Getting started
To install Lampka, run the Lampka-Setup file from the download section; it installs just for you, with no administrator rights. Lampka is code-signed; if your browser or Windows still warns about it (likely while Lampka is new), see what to do when Windows warns you.
Open a PDF with File > Open (Ctrl+O), by dragging it onto the window, or by double-clicking it in Explorer. Lampka keeps one window: if it's already running, a PDF you open from Explorer appears in that window.
Every document you read goes into your library, the first tab of the sidebar (Ctrl+Shift+L shows or hides the sidebar). It shows the page you're on and how far through you are. Click a document to switch to it. To take one off the list, right-click it and choose Remove from library; if it's the one you have open, it closes too. Lampka recognises a document by its contents, so your place, highlights and notes survive renaming or moving the file. File > Open recent lists the latest ones.
Lampka only reads your PDFs. It never changes them: highlights, notes, bookmarks and turned pages are kept in Lampka's own folder on your computer.
Finding your way around
Scroll with the wheel, the scroll bar, the arrow keys or PgUp and PgDn. Home and End go to the first and last page. For an exact page, press Ctrl+L or type into the page box on the toolbar.
Page numbers that match the print
Many reports, books and court bundles number their pages differently from the PDF (i, ii, iii, then 1, 2, 3, or A-14). Lampka shows and accepts the document's own page labels wherever pages are named, so "see page xii" takes you to the right page.
Zoom and layout
- Fit width (Ctrl+0) fills the window with the page width; Fit page (Ctrl+2) shows one whole page, and PgUp/PgDn then flip exactly one page. Actual size is Ctrl+1; zoom with Ctrl++, Ctrl+-, or Ctrl and the mouse wheel.
- Two pages (Ctrl+Shift+2) shows facing pages like an open book, and Page Down turns a whole spread. View > Cover page on its own keeps the first page by itself, as in a printed book.
- Full screen is F11.
- Turn page (View > Turn page, or Ctrl+Shift+→ / ←) rotates a sideways table or scan for reading. It's remembered for that document and never changes the PDF.
Contents, Back and Forward
The Contents tab of the sidebar shows the document's chapters and follows along as you read. After you follow a link, Alt+← (or the mouse's Back button) takes you straight back to where you were, and Alt+→ goes forward again.
Page numbers in an index
In the document's own index or contents, click a page number to go to that page, for example the 14 in "Bennet, Elizabeth, 3, 14–16". It follows the document's page labels, or the numbers printed on its pages. This is part of the free version.
Reading comfortably
Themes
Open the Appearance panel with Ctrl+Shift+A (or the toolbar button). Choose Day, Sepia, Dusk, Night, Midnight or Amber, or Custom to pick your own text and background colours. Text and paper change colour while photos, diagrams and coloured drawings keep theirs (switch this off with Keep pictures and coloured drawings in original colours). Make dark pages match the theme too recolours pages that were designed dark, so nothing flashes bright at night.
Brightness and contrast are remembered separately for each theme, so night can be dimmer than day. Reset puts a theme back.
Your own themes, saved and shared
Made colours you like? Click Themes next to the theme list in the Appearance panel:
- Save these colours as a theme… gives them a name. The theme joins the list, with its brightness and contrast, and you can use it like any other, including for evening mode.
- Share “…” as a file… saves the current theme as a small
.lampkathemefile you can email or post. Share all my themes… puts every theme you've saved in one file. - Add themes from a file… adds themes someone sent you. They never replace your own or the built-in themes: if a name is already taken, the new one gets a number.
- Delete theme… removes one of your saved themes.
A theme file contains only a name and colours, nothing else about you.
Evening mode
Edit > Options > Reading lets you pick a day theme and a night theme and switch between them automatically at set times. The Day / Night button (Ctrl+D) switches by hand.
Around the page Pro
In the Appearance panel you can set the colour around the page, and choose a plain colour, dots, grid, diagonal lines or linen. Plain colours are free; the patterns are part of Lampka Pro.
The reading ruler
The ruler (Ctrl+R, or the Ruler button) marks the line you're reading, so dense pages are easier to follow. Choose a band across the line or line focus, which dims everything else, and whether it covers 1, 2 or 3 lines (Edit > Options > Reading, or View > Ruler style). Esc turns it off.
- Follows the mouse (the default): the ruler goes where the pointer is, and ↑ / ↓ move it a line at a time, carrying on to the next page.
- Stays in one place: the ruler keeps its position in the window and ↑ / ↓ scroll the page a line at a time underneath it, like a teleprompter. Scrolling with the wheel moves the text under the ruler too. Choose this under Position in the same Options page.
While Lampka reads aloud, the ruler follows the voice either way.
Finding text
Press Ctrl+F and type: every match lights up, with a count as you step through them with F3 (next) and Shift+F3 (previous). To copy text, drag across it (even across pages), double-click a word or triple-click a paragraph, then press Ctrl+C.
Scanned pages are pictures, so they have no text to find or copy. Lampka tells you when a page has no selectable text.
Links, citations and split view
Click a link to follow it; Alt+← brings you back. Web and email links open in your browser (hover to see the address first); Lampka never follows links that would open files or run programs.
Citation, figure and link previews Pro
Hover over a citation like [12], a figure reference or an internal link to see where it leads, in a small card, without leaving your page. Click the card, or the link, to go there. Turn previews off in Edit > Options > General.
Split view Pro
Ctrl+\ shows the same document in two panes: the text beside its footnotes, references or exhibits. Each pane scrolls on its own, and links in the main pane can open in the other one.
Highlights, notes and bookmarks
Bookmarks
Ctrl+B bookmarks the page you're on, with a title and an optional note. Bookmarks are free and appear in the Notes tab of the sidebar and as a small ribbon on the page.
Highlighter Pro
Turn on the highlighter (Ctrl+Shift+H) and drag over text to highlight it. Alt+drag highlights an area, for example on a scan. Pick one of five colours from the arrow beside the button. Select text first and use Edit > Highlight selection to highlight without switching the highlighter on. Esc stops highlighting, and Ctrl+Z undoes the last highlight.
Right-click a highlight to add or edit a note, change its colour, or remove it. Everything you've made collects in the Notes tab, where a click takes you to the place. Highlights live in Lampka, not in the PDF.
Export Pro
File > Export highlights & notes… (or Export… in the Notes tab) saves your highlights, notes, bookmarks and the PDF's own comments as a tidy Markdown file for your study notes.
Comments already in the PDF
Lampka shows the comments and replies other people left in a PDF. Hover over one to read it. They're read-only, and you can hide them with View > Show the PDF's own annotations.
Listening
Read aloud Pro (Ctrl+Shift+R) reads the document with your computer's own voices, offline. It follows along sentence by sentence, can skip headers, footers, page numbers and citation numbers (Edit > Options > Reading), and remembers where you stopped listening, separately from where you were reading.
A bar appears with play, pause, a speed control and a choice of voice. Right-click text and choose Read aloud from here to start from a particular place, or from the selection. Switch off the highlighter and ruler if you'd rather listen with a clear page; with the ruler on, it follows the voice.
Lampka uses the voices installed on your computer, so the choice depends on your Windows setup. Nothing you listen to leaves your computer.
Your library, settings and other computers
Backing up and moving
File > Export settings… saves your settings, library positions and notes as one file. Import settings… on another computer brings them in (you choose what to include, and by default newer items win). It's also a good backup.
Sync Pro
In Edit > Options > Sync, choose a folder inside your own OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox. Lampka keeps reading and listening positions, highlights, notes and preferences in step between your computers through that folder. Nothing goes through Lampka's servers, because there aren't any.
