifically traditional or simplified ("speech," for example), Pleco will filter the results to only display characters from the same character set, ignoring characters from the other set.
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Entry List location: selects the location of the Entry List in the main dictionary screen. "Fullscreen" will cause it to take up the entire screen, leaving the dictionary definition invisible until you hide / reposition the list again.
Input palette location: selects the location of the Input palette, which you can use to perform handwriting, radical, and keyboard input without having to go to a separate screen.
Input mode: selects whether the Input palette is currently in handwriting, radical, or keyboard input mode.
Fullscreen handwriting palette: with this option enabled, the Input palette will let you draw characters anywhere in the dictionary definition field; otherwise, the Input palette has a dedicated handwriting box (as on the separate handwriting input screen) and characters can only be drawn in there.
Hide ... on small screen: on devices with tall / wide screens, this option lets you hide either the Entry List or the Input palette when you resize the screen; i.e., when you open the onscreen keyboard that's built into the handheld. This makes it easy to toggle between that keyboard and Pleco's input palette. "All Input" will hide the input palette regardless of what mode it's in, while regular "Input" leaves it visible if it's in fullscreen handwriting recognition mode (but hides it in any other mode).
Change layout in landscape mode: with this option enabled, Pleco will keep track of the positions / sizes of the Entry List and Input palette separately when your handheld's screen is oriented in landscape (long) mode instead of portrait (tall) mode. This is particularly useful on devices like the sliding-keyboard HTC smartphone models, on which the display switches between landscape and portrait mode whenever you open the keyboard - you can have it arranged one way (say, with the Entry List on the side of the screen) when the screen is in landscape mode and another way (Entry List on the bottom) when it's in portrait.
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Don't use Chinese character icons: with this option enabled, Pleco will use an alternate set of toolbar / button icons that don't contain any Chinese characters, which is useful if you're not yet comfortable enough with Chinese characters to easily tell them apart.
Left-handed search bar layout: puts the Input Field on the right instead of the left side of the screen, which may be helpful for some left-handed users.
Command Bar: selects the number of buttons visible in the Command Bar (top toolbar). Select "None" to hide it altogether and display only the bottom toolbar. Tap Setup to select which buttons appear on the Command Bar. (see Toolbar and Menu Commands for more info on what each button does)
Search Bar: selects the number of buttons visible in the Search Bar (bottom toolbar). "None" will leave just the Input Field and no buttons at all. Tap Setup to select which buttons appear on the Search Bar.
Change buttons in landscape mode: with this option enabled, Pleco will use an alternate button configuration when your handheld's screen is oriented in landscape (long) instead of portrait (tall) mode; the Command Bar / Search Bar options below this checkbox let you customize the number / types of buttons in this mode.
Palm OS options:
Recent Query List: selects whether the button to bring up the Recent Query List is located on the left or right side of the Input Field, or hidden / not displayed at all. Normal puts it on the side of the Input Field that's farthest from the edge of the screen, while Flip puts it on the side that's closest to the edge.
Tapping on any of the Setup buttons will take you to this screen:
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Select the tool you want in each toolbar position (1 = leftmost) from the corresponding popup list.
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Up/down nav button action: selects what will happen when you press the up/down buttons on your handheld's direction pad.
Left/right nav button action: same as above, but with the left/right buttons on the direction pad instead.
Center nav button action: selects what will happen when you press the center button on your handheld's direction pad. You can choose any available toolbar / menu command for this - see Toolbar and Menu Commands for detailed explanations of those.
Other button actions: this takes you to a screen where you can assign other hardware buttons on your handheld to specific dictionary functions:
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Tap on one of the "(none)" buttons on the left side of that screen, then press the hardware button you want to choose that button; use the menu on the right side to choose what command you want to associate with it. (this doesn't work correctly with some buttons on Windows Mobile devices, though we're working to improve it) Tap the "Clear All" button to delete all of your button assignments.
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Tap char action: selects what will happen when you tap on a Chinese character in a dictionary definition.
Sel text action: selects what will happen when you highlight a piece of text in a dictionary definition.
Tap sel action: selects what will happen when you highlight a piece of text in a dictionary definition and then tap on the selected text. The options are the same as for "Sel text action."
Tap-hold action: selects what will happen you highlight a piece of text in a dictionary definition and then tap and hold your handheld's stylus on the selected text. The options are the same as for "Sel text action."
Most of the above options apply not only in the main dictionary screen but also in flashcard sessions and in dictionary definitions in the document reader; the exception is "Copy to Input," which is only usable in the main dictionary screen.
