Reading PDFs on E-ink, and why we built an E-ink mode
In short: Better PDF has an E-ink appearance for Boox, Dasung and Kindle Scribe style monitors: pure black on white, no shadows or animation, greys in four levels and whole-page turns. Press ⌥⌘E for E-ink reading, which changes only the page. It is free and remembered per display.
An e‑ink monitor next to a Mac is a calm place to read a long contract or a paper. The panel reflects light instead of shining it, and it does not flicker. But it is slow to refresh and has few shades of grey, and most Mac apps are drawn for bright, fast, glossy screens. Translucent sidebars turn to mud. Animations smear. A scroll leaves ghosts of the last page behind.
We wanted Better PDF to read well on these screens, so it has an appearance made for them.
What E-ink changes
Pure black on pure white. Every surface, from the title bar to the page, is black or white. There is no translucency, no shadow, no gradient and no hover tint. Borders are one black line.
No motion. Nothing fades or springs. Page changes jump, as if Reduce Motion were on.
Whole pages. The document shows one page at a time and turns whole pages with ← → and Page Up and Page Down. A partial scroll is the thing an e‑ink panel shows worst, so there is none.
Greys in four levels. Pages are drawn in greyscale quantised to four levels, with no dithering, so halftones and photos do not shimmer each time the panel refreshes.
Highlights you can still see. Colour is gone, so highlights become a grey band.
Glyphs drawn for ink. The app’s icons switch to their own ink pack, outlines in black, so they stay sharp on a coarse panel.
Two ways to turn it on
- View › Appearance › E-ink makes the whole app e‑ink.
- E-ink reading, ⌥⌘E, changes only the page and keeps your theme, the way night reading does.
They are exclusive with night reading: turning one on turns the other off.
Remembered per display
E-ink is an appearance, not a driver, so it works with any e‑ink monitor your Mac can drive. Better PDF remembers the appearance for each display. Drag the window to the e‑ink screen and it turns e‑ink; drag it back to your main display and it is as it was.
Why it matters to us
Better PDF started from a simple wish: the PDF app a Mac should have come with. Reading comes first in that. An appearance for e‑ink screens costs little to use and changes a lot for the people who read on them, so it is part of the free app, not Pro.
If you read on a Boox, a Dasung or a Kindle Scribe style monitor, download Better PDF and press ⌥⌘E. The details are in Help: Reading on an e‑ink screen.