Keep your PDFs in your own cloud storage. Sync carries your progress, notes and settings, not the PDFs themselves. Put your PDFs in your OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox (for example in a Books folder) and Lampka finds them on each computer, even when the paths differ. It recognises a PDF by its content, so a renamed or moved copy still picks up where you left off.
New versions
On the third day you use Lampka, it asks whether you'd like to hear about new versions. If you say yes, it checks lampka.app once a day. When a new version is out, a small New version on lampka.app badge appears in the status bar; click it to go to the download page. You can turn this on or off any time in Edit > Options > General, and Help > Check for a new version checks straight away. The check sends nothing about you or your reading; the privacy policy has the details.
Printing
File > Print… (Ctrl+P) prints in your reading colours, fitted and turned to the paper. In Edit > Options > General you can choose whether your own highlights and the PDF's comments are printed.
Protected PDFs
A PDF that needs a password asks for it when you open it. Some PDFs don't allow printing or copying text. Lampka respects that, so Print or Copy is greyed out for them, and exporting your notes from a PDF that doesn't allow copying leaves out its highlighted text.
Free, trial and Pro
Lampka is free for reading. Lampka Pro is a one-time purchase for the study and listening tools: citation previews, split view, read aloud, the highlighter with notes and export, sync, and desk patterns. It covers every 1.x version, on all the computers you use. The pricing section has the current list and price.
- The trial. Every new install includes 14 days of Pro. The status bar shows the days left. Afterwards Lampka stays free for reading, and your highlights and notes stay visible.
- Which buttons are Pro? A small PRO mark sits on them. It's grey during the trial and the beta, gold on the free version, and gone once you're a Pro owner.
- Entering your key. After buying, paste your licence key into Help > Enter licence key…. Lampka checks it on your computer without going online, and About then shows who it's licensed to.
- Beta builds. Each beta build works fully for 90 days from the day it was made; a newer beta gives you another 90. Nothing you made is deleted when one ends.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+O | Open a PDF |
| Ctrl+P | |
| Ctrl+F, F3, Shift+F3 | Find, next match, previous match |
| Ctrl+L | Go to a page |
| Home, End, PgUp, PgDn | First page, last page, up, down |
| ←, → | Previous page, next page |
| Alt+←, Alt+→ | Back and forward after following a link |
| Ctrl++, Ctrl+- | Zoom in, zoom out |
| Ctrl+1, Ctrl+0, Ctrl+2 | Actual size, fit width, fit page |
| Ctrl+Shift+2 | Two pages |
| Ctrl+Shift+→ / ← | Turn the page clockwise / counter-clockwise |
| F11 | Full screen |
| Ctrl+D | Day / Night |
| Ctrl+Shift+A | Appearance panel |
| Ctrl+Shift+L | Show or hide the sidebar |
| Ctrl+R, ↑ ↓, Esc | Reading ruler on, move it (or scroll under it) a line, off |
| Ctrl+B | Bookmark this page |
| Ctrl+Shift+H, Ctrl+Z | Highlighter, undo the last highlight Pro |
| Ctrl+Shift+R | Read aloud Pro |
| Ctrl+\ | Split view Pro |
| Ctrl+C, Ctrl+A | Copy, select all text on the page |
| Ctrl+, | Options |
When something goes wrong
Lampka is built so that a problem in one place doesn't take the whole program down. You'll see a short message about what happened, and your work stays safe while Lampka carries on. If it ever closes unexpectedly, it explains at the next start and doesn't reopen the document that may have caused it.
To tell me about a problem, an idea or anything confusing, choose Help > Send feedback…. It opens an email with some technical details, which you can read and change before sending. It never includes file names. After a crash, the report also lists the last few things Lampka did, from a small activity log on your computer (with no file names). If I ask for more, Show log file finds that log. You can also write to support@lampka.app. Everyone's feedback and bug reports are read; Lampka Pro owners also get a personal reply by email.
Questions about buying or refunds are answered in the terms, and privacy in the privacy policy.