
Manualslib – Database of More Than 2.6M Manuals - dabber
https://www.manualslib.com/
======
ryandrake
This looks like a great resource. I buy a lot of used tools on Craigslist, and
of course, nobody ever keeps the manuals. So it's always the same time-
consuming task:

1\. Go to the manufacturer's web site, if they still exist, and see if they
have a manual there

2\. Search Google for "MODEL# pdf". Wade through pages of pond scum search
engine spam and paid sites for a half hour. Apparently, enough people search
for manuals to make this profitable.

3\. Do some web research to find similar product model numbers (maybe 8029A
manual would cover 8029B too?) and repeat 1-2 above.

4\. Start searching through forums and other hard-to-index parts of the web.

5\. Check torrent sites? (now I'm getting desperate!)

It's crazy how tough it can be to find a user manual. In many cases, I end up
finding one scanned by another end-user and posted online to be helpful. It's
also a shame that 1/2 the comments here are about copyright. I can't see how
taking a site like this down would in any way benefit a manufacturer whose
manual is available. Unless the manufacturer is trying to make money selling
their user manual, in which case to hell with that shitty company.

~~~
standan
To go one step further, we had created the site
[https://www.allthingsmine.com](https://www.allthingsmine.com) and the
ios/android app which basically auto looks up the manual in online manual
sites. In addition, it points to youtube videos for the product, provides
specs if the product is available in our database. Also users can also store
their purchase receipts, price etc and get notified of price changes and view
the trend if the product is sold by retailers such as Amazon, BestBuy, Walmart
etc.

Will point to manualslib.com if it is comprehensive.

~~~
mostlyskeptical
Looks neat but you ask for a massive amount of permissions.

~~~
standan
Yes. For known products we provide manufacturer support phone numbers, hence
ability to make a call from the app. For adding recipts we need file
system/camera access. If you would like to connect with friends to share
reviews/recommendations then contacts. Hence the long list...

~~~
luhn
Best practice is to ask for those permissions as they come up, rather than
asking a user to trust your app with the world up front.
[https://developer.android.com/training/permissions/requestin...](https://developer.android.com/training/permissions/requesting.html)

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Mister_Snuggles
I've started saving electronic copies of manuals, assembly instructions, etc
for anything that I purchase. If there's no electronic copy available, I'll
scan the paper manual. In all cases, I'm putting the documents into an
instance of Mayan EDMS[0]. Mayan also automatically does OCR on everything
that comes in, so even if the PDFs are non-OCR'd scans they're still
searchable.

This is part of a larger project to significantly reduce the amount of paper
that I'm keeping, which is why I'm using a document management system as
opposed to a Dropbox folder. My goal is to divide the mounds of paper into
things I need to keep for a long time (e.g., tax documents), and things that I
can shred after a year (e.g., bills, receipts, etc). In all cases, I want the
documents searchable and backed up.

[0] [http://mayan-edms.org/](http://mayan-edms.org/)

~~~
Declanomous
Which scanner are you using? I've been trying to eliminate paper for a while
now. I keep digital copies of everything I can download, but using a
traditional flatbed/all-in-one scanner to digitize things that I on have on
paper would take forever.

I'm terrible at organizing paper, and it's like a plague.

~~~
Mister_Snuggles
I'm just starting out, so I'm using an all-in-one flatbed scanner because I
have one available. It's really slow, especially when I up the resolution
enough that OCR works usefully.

My plan is to step up to something like a Brother ADS-1000W[0] or
ADS-1500W[1]. I also hear good things about Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners, but
those are USB only. If you step up to Fujitsu's fi series you can get a
network interface, but I think they're more expensive than the Brother models
I'm looking at.

Regardless of the brand and model, the required features are that it has a
document feeder, scans both sides of the page, and that it can save the output
to a server without needing a computer to mediate it. The Brother scanners
have WiFi and can save directly to an FTP server - Mayan can pick up PDFs from
a filesystem directory, so it would be pretty easy to have stuff go right from
the scanner into Mayan.

[0] [https://www.brother.ca/en-
CA/Scanners/11/ProductDetail/ADS10...](https://www.brother.ca/en-
CA/Scanners/11/ProductDetail/ADS1000W)

[1] [https://www.brother.ca/en-
CA/Scanners/11/ProductDetail/ADS15...](https://www.brother.ca/en-
CA/Scanners/11/ProductDetail/ADS1500W)

~~~
Declanomous
Thanks, those were the models I was thinking about as well. Double-sided seems
like a necessity, and a relatively fast scan seems important, but the only
other thing I know I care about is durability.

I hadn't thought about using WiFi --> FTP. That's a pretty handy feature. I
run Linux, and there is a lot of great hardware that is barely functional on
Linux, especially from the likes of Brother.

I've thought about bringing paper to a staples to scan, or paying a scanning
service to scan everything. The benefit of the latter is that they'll preserve
your filing system and name your files for you. We went paperless at work, and
they can be pretty expensive per document unless you have a ton of paper for
them to scan.

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devrandomguy
The manuals have a big watermark right through the center of each page, which
isn't even translucent; it completely obscures the content behind it. See
[https://www.manualslib.com/manual/464698/Honda-
Civic.html?pa...](https://www.manualslib.com/manual/464698/Honda-
Civic.html?page=33) for a random example, where the watermark completely
obscures the model number of the Honda Civic's automatic transmission.

Is there some way to pay to remove the watermark? Is that how this works,
these manuals are effectively just free previews?

