• Input Area: This text box is used to enter all words to be searched for.  You can enter words to search for directly, automatically have them copied from the clipboard, load them from a file or enter them using an IME (Input Management Environments are provided by various companies such as NJstar and Microsoft. IMEs are included with Japanese versions of Windows, and Windows 2000, but not English versions of 95 and 98).  Once the words you want to search for are in the Input Area text edit box, they can be searched for simply by pressing Enter after the line you want to search for or by highlighting the block of text you want to search for and pressing the Find  button (Ctrl+F).  

Types of searches include:
• English: just enter an english word or phrase and press Enter (words are automatically ORed together unless a "+" sign is used to indicate "AND", for example: green +tea).  The definitions of the Japanese words and characters are searched on for the words you entered.
• Japanese:
• Enter the romaji (romanized) reading (for example: jitensya) of the character or word.  If the Romaji Input  button is down, JquickTrans first attempts to convert the input to hiragana or katakana.  If you capitolize the first letter, it converts to katakana.  If the Romaji Input button is down, but the text cannot be converted for some reason an English search is performed.  This is useful because you do not have to change modes for most English or romaji (Japanese) searches.  But be careful because there are many English words that are ambiguous.  For example "mode" can be interpretted as a romaji word and an English word.  To search for the English word "mode" make sure the Romaji Input button is up and no conversion will be performed.
• Actual Japanese characters can be entered directly in their regular form using the clipboard cut and paste (for example copied and pasted from Internet Explorer browsing a Japanese site).
• Kanji Data: to search for a specific data value, use the "#" pound sign directly followed by the data. (for example: #E47C, for a hex unicode value)
• Radical Lookup: to search by radical  (or a Japanese character's subcomponent) you must use a function of the Kanji Info panel.  Press the Radical Lookup  button to display the panel of component radicals you can choose from.

 

Kanji Info: this window provides a list of all individual kanji characters with data matching your query.  If actual kanji characters are present in the Input Area their definitions and associated information will be listed here.  If you performed an English search on the definitions, characters whose definitions matched your search query will be listed.  To hide columns you don't need, press the small header shaped box button in the upper right of the Kanji Info area sub-window and drag column headers you don't need to the window that pops up.

• Dictionary: this window provides a list of actual Japanese words (possibly containing multiple kanji characters) matching your query.  Simply Double-click a word to show the data on each individual kanji character in the Kanji Info sub-window.  Likewise you can Double-click kanji characters in the Kanji Info window and have a list of words containing that character appear in the Dictionary window.


Note: it is also possible to drag-n-drop words to the Input Area from the Dictionary, Kanji Info and Study List.

• Study List: using drag-n-drop or the Copy to Study List  button you can move words to the Study List sub-window from the Kanji Info and Dictionary sub-windows.  This list can then be saved or loaded for later use and study.  It can be automatically saved and loaded at shutdown/startup too (see: Options->Study List). The Study List values are all fully editable in-line by Long-clicking on the value you want to edit.  To search on Study List words for component kanji, simply Double-click them.  Sorting is performed by clicking column headers.  Shift-click column headers to sort with multiple layers.  Sort by Date to study your oldest words first etc.

• Flashcards: are available by pressing the Flashcards  button in the Study List sub-window.  These can be randomized or ordered.  Use the Spacebar to cycle through tabs of information and the Enter key move to the next word.

• Printed Lists: are created by pressing the print button in each sub-window.  A Print Preview is available if you first click in the sub-window you want to preview, then select Print Preview from the File menu.  The printed lists can be folded and then used for easy on-the-go study.

Studying using the grouping/tree mode:

1. First Open a Study List you want work with.
2. Press the small Down Arrow button in the upper right of the Study List sub-window to reveal the grouping panel.
3. Drag the column header you wish to study to the grouping panel (multiple headers dragged to the grouping panel creates more layers to study).  In this case simply drag the Reading column header to the grouping panel.
4. Then you will be presented with only the Reading information for all your words.  Use the small Plus sign button at the left of each row to display the associated information besides just the Reading.  In this manner you can very easily study the information in any way you wish.  (from meaning to reading, reading to kanji, kanji to reading, etc)