Rikaichan FAQ


Common Problems, Questions, How To, Etc.
  • Problems downloading. The file is corrupt.
    If you're downloading from mozdev.org, click the link again and it will re-download from another site.

  • How do I install this?
    Firefox: Click the main file (rikaichan_#_##.xpi). If Firefox asks you about the installation, select Allow.

    Thunderbird: From a web browser, right-click on the main file (rikaichan_#_##.xpi), select Save As, and save it on your computer. In Thunderbird, go to Tools, Addons/Extensions and click Install or drag the XPI file into the window.

    Repeat the same process for the word & names dictionary.

  • How do I install it in all Firefox profiles?
    Follow the instructions here: Global Installation [kb.mozillazine.org]

    In short:
    • Download (save, do not install) the main XPI and dictionary XPI files somewhere on your computer.
    • Shutdown Firefox completely.
    • Run Firefox from a console using the "-install-global-extension" switch to install the XPI files. For example:
      • firefox -install-global-extension rikaichan_1_08.xpi
      • firefox -install-global-extension rikaichan-en_1_13.xpi
      • firefox -install-global-extension rikaichan-names_1_13.xpi
      • (you may need to provide a complete path/directory to the firefox and the XPI files)
    • Restart Firefox.

  • How do I use this?
    Right-click on a web page, then click rikaichan. Move the mouse on top of a Japanese word and you'll automatically get a definition of the word.

    If you need a more detailed view of a kanji, hit/hold the SHIFT key or hit the ENTER key.

    If you want to use the names dictionary, hit the ENTER key twice while the popup is displayed.


  • How do I use the LookupBar?
    Use the hotkey (default: Alt+Delete), enter the text you want to lookup, hit ENTER.

    If you want to use the names dictionary, hit the ENTER key again.

    If there is a highlighted text when the LookupBar is activated, it will be picked up automatically.

    To close, hit the ESC key.

  • What are all of those stuff in the kanji display?

  • What are those "adj-i,v1,v5,adv" markers?
    See this JMDICT page for more information.

  • What are those "(E)" markers?
    It indicates that the word was not defined in the selected language, so the English definition of the word was used.

  • How do I change keys, colors, configuration?
    Go to Tools, Addons, Rikaichan, click Options.

  • How do I add rikaichan icons on my Firefox toolbar?
    Right-click on the toolbar, select Customize (right-click some other area of the toolbar if you don't see this), look for rikaichan's happy face icon, and drag & drop them on the toolbar.

  • The popup is shown under Flash animations (videos, advertisements, etc.).
    The only work-around for this is to display the popup elsewhere by pressing the 'A' key.

  • I want to add or edit an entry in the dictionary.
    Rikaichan uses JMDICT as the source for its dictionary files. Please go to the JMDICT site to submit changes directly to the source. These changes will eventually make its way to rikaichan's dictionaries when I update the files.

    *** Please do not bother them with questions, complaints, etc. about rikaichan or the dictionaries. See below if you need to contact me. ***

  • Can you make a dictionary for another language?
    If it's in JMDICT, I may be able to add it. If you have another free source for the dictionary, send me the details.

    *** Please do not bother them with questions, complaints, etc. about rikaichan or the dictionaries. See below if you need to contact me. ***

  • The popup window is not displayed, has no background or looks odd.
    This may be caused by a CSS conflict. If it's happening on all sites that you visit, try removing any changes to user.css (if any), and disable any add-ons temporarily to find which one is causing it. You can also try starting from a new Firefox profile (run: firefox -p) to see if RCX works on a clean configuration.

    If you're using it on anything other than an HTML document, please read below.

  • It doesn't work when viewing XUL, PDF, etc.
    Not all document types are supported. Common ones like HTML, plain text are OK. It may also have problems with some encodings, but the more common UTF-8, Shift-JIS, EUC-JP are OK.

  • Will this work in MS Word, etc.?
    Nope, sorry.

  • What if I want to use it on stuff that's not supported?
    Save it as an HTML (*.html) or "plain" text (*.txt) document, then load it in Firefox.

    Or paste the text here -- textarea.htm. Try saving this file in your desktop for easier access.

  • The web page's scrollbars appear then disappear or the page expands then shrinks when the popup is displayed.
    The page may expand if there is not enough screen space for the popup, then shrink back when the popup is closed. Yes, this can cause some annoying side-effects like text shifting and scrollbars appearing and disappearing.

  • Selection may be off by a few pixels.
    It seems to be what Firefox is returning... <shrug> (any ideas?)

  • Scrollbar disappears when in Gmail.
    In Firefox, go to Tools:Addons:Rikaichan, click the Options button. Set "Adjust Document Size" to No.

  • I only see Japanese characters in the popup / The (English) definitions disappeared
    Press the "D" key while the popup is displayed, or go to the Options window and disable "hide definitions" under the "Dictionaries" tab.

  • Other problems...
    Send an email to this address. Please indicate the version that you're using, whether you're using Windows, OSX, etc., links to example sites where the problem occurs, and any screenshots that may be helpful. Sorry, I can't guarantee a response to all emails (especially when I'm in a cranky mood ;) ).