Add dictionaries¶

Copy into a dictionary folder¶

Copy every file of the dictionary into one of the dictionary folders (DICT_DIR), e.g. Oxford.mdx and Oxford.mdd; Formats lists the files of each format. Subfolders are read. Then ☰ → folder summary → Rescan folders.

Import a file or a link¶

On the setup page (☰ → folder summary → Edit folders…), under Add dictionaries:

• Choose a file…, or drop a file: a dictionary file, or a .zip or .7z archive.

• Paste or drop a link, then Download. A link may point to:

  • a dictionary file or an archive;
  • a web folder page that lists dictionary files;
  • a text file listing links or file names, one per line;
  • a Nextcloud public share folder (Nextcloud 29 or later);
  • a share link.

  Several links can be pasted at once.

DictShelf lists the dictionaries found: the files of one dictionary (.mdx and .mdd, .ifo and its companions) form one entry, and an entry shows whether it is already installed or needs a file that is missing. Tick the ones you want and click Install. They are installed into the first dictionary folder.

After an import from an archive, the archive is kept or deleted according to IMPORT_KEEP; with the default, ask, the Keep afterwards checkbox decides. A failed import keeps the archive.

Links must be https:// and point to public hosts, unless IMPORT_INSECURE is set. IMPORT_URL_HOSTS restricts the hosts. A folder page or list may name up to 500 files.

Share links¶

A share link is any address with the link to a dictionary, an archive or a collection after #:

https://dictshelf.com/share/#https://example.org/dicts/oxford.zip

The part after # is the dictionary; the page in front of it is only where a browser goes when DictShelf does not open the link, and a browser never sends the fragment to a server - so any page can carry one, and the page needs to know nothing about dictionaries. A single leading slash is short for a path on the sharing site itself (#/dict/x/), and several links may follow the #, separated by a comma, a semicolon, a bar or a space.

On Android with DictShelf installed, opening such a link starts the import in the app; elsewhere, paste it on the setup page. Share a dictionary keeps the one address a link can carry, and anyone can use any other page.

Android¶

See Android app → Add dictionaries.

The DictShelf howto as a file¶

Put the DictShelf howto in this folder, on the setup page, writes the howto guide as a wudict markdown file into the dictionary folder. Edit it in a text editor, then Rescan folders.