- Go into the Add-ons screen and select the "Paid" tab.
- Tap on the Buy icon
next to the name of the item you want to buy. - Follow the onscreen instructions.
Pleco for Android Instruction Manual : Add-ons Reference
Please note: this section of the Pleco instruction manual only discusses how to purchase / download / delete / manage / etc your add-on purchases; how to actually use our various add-ons is covered elsewhere in the manual. Specifically, see this page for info on how to use additional dictionaries, handwriting input, audio, and stroke order, this page for OCR, this page for the Text File Reader, and this page for flashcards.
Pleco was one of the first mobile software companies to adopt an exclusively in-app-purchase based business model; we give away our wonderful basic dictionary software for free - we don't even put any advertisements in it - but then we offer a variety of paid add-on modules to make it even better. You're under absolutely no obligation to buy anything from us; even if you never give us a dime we'd rather you use our app than somebody else's. But we certainly hope you might find some of these additional modules useful enough to be worth paying for.
We currently sell our add-on modules through two different methods:
This is the easiest way to buy an add-on, since it automatically bills your Google account, but it requires your device to be configured in a way that's compatible with Android Market purchasing (so you may have to swap your SIM card, and it may not work at all on non-Google-approved-devices), and you can potentially lose access to your purchases if Google decides to block your account. Also, 30% of the cost of your purchase will go to your cell phone carrier and/or Google, rather than to Pleco and the editors and publishers that develop the wonderful dictionaries we license.
To purchase a Pleco add-on through Android Market:
next to the name of the item you want to buy. This is slightly harder to use than Android Market, since you have to enter your billing info again (though we do accept PayPal), but all of the money aside from payment processing fees (generally about 3% of the purchase price) goes to Pleco and our partners. And it works regardless of what type of SIM card you have or how your device is configured - even on a totally non-Google-friendly device like a Kindle Fire.
To purchase a Pleco add-on through our online store:
To activate a previous Pleco add-on purchase on an additional device, or transfer your purchase to a new device if you lose / replace your old one, just follow these steps:
To restore a purchase made through Android Market, go into the Add-ons screen, "Paid" tab, and tap "Restore Market Purchases" at the bottom right corner of the screen.
If that button does not appear, it's because you re-downloaded Pleco from a source other than Android Market; open up Android Market and download a copy of Pleco from there and you should then have access to that button.
To restore a purchase made through the Pleco Store, go into the Pleco Settings screen, tap Manage Registration at the top of the screen, enter your previous Registration ID, and tap "OK."
If you've lost your Registration ID, visit the My Orders page on our website to retrieve it, or contact us at support@pleco.com for assistance.
To browse / purchase / download add-ons, go into the main Pleco dictionary search screen, press your device's menu button, and tap "Add-ons." Tap on the tabs at the top of the screen to jump between different sections of the Add-ons panel.
The "Paid" section of Add-ons lists paid add-ons which you haven't purchased / downloaded yet. It divides add-ons into four groups:
Tap on the name of an add-on to view more information about it, including a detailed description and, in the case of Bundles, a detailed list of every included item.
Add-ons in the "Purchased but not Downloaded" category each have a 
button next to them - tap on that button to immediately download the add-on. There's also a "Download All" option at the bottom of the list which lets you download all of your purchased-but-not-downloaded add-ons at the same time.
Add-ons in other categories have a button next to them - tap on that icon to purchase the add-on. If the add-on hasn't been downloaded yet, you'll see a prompt asking you if you want to purchase it or download the trial version; even if you don't need to try it out before purchasing, we strongly recommend that you download the trial version, since that way you'll know that the download has completed successfully before you pay for it. All of our add-ons are fully unlockable, so if you download the trial version before you purchase an add-on, you won't have to download anything else after you purchase it; you'll be able to jump right in and start using it without even having to exit and reopen Pleco.
The price of each add-on should show up in the file list, as they do in the above screenshot; if you don't see those prices listed, wait a few seconds and they should come up. (we have to fetch the prices from Apple's server, so that's why they don't show up right away)
Add-on downloads are added to a queue, so you can have more than one file downloading at the same time; go to the D/Ls tab to monitor the progress of all of your pending downloads. If you exit Pleco while downloads are still in progress, it'll prompt you to resume them the next time it opens.
In copies of Pleco downloaded from Android Market, a Restore Market Purchases button will appear at the bottom right corner of this screen; tap on that to restore previous purchases made through Android Market's billing system. Go to Settings / Registration to restore purchases transferred from other platforms or made in our own online store.
Tapping on the name of an add-on in "Paid" (or "Free") will bring you to a screen like this:
This lets you see more detailed information about the add-on, including lists of the items included in our various "Bundles." Some add-ons also include screenshots, and several (like OCR, pictured above) even have easy-to-access demo versions that you can try out.
When an add-on is in the process of downloading, you can also pause / cancel that download from this screen - see D/Ls for more information on that.
The "Free" section of Add-ons is pretty much identical to the "Paid" section, but every item has a button next to it - tap on that button to immediately begin downloading the add-on.
The "Updated" section of Add-ons lists add-ons that have been updated since the last time you downloaded them. As in the "Free" section, you can tap on the icon to download the updated version of the add-on. If more than one update is available, there'll also be a "Download All" option which lets you download all of the updated add-ons at the same time.
The "Installed" section of Add-ons lets you view / delete add-ons that you've already downloaded. It divides them into three groups:
To delete an add-on, tap on its name, then tap on the "Delete File" button. Alternatively, you can tap-hold on its name and select "Delete" from the menu that pops up.
The "D/Ls" section of Add-ons lets you view the status of add-on downloads in progress. The current status of each download is listed in gray text below the download's name:
button to pause the download - this will keep it from automatically starting after other downloads are completed. button to pause the download. button to resume downloading; it will go back to "Queued" if other downloads are already in progress.
button to try connecting again, continuing from the point where the download was interrupted.
button to cancel installation - you can start it again later. button to cancel installation (prevent it from starting once other installations finish) - you can start it again later.
button to begin installation again. button to try downloading again from the beginning.You can also cancel / remove a download from the queue by swiping your finger from left-to-right on the download's name and tapping on the "Delete" button. This will not delete any add-ons that have already finished downloading / installing; those can be deleted through the Installed tab.
Tap on the "Pause All" button at the bottom of the screen to pause all downloads in progress, or the "Cancel All" button to cancel / remove all downloads from the queue.
This screen shows you a bit more information about an add-on that's currently in the process of downloading. The "Status" section works exactly like each row in "D/Ls" above. The buttons at the top of the screen change depending on the download's current status:
It's also possible to install add-on databases outside of this screen if you run into trouble downloading them on your device; see pleco.com/androidfiles for details.
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