Lyrics and reading along

Anansi Studio can show the words as you listen, in two ways:

Lyrics: the text carried inside the audiobook file. Lyrics can be plain text or timed line by line. Every audiobook the app makes from a document has timed lyrics, one line per sentence (or per paragraph).
Read along: the document a book was made from, with the sentence being read highlighted. For a PDF you see the real pages; for a Word or Markdown document, its text.

Both appear in the same follow-along panel.

Opening the follow-along panel

Narrow window: the player's third tab, Lyrics (or Read along for a book made from a document). More → Read along also opens it on the document.
Wide window: the Lyrics and Read along buttons at the top of the player open the panel over the middle pane, on that view. The button for the view that's showing is lit; click it again, or the close button in the panel, to close it.

When a book has both lyrics and a document, a Lyrics | Text switch at the top of the panel moves between the two without closing anything. The view you chose stays chosen while the app is open.

Lyrics

Timed lyrics

When the lyrics are timed:

The line being spoken is highlighted, and the list scrolls to keep it in view.
Tap any line to play from it.
In a book with chapters, chapter headings divide the lines, and the current chapter's title stays pinned at the top. Tap it to go back to the start of the chapter.

Plain lyrics

Lyrics without times are shown as text you can scroll. To time them, see Lyrics in the editor.

Paragraphs

For a book made from a document, where each line is a sentence, the Paragraphs switch at the top of the panel sets the lines as running prose, a paragraph at a time, with the sentence being heard highlighted inside it. Tapping any sentence still plays from it. The choice is remembered for all your books. Lyrics that don't say where paragraphs start, such as songs or .lrc files, look the same either way.

Footnotes

Where the document had footnotes, small raised markers appear in the text. Point at one with the mouse, or tap it, to read the note.

Lyrics offset

If the highlight runs ahead of or behind the voice, use the Lyrics offset control at the foot of the lyrics:

Lyrics earlier and Lyrics later shift every line by half a second.
The value between them shows the shift (for example +1.5s), or In sync when there is none. Tap the value to reset it.

The offset is kept with the book, is synced to your other devices, and is built into the timings when you share the book.

No lyrics

A book without lyrics shows No lyrics, with Add lyrics to open the lyrics editor.

Reading along with the document

Reading along is available for books made from a PDF, Word (.docx) or Markdown document, and for such books received from another device. Books made from EPUB or text files follow along in their lyrics instead.

A book made from a PDF

You see the PDF's own pages, with the sentence being read highlighted.

Follow: while this switch is on, the view moves with the narration, turning pages and keeping the current sentence in the middle. Scroll or zoom freely; to stop the view moving, turn Follow off. Turn it back on to return to the current sentence.
Tap a sentence to play from it.
Zoom with a pinch on a touch screen or trackpad. While the page fits the width, dragging only scrolls up and down; once you zoom in further you can move in any direction. Zooming doesn't turn Follow off.
Go to page: tap the page number at the top, then type a page number or the label printed on the page (such as xii).
Go shows that page and turns Follow off.
Read from here plays from the first sentence on that page and turns Follow back on.

The app keeps its own copy of the PDF with the book, so moving or deleting your original makes no difference. If that copy is ever missing (after restoring a backup made without its files, for example), the panel says Can't read along and offers Re-link document: choose the PDF and reading along works as before.

A book made from a Word or Markdown document

You see the text of the document, chapter by chapter and paragraph by paragraph, with the sentence being read highlighted and kept in view. Tap any sentence to play from it. These books keep their own copy of the text, so they never need the document.

While a book is still being made

You can read along with a book that is still being made. Text that hasn't been narrated yet is shown but not highlighted. Tapping it says That part has not been narrated yet, until it is. New chapters become available as they are finished, without reopening anything.

Full screen

The full-screen button at the top of the panel shows the lyrics or the document edge to edge, with a compact set of controls along the bottom: previous chapter, play and pause, next chapter, the chapter menu, the progress bar and the speed. The Lyrics | Text switch and the Paragraphs switch stay at the top.

To leave full screen, use the exit button, the back gesture or Esc. Space still plays and pauses.

Phone and tablet: the status and navigation bars are hidden while in full screen; swipe in from the edge to see them for a moment.

Desktop: full screen fills the app's window; it doesn't change the size of the window.