Downloads
Frequently Asked Question about Downloads.
How do I download multiple chapters or series at the same time?
Two settings in control this for manga, and both start conservative on purpose: hammering a source is how you get your IP banned from it.
- Concurrent source downloads is how many sources are worked at once, five by default.
- Concurrent page downloads is how many pages are pulled at once from each of them.
Raise the second one only for a source you know tolerates it. A source that starts returning errors or blank pages under load is telling you to put it back.
Light novels ignore both settings: their queue downloads one chapter at a time, with a pause between chapters that you set under Pacing · Novels.
How do I slow novel downloads down?
Novel sources do not limit their own request rate the way manga extensions do, so a fast queue can get you blocked. The Pacing · Novels group in sets the wait between novel chapter downloads. It has no effect on manga.
- Delay between chapters applies to every novel source. It defaults to 0.5 s, and goes up to 10 s.
- Delay per source lists your novel sources so you can give one its own delay. A source that declares a minimum shows Needs at least that much, and its choices never go below it.
The wait also adjusts by itself: after a failed chapter it doubles, up to 30 seconds, and after a successful one it drops back towards your setting.
Why did my downloads stop midway?
Downloads stopping midway may be related to network connection issues or source problems. Reikai will provide notifications regarding encountered errors during download attempts.
Why can't I see my downloads?
Downloads might not be detected due to multiple factors:
- Inaccessibility of the download location.
Ensure the SD card is properly detected if in use.
- Source name changes.
Rename the source's folder to match the new name. Light novel folders use the source's id, so a renamed novel source needs nothing.
- Series title modified by the source.
Adjust the folder title to the updated name.
How do I manage what's downloading?
Navigate to to interact with queued downloads.
Manga and light novels share one list, with one card per series. While both types are queued, each card carries a badge saying which it is.
- The Pause / Resume button pauses or resumes every download, manga and novels together.
- Sort is an icon in the toolbar. It orders the chapters inside each series by chapter number or upload date; tap the same option again to reverse it.
- Cancel all is in the overflow beside it and clears the whole queue.
- Drag a card by its handle to move that series above or below any other, or use its Move to top and Move to bottom buttons. Cancel on a card drops that series.
Tap a card to open the series' chapters in download order. Each row shows its progress, Queued, or why it failed, and has three buttons: Start downloading now (Retry on a failed chapter), Move to bottom and Cancel. Show entry at the top opens the series' page.
How do I find or remove one series' downloads?
Open the series and its . Two entries show there while the series has downloaded chapters and its source is installed:
- Open folder opens the series' download folder in a file manager app.
- Clear downloads deletes every downloaded chapter of the series. Your progress, bookmarks and history stay.
On a merged series, both follow the source you are viewing. On All, Clear downloads covers the whole group, while Open folder opens one folder: the series you opened if it has downloads, otherwise the first source in the group that does. If you opened a merged series through a source you have since uninstalled, both still show on All as long as another source in the group is installed.
Can I search the text of a downloaded novel?
Yes. On a novel's page, open and tap Search downloaded chapters, which shows there while the novel has downloaded chapters and its source is installed. It searches every downloaded chapter, showing each match in context, and tapping a result opens that chapter in the reader. Find with a pattern, Whole words only and Match case narrow the search. Only downloaded chapters are searched. The novel reader guide walks through it.
Word count in the same menu counts the words in the downloaded chapters: the total, the words per chapter, and a density from 1 to 10 for how long the chapters run.
Both are for light novels only.
Can I use both internal storage and external SD card storage?
No, you must choose a single location. Internal storage performs better than external SD cards.
Why does my device photo gallery contain series pages?
Reikai typically prevents series pages in downloads from appearing in your device's photo gallery by default through a .nomedia file. However, in some cases, this might not function as intended.
A quick solution is to create the .nomedia file yourself, name it as such, and place it in your downloads folder. If the issue pertains to local source, put the .nomedia file in the respective local folder.
How are downloads organized on the filesystem?
They are stored as downloads/Source Name (LANG)/Manga Name/Chapter Name_abcdef.cbz, where the six characters after the underscore are a hash of the chapter's address. Light novels use a folder of their own, novel_downloads/Source id/Novel Name/, with each chapter saved as Chapter Name_abcdef.html. The source folder is named after the source's id, not its display name: a plugin's id, or for a novel extension app tachiyomi_ or ireader_ followed by the source's number. The abcdef string is the first 6 hexadecimal digits of the MD5 hash of the URL of the chapter, so that if two chapters have the same name, they won't try to write to the same filename. Enable chapter name hash suffix in decides whether chapter names carry it, for manga and novels alike. It is off on a fresh install and stays on for an install that had it before. With it off, only the first of two chapters that share a name can be downloaded; the other counts as downloaded and opens that one's copy. For a manga chapter with a scanlator, it is Scanlator Name_Chapter Name instead of just Chapter Name. Novel chapters never carry a scanlator prefix.
Because of the prevalence of operating systems like Windows which have arbitrary limitations on special characters in filenames, by default Reikai will avoid using certain characters in filenames, specifically: "*:<>?\|. Of course, / is also banned. All of these characters are replaced by underscores if they appear in source, manga, chapter, or scanlator names.
Some users have reported using exceptionally buggy operating systems which also have problems with other Unicode characters, such as (but not necessarily limited to) emojis. If you must use Reikai with such an operating system, turn on Disallow non-ASCII filenames in , which keeps any non-ASCII character out of a filename. Such characters will be replaced with their hexadecimal representations instead. The special characters mentioned above are still replaced with underscores, if present, rather than hexadecimal.
None of the above considerations affect the way series and chapters are displayed in Reikai, which is based on their metadata rather than filenames. Because the local source reads comic metadata files, if present, its functioning is also not affected by filename changes if you convert an external source download directory into a local source directory.
If you change that setting after downloading anything, you may need to do some manual work so Reikai can still find those downloads. Chapter filenames do not need to be changed, as Reikai is able to check multiple options for a chapter filename, and will find the already-downloaded chapters. Series and source directory names, for manga and light novels alike, however, need to be updated manually if they contain non-ASCII characters. Here is an example:
./例 ソース (ALL)/最高のマンガ！/Scanlator Name_始まり_182cce.cbz
./e4be8b20e382bde383bce382b9 (ALL)/e69c80e9ab98e381aee3839ee383b3e382acefbc81/Scanlator Name_e5a78be381bee3828a_182cce.cbzThe inability for a device to handle Unicode characters in filenames is a bug. Please consider contacting your device or operating system vendor to report this, or consider using a standards-compliant device in future, if possible.
A download keeps failing. Is that a bug in Reikai?
Usually not. See a download keeps failing in the troubleshooting guide.