Link tap action: selects what will happen when you tap on a text link (underlined text) in a dictionary definition. This currently only works in the main dictionary screen.
List tap action: selects what will happen when you tap on a dictionary entry in the Entry List. With (only when double-tapped) checked, this will only happen when you double-tap on an item in the list.
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Duplicate Cards: selects how Pleco handles duplicated flashcards, i.e. flashcards for which another flashcard with the same headword and pronunciation already exists.
Show alert on new card add: momentarily flash a confirmation message on the screen after you've successfully created a flashcard. The confirmation message will also alert you if it's a duplicate card - the text / background are inverted in this message for duplicate cards to make them easier to notice.
With the "w/cat" option enabled, the alert will flash the name of the category the new card was added to (chosen from the tap-hold menu, or selected as the default in Manage Categories) instead of flashing a generic "Card Added" message. A * asterisk in front of the category name indicates that the card was a duplicate but that the existing card was added to a new category due to the "Keep Cats" option being selected.
Popup lists only show top-level categories: with this option enabled, Pleco will only display top-level categories (i.e., categories which aren't grouped / stored under other categories) in pop-up lists of categories; this can save time if you have a lot of categories to sift through.
Prompt before deleting cards: with this option enabled, Pleco will display a warning / confirmation box before a flashcard is deleted.
Left-handed flashcard interface: puts the flashcard answer buttons on the left instead of the right side of the screen, which may be helpful for some left-handed users.
Allow edits during sessions: with this option enabled, you can edit cards (through the Edit Card screen of Card Info) while in the middle of flashcard sessions, and when saving a session you'll be put back in the main flashcards screen instead of the main dictionary screen (allowing you to access Manage Flashcards and other card-editing screens without discarding the saved session). Please note that this is an experimental option and may cause instability or strange behavior during flashcard sessions, so we only recommend it for advanced / computer-savvy users.
Buttons: tap on this to bring up a screen where you can assign hardware buttons to specific flashcard commands. The interface works the same way as in the Button Actions panel, but the button commands are as follows:
An Update button may show at the bottom of the screen if you originally created a flashcard database in an older version of Pleco; updating the format makes sessions start a bit faster (especially with lots of categories) and allows editing of entries in user dictionaries without having to "Unlock" them first.
Instant Access: these options control Pleco's Instant Access system, which allows you to bring up dictionary definitions for words in other applications on your handheld (web browsers, text messages, etc) in a separate dialog box without having to copy-and-paste them into Pleco. "on program activate" brings up Instant Access whenever you launch Pleco from the Start menu or another program launcher system; "from taskbar icon" (Windows Mobile 5/6 only) brings puts a small Pleco icon in your handheld's taskbar (the bar at the top of the screen) - select a piece of text and then tap that icon to bring up Instant Access that way. You can also launch Instant Access using the separate PlecoLaunch program, which can sometimes be a bit faster than these other methods.
Include edit box in Instant Access window: this option adds a search Input Field to the top of Instant Access and Popup Definition windows, allowing you to change the word being searched for or enter a new search term without going back to the main dictionary.
Look up clipboard on non-IA activate: with this option enabled, whenever you open / activate Pleco with a piece of text in the clipboard, it will automatically attempt to look up that text in the dictionary. If the text in the clipboard hasn't changed since the last time you opened Pleco, it won't be looked up again. "Use reader if clipboard larger than" will bring up the clipboard text in Pleco's built-in document reader instead of the regular dictionary interface if the text is longer than the specified number of characters; select "Never" to always look up clipboard text in the regular dictionary.
Search for new files on program activate: with this option enabled, Pleco will look for new dictionaries and keyfiles whenever it's activated, even if it's already running in the background. This is helpful after you've just installed Pleco, since it allows you to unlock Pleco or install missing dictionaries without having to exit and reopen the software, but if you've already installed and unlocked Pleco successfully, you can make it open a bit faster by disabling this option.
Use softkey menu bar: with this option enabled, Pleco uses a smartphone-style softkey menu bar (with two menu buttons at the bottom of the screen) instead of a regular Windows-style menu bar (with three separate menus). (not available on Windows Mobile 2003)
Don't hide menu bars in flash / reader: with this option enabled, Pleco will leave the taskbar and menu bar visible during flashcard and document reader sessions, so that you can still easily bring up the onscreen keyboard or switch to another application.
