Local manga

Manatan can read manga stored locally on your device from image folders, chapter archives, and EPUB files. You can either organize a series folder with chapters inside it, or drop a single .epub, .zip, .cbz, .rar, or .cbr directly into the root of your local manga folder.

1) Set your local manga folder

1. Open Settings > Browse.
2. Set Local Manga source location.
3. Open Browse > Sources > Local source.

If you add new chapters later, refresh the chapter list.

2) Supported folder structures

Inside your local manga folder, Manatan supports two layouts:

• one folder per series, with chapter folders or chapter archives inside
• one standalone .epub, .zip, .cbz, .rar, or .cbr file in the root folder

Standalone root archives

Put a single manga file directly in the local manga folder.

📁 [Local Manga folder]
├─ 📦 Look Back.cbz
├─ 📦 My One Shot.zip
├─ 📦 Short Story.cbr
├─ 📦 Bonus Chapter.rar
└─ 📘 Full Color Volume.epub

Manatan shows each root archive as its own manga entry. The file name becomes the manga title, so Look Back.cbz appears as Look Back. Opening it shows one chapter, also named from the file. EPUB manga uses the EPUB spine order when available; ZIP, CBZ, RAR, and CBR files use natural image filename order.

This is the fastest option for one-shots, single-volume manga, or files you already keep as complete archives. It is less useful for ongoing series because every root archive appears as a separate manga instead of grouping volumes together.

Series folder with chapter folders

📁 [Local Manga folder]
├─ 📁 My Series Title
│   ├─ 🖼️ cover.jpg
│   ├─ 📁 001
│   │   ├─ 🖼️ 001.jpg
│   │   └─ 🖼️ 002.jpg
│   └─ 📁 002
│       ├─ 🖼️ 001.jpg
│       └─ 🖼️ 002.jpg

Series folder with archive chapters

📁 [Local Manga folder]
├─ 📁 My Series Title
│   ├─ 📦 001.cbz
│   ├─ 📦 002.cbz
│   ├─ 📦 003.cbr
│   └─ 📦 004.rar

Series folder with EPUB manga files

Use one EPUB per volume or chapter inside the series folder.

📁 [Local Manga folder]
├─ 📁 My Series Title
│   ├─ 📘 Volume 01.epub
│   └─ 📘 Volume 02.epub

Supported local manga formats include image folders, .zip/.cbz, .rar/.cbr, and .epub files. Image pages can be .jpg, .jpeg, .jfif, .png, .webp, .gif, .bmp, .jxl, or .avif.

Which layout should I use?

Use a root .epub, .zip, .cbz, .rar, or .cbr when:

• the file is a one-shot or complete single volume
• you want the least setup: drop the file in local-manga and refresh
• you do not need a custom cover.jpg or series-level metadata folder

Use a series folder when:

• you have multiple chapters or volumes that should appear under one manga
• you want to add cover.jpg or ComicInfo.xml for the whole series
• you expect to keep adding chapters over time

Use chapter image folders when you want to inspect or replace individual pages without rebuilding an archive. Use .zip, .cbz, .rar, or .cbr chapter archives when you want fewer files on disk and cleaner syncing. Use .epub when the manga already came packaged that way; Manatan reads the image pages from the EPUB, but text-heavy novel EPUBs are usually better handled by the EPUB/novel reader instead of Local Manga.

Common issues

My series does not show up

1. Confirm the folder path is correct.
2. Confirm the root file is .epub, .zip, .cbz, .rar, or .cbr, or that chapter folders, archive files, or EPUB files are inside the series folder.
3. Refresh the list.

Chapters are in the wrong order

Use zero-padded naming like 001, 002, 010. For ZIP, CBZ, RAR, and CBR archives, page order comes from the image filenames inside the archive. For EPUB manga, page order follows the EPUB spine when it is available.

Android gallery shows manga images

Create an empty file named .nomedia in the local folder.

Next steps

• Getting started
• Troubleshooting