Chinese Toolbox 2026
What’s New in Chinese Toolbox 2026
Chinese Toolbox 2026 is a complete reading and study workspace in your browser. The Reader, character and word dictionaries, search, analysis, and learning tools work together, so help is available without pulling you away from the Chinese in front of you.
Open it anywhere
Start Chinese Toolbox in a modern browser on a computer, tablet, or phone. You can also install it as a web app for a focused, app-like experience. No desktop installer is required, and built-in update controls make it easy to move to the latest release.
Read with help in context
Bring in Chinese text, move through it page by page, search within it, and select characters or words as you read. Dictionary details, word boundaries, frequency information, study status, and document analysis stay connected to the Reader.
Explore richer dictionaries
Character and word dictionaries sit beside the text with Pinyin, Zhuyin, definitions, variants, radicals, components, source details, and powerful search. Add notes, create words, personalize definitions and pronunciations, or exclude entries that do not fit your reading.
Know what to learn next
Mark characters and words as Known or Need to Learn, assign understanding levels, and work from focused study and frequency lists. Chinese Toolbox remembers what you have learned and keeps that information connected to every new text.
Meet the Learning Counselor
The Learning Counselor turns your reading activity into a practical next step. It can recommend more contextual reading or a guided recall session, show your daily activity and seven-day rhythm, and explain the learning principle behind each suggestion.
Continue across devices
Sign in to keep your progress synchronized across devices, including study states, notes, custom dictionary work, exclusions, reading completion, frequency counts, preferences, window layout, and learning activity. Without an account, your work remains available on the device you are using.
Shape your workspace
Choose a visual theme and arrange the Reader and dictionaries the way you like. On larger screens, windows can be moved, resized, snapped, layered, and restored. Touch controls and responsive layouts adapt the same tools for tablets and smaller screens.
Search, analyze, import, and export
Search across character and word fields, narrow previous results, compare a document with frequency lists, and produce detailed analysis. Import and export options let you move texts, study lists, notes, custom words, dictionary customizations, and frequency data when you need them elsewhere.