Instant Access from command bar: Add an Instant Access icon to your Palm's command bar; Instant Access allows you to bring up dictionary definitions for words in other applications on your handheld (web browsers, text messages, etc) in a separate dialog box without having to copy-and-paste them into Pleco.The "command bar" referenced here is different from the Command Bar in Pleco's user interface - it's the little bar that comes up at the bottom of the screen whenever you draw a command stroke (diagonal line from the bottom left to top right corner) in the Graffiti text input area. Highlight a word, bring up the command bar and tap on the Pleco icon to pop up a definition for that word.
from button press: bring up Instant Access whenever you press a particular hardware button on your Palm. Tap on the "(none)" box and press a button to assign that button to Instant Access.
Text extraction mode: selects how Instant Access copies text out of other applications to look up in Instant Access. The default "Clipboard" mode should work fine with most programs, but erases the contents of your Palm's clipboard; "Basic" mode works with fewer applications but doesn't erase the clipboard, "Experimental" mode works with a few more applications than "Clipboard" but is a lot slower to start up and a bit less stable.
Include edit box in Instant Access window: this option adds a search Input Field to the top of Instant Access and Popup Definition windows, allowing you to change the word being searched for or enter a new search term without going back to the main dictionary.
Search for clipboard text on open: with this option enabled, whenever you open / activate Pleco with a piece of text in the clipboard, it will automatically attempt to look up that text in the dictionary. If the text in the clipboard hasn't changed since the last time you opened Pleco, it won't be looked up again. "Use reader if larger than" will bring up the clipboard text in Pleco's built-in document reader instead of the regular dictionary interface if the text is longer than the specified number of characters; select "Never" to always look up clipboard text in the regular dictionary.
External text encoding: tells Pleco which Chinese character encoding system your Palm is configured to use, so that it can correctly decode characters on the clipboard or in Instant Access. Select "GB-2312" if your Palm is configured to use simplified characters or "Big5" if it's configured to use traditional; "UTF-8" supports both character sets, but very few Palms support it, so you'll most likely want to stick to GB or Big5.
Input Field Compatibility Mode: with this option enabled, Pleco uses standard Palm OS text edit controls instead of its own proprietary ones, relying on your Palm's built-in Chinese character display system to render Chinese text. This is useful if you want to use Pleco in conjunction with another Chinese language input system like CJKOS; however, it disables some features (like mixing simplified/traditional characters in the same field), so only enable it if you're planning to make heavy use of one of those input systems. Do not enable Input Field Compatibility if your Palm isn't set up to display Chinese characters outside of Pleco; if you do, characters will show up as random gibberish.
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Tone color: enable Pleco's Pinyin tone coloring feature. This will draw Chinese character headwords (both in the dictionary and in flashcards) in different colors depending on the tone of their Mandarin pronunciation, which may be helpful when trying to memorize the pronunciations of words. Check the "Definition" box to color tones in dictionary definitions and the "List" box to color them in the Entry List; tap on each of the numbered buttons to change the color for the corresponding tone. If you're not familiar with tone numbers, see the chart here for a quick guide to which numbers represent which tones.
Audio volume: select the volume at which audio recordings play, 10 being highest.
Audio file set: selects which set of recordings to use when playing audio.
Skip if no recording: with this option enabled, Pleco will only play audio for entries for which it has a full audio recording (i.e., one that exactly matches the word); with this option disabled, if it can't find an exact match it will play back the word syllable-by-syllable instead.
Sandhi transform: with this option enabled, for that syllable-by-syllable audio playback Pleco will attempt to apply sandhi tone transformations, i.e., two third tones turning into a second/third tone and the tones of "yi" and "bu" changing depending on context / meaning.
Reset all prefs to defaults: tap on this button to reset all preferences to their default settings.
Clear all recent search data: tap on this button to clear the history of recently viewed entries, recently entered search queries, and recent flashcard searches / imports / exports.
Compact flash / user databases: tap on this button to shrink the size of the flashcard / user dictionary databases by getting rid of space taken up by deleted cards / entries. This will only make a significant difference if you've recently deleted a lot of cards or entries, but can both shrink the size of the database and may also slightly improve performance in that case. (it has not, however, been extensively tested, so we strongly recommend backing up your databases before using it)
This screen lets you configure which directories Pleco searches for files in, both in internal flash memory and on SD memory cards. It applies both during startup (when Pleco goes out and initially looks for its dictionary / font / etc data files) and when opening flashcard import and document reader files off of a memory card.
