The Knovis Viewers
Knovis includes built-in viewers for PDF, EPUB, and video. They're intentionally minimal, with no toolbars full of options you don't need. That simplicity is what makes them work so well inside playlists and inline on the canvas.
Why built-in viewers matter
When you open a PDF in a system viewer, you're leaving Knovis. The canvas goes to the background, the viewer takes over, and the context you built (the spatial layout, the active playlist) disappears from view. With the Knovis viewers, content opens where it belongs: inside your environment.
The viewers do less than a full application, and that's the point. They handle what Knovis needs them to handle (scrolling, zooming, playback, bookmarks) and nothing else gets in the way.
Inline view
Inline view embeds the viewer directly on the canvas, inside the item's bounds. A PDF appears as a scrollable page within the item's frame. A video plays in place. You stay on the canvas the whole time, so your layout stays visible and your spatial context stays intact.
Enable inline view in the item's settings. When a playlist or route triggers that item, it opens inline automatically.
Standalone view
Standalone opens the viewer as a separate window alongside the canvas. Useful when you want more room to read or when you're working with a long document rather than presenting a specific section.
Supported formats
| Format | Viewer | Inline | Standalone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knovis PDF viewer | Yes | Yes | |
| EPUB | Knovis EPUB reader | Yes | Yes |
| Video (MP4, MKV, and more) | Knovis media player | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Knovis media player | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Displayed directly on canvas | Yes | No |
| Web content | Embedded browser | Yes | No |
Clips
Video and audio items can have a clip defined: a start time and an end time. When the item is activated, only that segment plays. The full file is on disk, but Knovis jumps straight to the start point and stops at the end point automatically.
Set clip points in the item's settings. This is particularly useful in playlists: a 2-hour lecture can have several items, each pointing to a different clip, and a playlist can sequence through them in any order.
Bookmarks
PDF and EPUB items can store a bookmark: a specific page or scroll position. When activated, the viewer opens directly at that location. Set a bookmark by navigating to the right page in the viewer, then saving the position back to the item.
Bookmarks work in playlists the same way clips do: a playlist step that triggers a bookmarked PDF item opens it at exactly the right page, every time.