Built-in tools

Plover has some useful tools that can show information while you're using it, or to make changes to its configuration or to the dictionaries. Here's a list of some of them. A list of tools you can turn on is shown in the toolbar at the top of Plover's main window.

Configure Plover
The configuration window is used to change settings such as:


 * Which keys on the keyboard are mapped to which virtual keys in the steno system
 * Whether the first word written after starting Plover is capitalized
 * Whether it has a space before it
 * ... and more

Paper tape
Shows the stroke history so you can see what you've written since opening the paper tape. Useful to see which keys Plover thinks you're pressing. This feature can be set to open when Plover starts by opening the configuration window and checking show paper tape in the interface tab.

Stroke suggestions
When you write words, this tool can look up the words you write and show how they can be written. Like the paper tape, it doesn't show words written before you write them, and it scrolls automatically every time a word is added. You can set it to open when Plover starts by checking show suggestions in the interface tab of the configuration window.

Lookup tool
A window with two text fields, one that you can write words in, and one that will show strokes that translate to those words. It looks in the set of active dictionaries, and doesn't show which dictionaries each entry is found in. For a more general tool that can also look up strokes and translations, see the.

Plugins manager
The plugins manager lets you install plugins. In the top of its window, there's a list of plugins. To install any of them, first select the tool and then click Install/Update. To uninstall a plugin, select it and click Uninstall. You will need to restart for these changes to take effect.

Main window
The main window can be used for the following tasks:
 * 1) Select the type of machine
 * 2) Reconnect the machine
 * 3) Enable and disable output
 * 4) See the list of dictionaries and manage them
 * 5) Manage dictionaries using the toolbar
 * 6) Use other tools from the top toolbar

Dictionaries list
This shows the list of dictionaries that have been added to Plover. Dictionaries closer to the top have higher priorities, meaning if the same input is mapped to different outputs in different dictionaries, the one higher up is used. For each dictionary, the following information is shown:


 * A number that shows the priority. Lower numbers mean higher priorities
 * A padlock symbol means that the dictionary can be read from but not written to by Plover
 * A star symbol means this is the default dictionary for new entries
 * A checkbox to enable and disable the dictionary
 * The name of the dictionary
 * Dictionaries highlighted in blue are selected. You can select dictionaries by clicking on their name, and you can select multiple dictionaries by using Ctrl on all the other dictionaries you want to select, or Shift to select all the dictionaries between the first dictionary you selected and the one you click.

Below the list of dictionaries, there are buttons to do the following actions.

There are also some actions available when you right click the dictionary list.
 * Undo the last dictionary adding, deleting or reordering operation
 * Use the on the selected dictionaries. It can edit and remove entries in the dictionaries and can also be used to look up what strokes or translations are mapped to. When it shows dictionary entries, it also shows which dictionaries they are in
 * Remove a dictionary from the list
 * Add a dictionary to the list
 * Open the to add an entry to the selected dictionary
 * Move the selected dictionaries up in priority
 * Move the selected dictionaries down in priority

Dictionary editor
The dictionary editor can be used to to look up strokes and translations in dictionaries, and to edit or remove those entries. In the top of the window, there are two filter fields and below them is a list of dictionary entries.

At first, the list shows all entries in the dictionaries. To only show some of them, type something into the filter fields and click apply. Then the list will be filtered. To get entries with particular strokes, use the filter by strokes field. And to get entries that map to translations containing specific words, use the filter by translation field.

The strokes and translations on the list are editable.

Below the list are three buttons:


 * Undo last action
 * Remove selected entry/entries
 * Add a new entry

Add translation dialog
A dialog to add an entry to a dictionary. It has three fields:


 * Which dictionary to add an entry to
 * The strokes to write the entry. Below this field you should see if those strokes are already mapped to anything in enabled dictionaries
 * What they should translate to. Below this field you should see any strokes already mapped to the translation.
 * A cancel button that closes the dialog
 * An okay button that adds the entry and closes the dialog