~~~
cdash
I just downloaded the pdf for free and there was no watermark. Looks like this
only exists in the web preview.

~~~
alacombe
there is still a watermark at the bottom left corner of the downloaded
content, so they do modify the original documents. Not good.

~~~
rhizome
Does it block content?

~~~
dabber
I downloaded two. One had no watermark at all the other has the manualslib URL
on the bottom left not blocking any content.

~~~
rhizome
That seems reasonable.

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mynegation
Copyright worries notwithstanding, it is a great resource. The first thing I
do unpacking anything new is searching the internet for a manual (usually PDF)
and saving it to my Dropbox. I keep paper manuals around for a while but
recycle them after the end of warranty period to reduce clutter.

I wish every manual was mandated to come with QR-code or at least short URL to
its own electronic version.

~~~
toomuchtodo
As long as that QR code or short URL points to the digital version in the
Internet Archive.

~~~
mynegation
Even better. Or IPFS hash. Though modern goods rarely live much longer than a
typical URL

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vesinisa
Incredible.. I was literally yesterday looking for a manual for my 80's boat
motor of unknown model. A quick lookup and visual approximation allowed me to
match the model on the manufacturer's site and download the series user's
manual from here.

The PDF has been OCR scanned and allows searching. This is way easier than
ordering the manual from a reseller. Copy to cloud, and now I have online copy
of the manual always in my pocket..

I understand it is copyright infringement, but still super-useful. And I might
still order a physical copy if the digital copy proves helpful.

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disconnected
Uh, I hate to be that guy, but isn't this just one big copyright lawsuit
waiting to happen?

I _think_ you can find most of these online in their respective manufacturer's
sites for free, but I'm not entirely sure they would be cool with people
lifting them and slapping them on another site.

IANAL, of course.

~~~
exhilaration
They've got it covered:
[https://www.manualslib.com/dmca.html](https://www.manualslib.com/dmca.html)
and [https://www.manualslib.com/abs/](https://www.manualslib.com/abs/)

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skrebbel
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know where they source their manuals? The
"about" page describes them as developers, not hardcore collectors or warezy
types.

I mean, most sites like this are about _sharing_ , but this one just provides
content freely and that's it. I couldn't find an "upload" button. Great for us
though, but I'm still curious :-)

~~~
cjhanks
Quite a bit of it looks scraped. I searched for a manual I have been after for
a while and found the same PDF (which I found on google) which appears to be a
manual but isn't.

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xbryanx
What a phenomenal resource. I'm really surprised at how comprehensive and fast
it is.

Anyone know how they support something like this? There's got to be a bit of
cost associated with the hosting and processing. Are they selling a commercial
version of their software platform?

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peterburkimsher
I can see some in French and Spanish. Is there a way to sort by language? I
think this would be a good data source of bilingual text for my Chinese
translator app.

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gesman
ManualsLib watermark plastered over every page is distracting - however I
understand the purpose.

PDF rendering looks crippled from quick check on some pages.

Otherwise - looks like promising repository.

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theklub
I made something like this for car manuals but got scared of a lawsuit and
shut it down. It was really popular anyway but I learned a lot about cars in
the process.

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armstrong
[https://manualsbrain.com/](https://manualsbrain.com/) looks better. What do
you think guys?

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banku_brougham
i just used this for a new washing machine. the Electrolux support site
requires one to provide the exact model number to search manuals--no browse,
no index. rather than go downstairs to read the number off the machine i
searched the web and found manualslib.

so to the point besides being annoyed by crappy manufacturer websites: should
i be worried about exploits buried in pdfs? isnt it possible to hide rootkit
attacks in a pdf?

~~~
marvel_boy
> should i be worried about exploits buried in pdfs? isnt it possible to hide
> rootkit attacks in a pdf?

Just open it on a Safari or Chrome browser instead of a native pdf viewer.

~~~
skrebbel
Thank you for explaining to me why Windows 10 opens PDFs in Edge by default.

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arjie
I love you. You are a good person. A wonderful person.

This is a problem I've had for ages when buying old hardware. Thank you, thank
you, and thank you.

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zmix
I just checked, whether I can find a service manual for my SONY BDVN-7100WB,
but only user guides, nothing for technicians. :-(

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armstrong
It's perfect!

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pawanpe
good job!

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bungie4
Bookmarked!

