Preferences and Settings¶
Opening Settings¶
Mac Choose Alcove → Settings… or press ⌘,.
iPad Tap the ⚙ (gear) button at the bottom of the sidebar, then tap Settings.
General¶
Mac These options are in Settings → General.
iPad These options are in the General and Library sections of Settings.
| Setting | Description | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Close Library Manager after opening a library | Automatically dismisses the Library Manager when you open or create a library | Mac |
| Show status bar | Shows or hides the status strip at the bottom of the library window | iPad |
| Cover Size | Sets the size of cover thumbnails in the grid: Small, Medium, or Large | iPad |
Reader¶
Sets how Alcove's reader lays out books, and which app opens a book when you choose Book → Open in External App.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Page Layout | How the reader lays out a book: Single Page, Two Pages or Continuous. Changing the layout in the reader sets it for that book only. |
| Sync reading positions | On by default: in an iCloud library, your place in each book follows you to your other devices. Turn it off and this Mac keeps its own place in every book; it doesn't send where you are, and places from your other devices aren't applied. Each device has its own setting. |
| External EPUB Reader | The app Book → Open in External App uses for EPUB files. Alcove detects all EPUB-capable apps installed on your Mac. Choose System Default to defer to macOS, or Custom… to pick any app. |
| External PDF Reader | Same as above, for PDF files. If set to System Default, PDFs open in whatever macOS associates with PDF files (usually Preview). |
iPad Settings → Reader → Page Layout and Sync reading positions work as on the Mac. iOS does not let you set an external reader app: tap Open In in the detail panel and choose an app each time.
Import Formats¶
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Import PDF files | When off, PDF files are ignored during drag-and-drop and file picker imports |
| Import MOBI and AZW3 files | Also imports these files, converting them to EPUB; when off, they are ignored |
| Auto-tag fixed-layout books as Comics | When on, any EPUB that declares a fixed layout (comics, illustrated books, manga) is automatically tagged Comics on import. The tag can be removed or renamed at any time. On by default. |
| Capitalize English titles from lookups and cleanup | When on, English titles from Look Up Metadata are put in title case ("The catcher in the rye" becomes "The Catcher in the Rye"), and Clean Up Library offers the same fix for titles already in your library. Only words that are entirely lowercase change, so names and styling such as "iPhone" are kept, and titles in other languages are left as they are. On by default. |
| Check title and author when detecting duplicates | When on, Alcove also flags books with the same title and author as potential duplicates, even if the file content differs. Turn off if you intentionally keep multiple editions. |
EPUB is always enabled and cannot be turned off.
Covers¶
Cover preferences control how automatic cover searches work, both for single books and for bulk replacement.
Mac These options are in Settings → Covers.
iPad Tap Cover Sources & Search in the Covers section of Settings.
Source Order¶
Alcove searches Apple and Open Library for cover images, in that order unless you change it. With Alcove Plus, ISBNdb is searched too. Drag the sources into the order you prefer; earlier sources appear first in search results. Uncheck a source to stop searching it, or uncheck all of them to turn off online cover searches.
Several Books at Once¶
Controls what Replace Cover… does when several books are selected.
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Automatic | Selections of up to the number you set (5 by default) go one book at a time; larger selections open the review sheet for all of them at once. |
| Always Wizard | Always goes one book at a time. |
| Always Batch | Always opens the review sheet for all the books at once. |
Sidebar¶
Controls which sections appear in the sidebar and in what order.
Mac These options are in Settings → Sidebar.
iPad Tap Sidebar Sections in the Settings screen.
Each section (Reading Status, Format, Tags, Series, Ratings) can be hidden or shown individually. Library is always shown at the top and cannot be hidden or moved.
- Mac — drag the reorder handle (≡) on the right of each row to change the order; use the checkbox to hide or show a section. You can also right-click any section header in the sidebar and choose Hide [Section Name] directly.
- iPad — drag the reorder handle on the right to rearrange; use the toggle switch to hide or show a section.
Below the sections, turn Recently Opened and Recently Added on or off, and choose how many books each shows (5, 10 or 20). The same number sets how many books the Recent Books menus list.
Changes take effect immediately in the sidebar.
AI¶
Mac These options are in Settings → AI.
iPad These options are in the AI section of Settings.
These settings choose which AI model Alcove's AI tools use. Which model is used when, and what is sent, is on the AI Features page.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Use on-device AI only | Keeps book information on this device. AI tools use Apple Intelligence on the device, or your own model when it runs on this device (LM Studio or Ollama). Cloud providers, Private Cloud Compute, Alcove Plus's AI service, and servers elsewhere on your network aren't used. Off by default. |
| Prefer my own key | Shown when you have both Alcove Plus and your own provider. AI tools use your provider instead of Alcove Plus. Off by default. |
| Cloud AI (Bring Your Own Key) | Uses your own AI provider. Requires the one-time Cloud AI purchase; until then the section shows Unlock Cloud AI…, which opens the Store. |
Cloud AI¶
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Provider | Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI, Google Gemini or Groq; LM Studio or Ollama running on your own computer; or Custom… for any other server that works like OpenAI's (see custom and local models). |
| Base URL | For LM Studio, Ollama and Custom: where the server is. LM Studio and Ollama start with their usual address on this device; change it to use one on another computer. |
| API Key | Paste the key from your provider's website and click or tap Save. Local servers usually don't need one. Keys are stored in your iCloud Keychain, so your other devices have them too, and each provider keeps its own key. |
| Model | The models your provider offers, loaded once the key works; Refresh reloads the list. Alcove shows the model's context window, which sets how many books go in each request. |
| Test Connection | Checks the key and address, and reports how many models are available. |
| Remove Provider… | Forgets this provider's key, on all your devices, and its model. Keys for other providers stay. |
| Review Privacy Policy… | Shows what Alcove sends to a cloud provider, and links to that provider's privacy policy. |
The first time an AI tool sends book information to a cloud provider, Alcove explains what is sent and asks you to agree.
Diagnostics¶
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Send crash reports | When on, Alcove sends a report when it crashes, and a short note at each launch saying whether the last session ended normally. Reports never include your books or library content. On by default; a change takes effect the next time you open Alcove. |
| Send anonymous usage statistics | When on, Alcove sends anonymous counts of which features are used, with the app version and basic device details. No book titles, authors or library content are included; your library's size is sent only as a range, such as "51–100 books". On by default; a change takes effect the next time you open Alcove. |
| Report a Problem… | Opens the bug report form |
Maintenance¶
Reset Confirmation Dialogs — restores all confirmation sheets that were suppressed by checking "Don't ask again" (for example, the delete book confirmation). After resetting, Alcove will ask again the next time each action is performed.