Kindle is a great device, giving you a lot of possibilities, However, in order to fully enjoy your device, have a look at the tips given below, which provide a better Kindle experience.
1. Customize the Kindle interface
You don’t need to settle for the interface that your Amazon Kindle serves up for you by default. Tap close to the top of the screen, then tap the Aa icon, and you’ll modify the font and therefore the font size easily. Switch to the Page tab and you’ll change the spacing, margins and orientation of the text, settings that apply to all of the eBooks you upload.
The final tab, Reading progress, is wherever you’ll select what is shown within the reading progress field (bottom left): book location, book page, time left in chapter, time left in book or nothing (if you’d rather simply scan while not knowing precisely wherever you are). a couple of additional choices area unit offered through the most Settings page on your device.
2. Install the mobile apps
If you have bought yourself a shiny new Kindle then you’ll not have paid a lot of attention to the assorted apps offered for Android, iOS, the Web and some alternative platforms. However, it’s still well value installing them put in – they are free to download and use and you’ll check in with the same Amazon credentials you utilize on your actual Kindle e-reader.
Even if you own a Kindle, the apps allow you to catch up when you have just 5 minutes of reading at the bus/train stop or during lunch, and only your phone available – your reading position syncs across all of your devices and in fact you’ll access everything you have purchased on your e-Reader (you can purchase new eBooks through the mobile apps if you wish to).
3, Return to the previous home screen
Amazon recently rolled out an update for its newer Kindle devices that modified the looks of its Home Screen, that you might or might not like the look of – your library is up at the Top Left, where there are links to your reading lists and Goodreads on the right, and beneath there is a new carousel of suggested books to shop for from Amazon.
If you’d rather return to the previous look – that targeted rather more on the eBooks on your device – it isn’t tough to try. From the Top Menu tap Settings , then open up the Device Options page, then tap on Personalize Your Kindle Heading, then Advanced Options to look for the switch that allows you to revert to the previous home screen.
4. Organize your reading with Collections
The Kindle is not the most subtle of devices, if you hadn’t noticed , however the oft-overlooked Collections feature is one of the a lot of advanced tools at your disposal that creates it easier to manage your eBooks in addition to your as personal documents you have sent to your device (at the moment you cannot add newspapers, magazines and blogs to collections).
Collections are solely accessible on newer Kindles and allow you to manage larger libraries into categories: anything from “mystery novels” to “books to read next”, therefore you’ll be able to customize the system to suit yourself. From Home screen, open Main Menu and tap Create New Collection to get started. Collections then show on your library page.
5. Highlight your favorite passages
Highlighting sections of your eBooks is probably the best method of putting a virtual marker in your current novel: press and hold, then drag your finger to highlight an area of text, then tap the Highlight button from the menu that pops up. you’ll be able to then tap Go To from the Kindle eBook menu and open the Notes tab to search for your highlights.
Your highlights are backed up to your Kindle account automatically when a web connection is available, therefore you’ll be able to look into them in any browser by signing in with your Amazon credentials. To view passages of text popular with other Kindle eBook highlighters, open up the Reading Options menu in Settings and change the Popular Highlights Switch to On.
6. Save battery on your Kindle
Your Kindle ought to last for many weeks between charges, however there can be occasions when you need to eke out the maximum amount battery life as attainable – say if you have simply launched into an around-the-world trip and left your charger at home. As on your smartphone, you’ll shut down Wi-Fi or activate the integrated plane mode to try and ration your battery.
Adjusting the brightness is another tried and trusty method of making sure the remaining juice in your Kindle goes further – you will see the sunshine icon on the toolbar at the top, that you’ll be able to tap to dim the screen a bit. You are also able to additionally turn the screen off completely, instead of activating the screensaver, by pressing and holding Power button.
7. Catch up with your on-line reading
There’s simply never enough time within the day to catch up with everything that needs reading on the net, however your Kindle will facilitate it. If you have signed up for Instapaper as your read-it-later service of alternative, visit the Settings page on the net, and below the Kindle heading you will find choices that allow you send a daily digest of articles to your eReader.
Amazon’s solution for this is Send To Kindle. Simply go to the site, download the app(s) and start reading. More information and detailed instructions about Send To Kindle, here.
If you are a Pocket user in the meantime, then the process is slightly more involved, as a result of there is no official Kindle support. There is Pocket to Kindle (P2K), for instance, that has both free and paid-for plans, or En2Kindle, which is able to set you back $6 a year for server maintenance. you’ll then catch up on your reading at your leisure using your Kindle.
lilywong says
Wonderful post on Kindle. I love using it. The tip about saving battery power is particularly useful as I find it annoying when I need to recharge it while I am halfway through a book. I tried the Highlight tip you offered and it’s great – wondered why I never bother to do so! Thanks for this!
admin says
Thanks ๐ It is always nice when someone finds my content useful! I found those tips very useful myself.
It’s been a long time since I owned a Kindle but I’m now eager to buy a brand new one because I’m getting back into reading again. ๐
Your 7 tips will be very useful for when I buy another Amazon Kindle, especially highlighting certain passages. I think I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve lost favorite book chapters due to not marking the pages or using bookmarks.
Thanks
Neil
Hey Neil! Yes, passage highlight is one of my favorite features of Kindle, along with the ability to Sync on any device (Whispersync). It has saved my life in many cases.
A comprehensive review of the kindle and I must admit, I didn’t know about half the stuff you informed the reader about. I suppose I’m one of those who just opens up new software and muddles through the features.
Like another commenter, it was the highlighter that most interested me. I had no idea about it and have been making notes to remind me of passages of interest. This is going to save me a lot of time.
The collections feature is something I’ve always ignored, thinking it too time consuming to work out how to set it up.
I really must be more proactive with my software. I’ve come to realize I’m missing a lot of good features that could be very useful for me if only I’d take the time to read the manual. Thanks for the enlightenment! Ches
I use Kindle to do much of my reading, and using these tricks helps me a lot. Thanks for your encouraging words!
I really like my kindle paperwhite, these are very useful tips, thanks for sharing this. I’ll have to apply this to my kindle.
I have an issue with transferring my documents, I have my ebooks on my computer, how could I easily transfer my files to my kindle, pdf files are huge, can I shrink them to the kindle format?
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for the question… You have given me an idea for a new post ๐
There is an Amazon tool, Send To Kindle with which you can send any document from your PC/Mac/Browser to your device.
Now, If you want to convert a PDF to Kindle Format (MOBI) and then trasfer it to your Kindle, then you can do it using either Calibre Library or you can use a web based free PDF2MOBI Converter
I hope I have been helpful!