The Library moves into Sketchbook
Everything in the narrated library can now be browsed, read, listened to, edited, archived and deleted inside Sketchbook, with one player that keeps going in the background, and Android Auto for the whole library.
The request, on 15 October: “I want to move the library app into sketchbook as well now.” The library is a reading and listening service that narrates long documents so they can be heard on the phone. Until now it was a separate site and a separate phone app. From this release it is also a section of Sketchbook. The original library keeps running unchanged alongside it until Sketchbook has proved itself.
A Library section
The sidebar has a new Library row after Manuals. It opens on Continue listening and Recently added, then all six collections and a list of every document. There is a search, a filter for finished documents and drafts, and a switch to show archived ones. A document opens in Sketchbook’s own reading style, and each timed heading has a button to play from that point. It works the same on the web, the tablet and the phone.
Edit, archive and delete
Documents can be edited, archived, restored and deleted from Sketchbook.
- Editing the text of a narrated document saves a new copy with its own fresh narration, never a change in place, so old audio is never played against new words. The earlier copy keeps playing until the new narration is ready, and only then does an “Archive the earlier version” button appear.
- Archive keeps the audio, and Restore brings the document back.
- Delete keeps the text and drops the audio.
- Delete for good asks a second time, says in plain words that the file and audio are gone for good, and needs the word “delete” typed in.
These changes can only be made by a person pressing the buttons in Sketchbook. Claude can read the library but cannot change it from here.
One player for everything
Listening now goes through a single player, for library documents and for narrated notebook pages alike.
- On Android it runs as a proper background player: it keeps going when the page closes, with the screen off, and from the lock screen. Before this release, closing a page stopped the narration.
- A mini player sits on every screen, with a full-screen player behind it.
- Speeds run from 0.75 times to 2 times, and there is a sleep timer, set in minutes or to the end of the narration.
- Your place is kept and shared across devices, with Mark as listened and Start again.
- On Android, a document or a whole collection can be downloaded for listening with no signal, and the downloads survive a restart.
- On the web the player survives moving around the notebook and answers lock-screen and earbud controls.
Android Auto
In the car, Android Auto now offers Continue listening, Collections and All documents, beside the narrated notebook pages that were already there.
Kept private
The private journal stays out of the Library, as it stays out of everything else. A test checks every Library screen for it.
A fix found on the way
When a player paused, Sketchbook left the rest of the audio unread. After a few pauses, every other request to the library waited until it timed out. The narrated pages and the car player had the same hidden problem. Audio is now fetched in small pieces that are read straight away.
Not yet
Nothing in this release has been tried on a real phone, tablet or car yet. The web has no offline copy of library audio, the player follows sections rather than highlighting word by word, the car cannot change voice, and a failed narration cannot be retried from Sketchbook yet.