Skip to content
KimochiDocs

Quick start

This assumes you have installed Kimochi and gone through the welcome guide. Everything you need is in the main window’s sidebar:

The sidebar with callouts: 1 live preview of your game, 2 crop to the dialogue, 3 scan once, 4 Auto OCR scans whenever text changes, 5 Show overlay draws the text over the game, 6 the OCR engine, 7 the pop-up dictionary.The sidebar with callouts: 1 live preview of your game, 2 crop to the dialogue, 3 scan once, 4 Auto OCR scans whenever text changes, 5 Show overlay draws the text over the game, 6 the OCR engine, 7 the pop-up dictionary.

  1. Choose a source. Start your game, then in Kimochi’s sidebar choose Choose a source (or Change source once one is set) → Window or screen, and pick the game’s window.

    The source picker: Screens and App windows, each with a live thumbnail, the current one badged Current.The source picker: Screens and App windows, each with a live thumbnail, the current one badged Current.

  2. Crop to the dialogue (optional). Crop area → Set crop area… lets you draw a box around the text box, so menus and other text are left out. See Sources and crop.

  3. Scan. Press Scan now in the sidebar, or the Scan shortcut from anywhere: ⇧⌘8 on a Mac, Ctrl+Shift+8 on Windows and Linux. The text appears as a new line in the Log.

    The sidebar with the Scan now button highlighted, showing its shortcut.The sidebar with the Scan now button highlighted, showing its shortcut.

  4. Or let it scan for you. Turn on Auto OCR: Kimochi watches the source and reads it each time the text changes and settles. See Auto OCR.

  5. Look up a word. Hold Shift and hover a word in the Log to see its meaning. Turn on Show overlay to draw the text over the game and hover words right there.

    Words boxed over a visual novel's dialogue, with a dictionary pop-up under the cursor.Words boxed over a visual novel's dialogue, with a dictionary pop-up under the cursor.

  6. Keep reading. Every line stays in the Log for this game’s session, with your reading time and speed in the footer.

Next

Section titled “Next”

Made with ❤️ in Canada · © 2026 Kimochi