Boox · a guide
Your library on a Boox, without the fight.
A Boox runs Android, so it runs Tomen. Here is what that gets you today, which parts are free, and what the e-ink mode does for the panel.
A shelf that shows your covers
Add a folder of EPUBs and every book lands on the shelf with its cover, the embedded one or the cover file beside it. Sort by title, author, progress or the color of the cover. Nothing is uploaded; the files stay on the device.
The same Dropbox folder on every device
Point Tomen at the Dropbox folder your EPUBs live in and the whole shelf appears, on the Boox and on your phone, downloading a book only when you open it. The connection is read-only: Tomen never moves, changes or deletes a file. If that folder is a Calibre library, this guide covers it.
Your place follows you
Read on the Boox at home and the phone on the train. Reading position, highlights, notes, saved words, collections and settings sync through a Tomen account, with the last edit winning. Turning sync on changes nothing on either shelf; it only carries your reading between them.
Collections and a sort that respects metadata
Books carry their own title, author and series from the file. Open a series from any of its books and the run sits in reading order. Collections are yours to make and are part of Plus, and each one remembers its own sort: a collection made of a series opens in order. The sort, the shelf and the covers are free.
An e-ink mode, measured on a Boox
Under Settings › Appearance › Screen, E-ink mode redraws the interface for the panel: real borders where other apps use faint tints that vanish on e-ink, no shadows or frosted glass, firmer quiet text, the interface a third larger so labels clear the panel's size, and the one spinner that keeps turning elsewhere held still. Every number in it was measured on a Boox Go Color 7 rather than guessed. It works over any theme; when you switch it on, Tomen offers the Paper theme, which is drawn for the panel, and leaves the choice to you.
The Android app is on Google Play, and a Boox with the Play Store installs it like any phone. The web app also runs in the Boox browser, and the shelf you make there is the one the app signs into.
Open the reader Everything else Tomen does
Free to read. Tomen Plus is $49, once, with a 30-day trial and no card. Boox is a trademark of Onyx International; this page is not affiliated with them.