Fora Reader v3   
dictionary reinvented   

Fora Dictionary for Android™

Fora Dictionary is an extendable multilingual dictionary application for Android devices.

Features

  • Suggestions
  • Multiple offline dictionary formats support (with built-in decompression on demand)
    • StarDict dictionaries
    • XDXF dictionaries
    • DICTD database dictionaries
    • Plain (tab-separated) dictionaries
  • Pre-configured packages (5)
  • Automated downloads (7)
  • DICT protocol support with supplementary features (on-line dictionaries)
  • Rich-text content support for definitions
  • Unified dictionary management for all types of dictionaries
    • Add
    • Remove
    • Enable/disable
    • Reorder
    • Assign color
    • Show information
    • Recommend
  • Multiple dictionary arrangements using profiles
  • Word history and navigation
  • Lookup via system clipboard
  • Pronunciation using TTS (requires Android 1.6 and higher)

Downloads

Name Application Version Source Notes
Fora Dictionary for Android ForaDictionary.apk 3.6 Free (ad-supported) main application
English Dictionary Package EnglishDictionary.apk 2.2 WordNet 3.0 Includes thesaurus.
May require relatively larger free phone memory when installing.
English Thesaurus Package EnglishThesaurus.apk 1.2 Grady Ward's Moby
English Pronunciations Package EnglishPronunciations.apk 1.2 Grady Ward's Moby Due to technical limitations, regular characters was used in place of phonetic symbols.
Computing Dictionary Package ComputingDictionary.apk 1.2 FOLDOC
World Factbook Package WorldFactbook.apk 1.0 The World Factbook 2009

Note: "Phone calls" permission is about a compatibility issue and completely irrelevant to the applications.

Instructions for adding packages

  1. Delete previous version(s) of the package, if any, using the Dictionary Manager.
  2. Install package application (note that some packages may require relatively larger free phone memory when installing).
  3. Extract the dictionary data and after successful extraction, uninstall package application to reclaim phone memory.
  4. Open the Dictionary Manager and select "Rescan storage" from menu to add the dictionary to the current profile.

Screenshots

User Guide

  • Long-pressing search button retrieves more suggestions.
  • Long-pressing speak button shows speak options.
  • If you activated lookup from clipboard, you must let Fora run in the background by using "Home" key to leave (not Back button).
  • Top-right corner of the window there is a busy icon indicating Fora is either loading dictionaries or looking up for definitions.

Remarks

  • Storage: Fora Dictionary requires an SD-card present. It creates a directory in the SD-card named ".fora" in which it stores all dictionary and configuration files.
  • Packages: You can add dictionaries using pre-configured dictionary packages. After extracting dictionary, you can safely uninstall the package application to reclaim phone memory.
  • Management from user interface: All dictionary management tasks (add, remove, organize) are made from the application's user interface (sometimes at the expense of some patience).
  • Sidebar: Sidebar allows you quickly visualize and navigate results.
  • Profiles: Fora Dictionary comes with a handy feature for power users. You can save and reuse complete dictionary arrangements as profiles.
  • Suggestions with spell-check: Suggestions retrieved from online (network) dictionaries contain not only words starting with the text entered, but also words that's found after spell checking.
  • Clipboard activation: If you need to lookup from other applications, for instance while reading something in the browser, you can copy the word to the clipboard while the application is running behind. Fora will send a notification for lookup results.
  • Configuration portability: The configuration directory (".fora") in the SD-card is completely portable. That is, you can share individual dictionaries or the whole ".fora" directory with friends. When you place a new dictionary copied from another configuration directory, Fora will recognize it when you select "Rescan storage" from the Dictionary Manager menu.

Uninstallation

Fora Dictionary stores settings and dictionary data separate from itself in the SD-card (best place to keep them).
Therefore, as a clean up after uninstalling the application, you will need to manually delete the ".fora" directory in the SD-card using your favorite file manager.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Q: Adding off-line (local) dictionaries (especially compressed ones) is slow.
A: For a desktop-class dictionary experience, Fora indexes all dictionaries in-depth.
Once indexing is completed, you can use profiles or enable/disable features of the dictionary manager to eliminate a re-indexing need.
Also, you can share individual dictionaries or the whole dictionary configuration with friends.

Q: What is "Fora Reader"?
A: Fora Reader is a versatile dictionary application for personal computers.
It employs a built-in browser for foreign reading and has some advanced features like hover-activation, cross-lookup etc.
Fora Dictionary is derived from Fora Reader while retaining as much feature & power as possible.

Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions.