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Searching for Content in Kobo

Last updated: April 24, 2023

The search button is at the top of the screen. It is easiest to identify while on the “Home,” “Ebooks,” or “Audiobooks” tabs. VoiceOver reads it as “Toolbar Search” button on these tabs, whereas the “Kobo Plus” tab has no label. Double-tap it to bring up the search field.

Searching will return results based on title, author, audiobook narrator, and series. This means you can use search to find a specific book you know the title of, books by an author you like, audiobooks narrated by a narrator you enjoy, or books belonging to a specific series. There is no way to tell what kind of search you want to perform, so you might have to navigate past some irrelevant results. The filtering and sorting options available when searching on the Kobo website aren’t in the app, making the search less precise. It’s recommended to be as specific as possible when typing keywords to find what you’re looking for efficiently.

Search results update automatically as you type, so you don’t need to tap a search button when you’re done typing. Once you're done typing, the quickest way to locate results is to explore the top half of the screen manually. Once you locate the search field or a search result, you can continue exploring or start swiping to navigate through the available results.

You can double-tap any search result in the list to open its details screen, showing more information about that book, including the synopsis. If a book is available with the “Kobo Plus” subscription, there will be an “Add Plus” button towards the right edge of the screen next to the book’s title, which also can be located by swiping right from the book’s title. The details screen for a book will have a button to add it so that you can do it from either screen. Note that if a book is not part of the “Kobo Plus” subscription, you’ll have to use the Kobo website to purchase it because the app doesn’t support purchasing books.

Searching will always look for both ebooks and audiobooks; tapping the search button on the “Ebooks” or “Audiobooks” tabs won’t let you search for only that type of book. Each search result doesn’t directly identify if it is an ebook or audiobook, but you can determine this based on if it lists an author or narrator. An author indicates it’s an ebook, and a narrator indicates it’s an audiobook. Unfortunately, audiobook search results don’t list the author, so you’ll have to open the details screen to check the author and verify that it’s the book you want.

 


Demonstration. Searching for content in Kobo using VoiceOver.

Instructions Summary

  1. Make sure you’re on the “Home,” “Ebooks,” or “Audiobooks” tab.
  2. Double-tap the “Toolbar Search” button near the top of the screen.
  3. Type all or part of a book title, author, narrator, or series name into the search field.
  4. Explore the screen to locate search results, and browse them by exploring the screen or swiping through them.
  5. If you want to know more about a book, double-tap it.
  6. If a book is available with “Kobo Plus” and you want it, double tap the “Add Plus” button next to its search result or the “Add To My Books” button on its details screen.

Related Tutorial Pages

  1. Using the Kobo Books app for iOS with VoiceOver
  2. Accessing Kobo
  3. Browsing for Content
  4. Reading Ebooks
  5. Reading Audiobooks
  6. Browsing your Bookshelf