Using

Getting Started
After you have started (using the panel menu, or by typing kdict at the command prompt) the main window shows up:
Starting
The main window.
The main window.
There are two different methods to lookup a word or phrase with . You can use a define query. will look for exact matches in the databases and displays all matching definitions in the lower left view. Or you can use a match query, in this case all matching database entries will be displayed in the list view on the right side. You can then decide what definitions you want to look at. This method has the advantage that you can use more sophisticated search strategies like prefix, suffix or regular expressions.

Configuring the DICT server
Before you can make your first query, you have to check if the preset server settings work with your setup. You can modify the settings in the preferences dialog. The preset server is dict.org, which is a public server, so you don't have to change anything if you have a working internet connection.
You can test your configuration by selecting Server Information from the Server menu, this displays some status information about the server.
Now you should use Server Get Capabilities, this will fetch a list of all available databases and strategies from the server. is now able to show you all features of the server in its menus. (You should always call Get Capabilities after switching to a new server)

Basic Queries: Define
A define query will search for words/phrases in the selected database(s) that match the given text exactly. The definitions belonging to these words are displayed in the main view. If the server finds nothing suitable, will use a search strategy optimized for spell checking to display a list of of similar words.
In most databases some words (especially synonyms) are marked with brackets {}. These words are highlighted and by clicking on them with the left mouse button you start an new define-query with this word.
You can select a part of the text with the mouse button. The selection is automatically copied into the clipboard. This is very convient, because you can use the mouse button anywhere in the main view to define the content of the clipboard. So, if you want to get a definition for a word/phrase that is not tagged as synonym, you just mark it with the mouse button and get the definition when you press the mouse button.
The mouse button shows a popup menu, where you can choose to start queries with the selected text, the clipboard or the tagged synonym under the mouse pointer. The menu has also two entries Back and Forward. You can use them to browse through the results of previous queries.

Advanced Queries: Match
A match query uses the currently selected search strategy (the strategy selector is is located above the match list) to search in the selected database(s) for words similar to the given text. The result is a list of similar words that appears in the match list on the right. The entrys are grouped according to the database they belong to. Now you have multiple options:
You can use the Get All button (located below the match list) to fetch all definitions. Please note that the number of listed words and fetched definitions may differ, because in some cases two or more words share one definition and removes the duplicated definitions.
You can use the mouse or the keyboard to select the most interesting words in the list and then press the Get Selected button (located below the match list) to fetch only them. If you want to get all definitions from one database just select the list item which contains the database name.
When you press Enter (keyboard) or double click (mouse) on a list item, will ignore the selection and fetch the definition for this item. When you do this with a root item (an item that contains the database name), you will get all definitions belonging to this database.
You can use one of the words as a starting point for a new query, this is done via the popup menu ( mouse button).
A click with the mouse button anywhere in the list will start a new match query with the content of the clipboard (similar to the main view).
The mouse button calls the popup menu for a list item, which has the following entries:
Get 	Shows the definition for the current item.
Match, Define 	Starts a match/define query with the current item.
Match Clipboard Content, Define Clipboard Content 	Starts a match/define query with the current content of the clipboard.
Get Selected, Get All 	Same functions as the buttons below the list.
Expand List, Collapse List 	(Un)folds all databases.

Database Sets
Sometimes it's useful to restrict a query to a subset of the available databases, for example all english-german dictionaries. This is achieved by defining database sets. These sets appear in the database selector as virtual databases.
You can access the configuration dialog via Server Edit Database Sets or the toolbar icon.
Editing database sets
The database set editor.
The database set editor.
The dialog has the following elements:
Set 	You must use this selector to select the set you want to modify. You can also rename a set here by entering a new name and pressing the Save button.
Save 	Saves changes you made in the current set. You must use this button before you select another set or leave the dialog, because otherwise all changes will be lost.
New 	This button creates a new database set.
Delete 	Deletes the currently selected set.
Close 	Closes the dialog without saving your changes.
The two lists (Selected Databases and Available Databases) show which databases are currently in the database set. You can use the arrow buttons between the lists to transfer items from one list to another.
By the way, you can leave this configuration dialog open and continue your work with . This is a nice way to test your changes immediately.

Preferences
You can modify many aspects of 's behavior in the preferences dialog. The dialog can be opened via Settings Configure Kdict or the the toolbar icon.
Configuring
The preferences dialog.
The preferences dialog.
The dialog is divided into serveral pages. The Default button restores the default values for the current page. The Apply button will apply your changes on all pages. The OK button will apply the changes and close the dialog. The Cancel button does this without saving the changes. By the way, you can leave the preferences dialog open and continue your work with . This is a nice way to test your changes.

The Server Page
Hostname 	The internet hostname or the ip address of the DICT server.
Port 	This is the port number the server listens on. 2628 is the default port and is used by the most servers.
Hold connection for 	 is able to keep the connection open in short periods of inactivity. This feature avoids the lengthy login procedure before every query. A value of 0 seconds disables this feature. Very large values aren't useful, because in most cases the DICT server will close the connection after a couple of minutes.
Timeout 	This value determines how long will wait for a answer from the server.
Command Buffer 	The DICT protocol allows the client to send multiple commands in one network packet. The size of the internal command buffer determines how many commands are send in parallel by . You can try to tune this value for your network connection, but in most cases it is not worth the effort.
Encoding 	With this selector the text encoding method of the databases can be specified. The default value is "utf8", this setting should work on most servers. If an encoding is selected that doesn't match the encoding used by the databases, you will see broken characters.
Server requires authentication 	Activate this if you want to provide a authentication with username and password. (a server may require this for access to all databases) You have to enter a valid Username and Password combination below.

The Appearance Page
On this page you can customize the colors and fonts of the definition view. A proportional font for the normal text will increase readability, but will also destroy the hardcoded layout of tables and similar things in the definitions of some databases.

The Layout Page
The layout of the result isn't really configurable yet. But you can decide how many headings (a heading states which database the definition belongs to) should place in the result. The choices should be selfexplaining. Note that changes on this page won't have any effect until you start a new query.

The Miscellaneous Page
On this page you can modify various limits that prevent from eating up insane amounts of memory.
Definitions 	This limits the number of definitions you can fetch at once by selecting them in the match list.
Cached Results 	This number determines how many previous results are held in a internal cache for fast access. You can set this to 0, but this will disable your ability to browse back to old results.
History Entrys 	This is the number of past entries the input line remembers. Large values will cause a slower start and shutdown of .
Save history on exit 	If this is selected, will remember your history between sessions.
Define selected text on start 	If this is selected, will immediately try to define the contents of the clipboard when it is started.