Search /Palm/Launcher for files: look for files in the /Palm/Launcher directory, which is the default location where files are installed during a HotSync (or when using the built-in Copy command).
Search: you can enter up to three other search directories in these fields.
Create new user DBs in: select where Pleco will create new flashcard / user dictionary databases. This will not affect the locations of existing databases; you can move those around using the PlecoMover utility.
To access the Manage Dicts screen, use the "Manage Dicts" menu command - it's located right below "Preferences."
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Use the menu at the top-left corner of the screen (labeled "Chinese" in the screenshot) to select a list of dictionaries to manage - "Chinese" for Chinese-to-English or Chinese-to-Chinese, and "English" for English-to-Chinese.
Select a dictionary from the list on the left side of the screen to change its settings:
Up / Down: move the selected dictionary up / down in the list; this affects the order in which dictionaries are searched, and the order in which they come up when you tap on the Switch Dictionary button.
Create New...: create a brand new user dictionary, which you can then add entries to through the Add/Edit Entry screen or the Import screen below.
Show in menu: show this dictionary in the menu that pops up when you tap-hold on the Switch Dictionary button.
Use in toolbar: include this dictionary when switching between dictionaries with the Switch Dictionary button.
Use in search: include this dictionary in dictionary searches.
(only as fallback): only include this dictionary in searches when no other dictionary has a matching entry, and switch out of it immediately as soon as a different search is entered that can be found anywhere. This is useful for titles like Unihan which you might only want to use when you can't find a character in any other dictionary.
Use in reader: use this dictionary to look up words in pop-up definitions and the Document Reader.
Abbreviation: configure which 1-, 2-, or 3-letter abbreviation will be used in the dictionary's icon.
Icon color: tap on the dictionary icon to select a background color for it.
Reset: reset this dictionary's abbreviation and icon color to their default settings.
Configure...: (only for user-created dictionaries) Go to the Configure Dicitonary screen, allowing you to change the dictionary name and import / export dictionary entries.
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In this screen, you can edit a user dictionary's name, import / export entries, and lock it to prevent editing and improve performance when scrolling through it.
Short name: name used for the "Append to definition" and "Flash when changed" features (enabled through the Display panel of Preferences).
Menu name: name used in popup menus.
Full name: currently unused.
Copyright: copyright notice displayed in Pleco's About box, though this is currently unimplemented.
Created: date / time on which this dictionary database was created.
Number of entries: current number of entries in the dictionary.
Import...: go to the Import screen, letting you import new entries from a text file and undo / roll back previous imports.
Export...: go to the Export screen, letting you export user dictionary entries to a text file.
An Upgrade option will appear here if your dictionary is in the old (2.0.0-2.0.3 format) - tap on that button to update the dictionary to the newer, faster format (which may take a while).
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Use this screen to add entries to a user dictionary from a text file. On Palm OS, all available text files will be shown in the list box (empty in this screenshot); on Windows Mobile, a prompt will show up asking you to select a file after you tap on the Import... button.
The format for these text files is the same as for flashcard imports, except without the // category specifiers: in other words, it's one entry per line, of the format characters<tab>Pinyin pronunciation<tab>definition.
Choose the correct text encoding for the file from the Text Encoding box - a screen will pop up to confirm the encoding is correct (showing you the decoded text) before the import begins.
Unsafe mode speeds up the import but at the cost of potentially corrupting your database if the import is interrupted while it's running (e.g. if Pleco is exited due to your system running low on memory), so we only recommend using it in a newly-created dictionary that you don't mind losing / having to re-create.
Tap Undo to delete any entries that were added to this dictionary during the last flashcard import. This applies both to imports perfomed through this screen and to Flashcard imports with the "Store imported definitions in user dict" option enabled. The system remembers every import you've done, so if you want to roll back the last three imports, just tap on Undo three times.
Tap Import... or Start to begin importing, or Exit / Cancel to exit and return to the Configure User Dictionary screen.
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Use this screen to dump the contents of a user dictionary to a text file.
On Palm OS, text files can only be stored on memory cards; choose the card you want to store the file on from the Card menu, and enter the path to the file (/folder/filename.txt) in the File Path box.
On Windows Mobile, you'll be prompted for the save location / file name after you tap on the Export... button.
Choose the desired text encoding for the file from the Text Encoding box - UTF-8 is the most universal format, so we recommend that unless you have a particular reason to choose another encoding.
Tap Export... or Start to begin exporting, or Exit / Cancel to exit and return to the Configure User Dictionary screen.
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