Ubuntu – How to install the Unity Books Lens, and how to use it

11.04lensesunity

I read that there is a Unity Book Lens available. How do I install it and how do I use it?

Best Answer

The Google Books Lens can currently be found in a PPA by its author, and currently have a note that These builds may have bugs, be unstable, try to eat your kitten.

To install add the PPA ppa:davidc3/books-lens (How to Add a PPA) and then install unity-books-lens from the software center.

After this, you need to log out and log back (or run unity --replace) in for the lens to show up and work correctly.

The lens uses the shortcut Super-b to show the lens.

Alternative method

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:davidc3/books-lens

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-books

For 12.10 and above

In 12.10 and above, the Ask Ubuntu Lens is now just a scope of the Help lens, to summon it with a keyboard shortcut use Super-H.

For 12.04 or 11.10:

You can install the Ask Ubuntu Unity Lens via the Software Centre by clicking below:

You will need to log out and log back in for the lens to show up and work correctly.

For 11.04:

You can install the Ask Ubuntu Unity Lens via a PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:askubuntu-tools/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-place-askubuntu

Just open up a terminal window and enter the above commands. Then, you need to log out and log back (or run unity --replace) in for the lens to show up and work correctly.

You can click on the Ask Ubuntu icon on your launcher (for 11.04), or inside your dash in 12.04 and 11.10. To get a fully expanded lens or you can hit the Super-U keyboard shortcut to summon the lens, then ask your question: