This post was previously published in March of this year, but with Christmas approaching and probably many Kindles (HD) under trees, I thought I’d update and re-publish it for those of you with new Kindles. So Merry Christmas!
I’ve had my Kindle Fire since December of 2011 and use it every day – more than all my other gadgets (not including my computer since I work at it all day-and it’s not really a gadget!). Before I had one, I’d be listening to podcasts about all these convoluted ways people figured out to get documents on their Kindles. I wanted to explore getting documents on my Kindle and thought it would make a good article and hopefully help others at the same time.
Now there’s a ‘Send To Kindle App’ – for Windows AND for the Mac. It was a quick download and install. When it finished, there are some quick instructions right on the finish screen.
How To Send Documents to My Kindle
When in Windows Explorer, simply right click on one or more documents.To select more than one document, hold down the CTRL key and click all the documents you want. Then when finished, right-click and select the Send to Kindle option (see illustration below).
Allowed Documents
Microsoft Word (.DOC)
Microsoft Word (.DOCX)
TXT (.TXT)
RTF (.RTF)
JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
GIF (.GIF)
PNG (.PNG)
BMP (.BMP)
PDF (.PDF)
Then you’ll get this next screen –it confirms where it’s going, where it’ll be and what format it’ll be in. This was a pdf, so it didn’t need to be converted as the Kindle now renders PDFs in a nice, readable format. Click the ‘send’ button and it’s off!
Delivery is free if you’re on a Wi-Fi network and it says charges may apply if Whispernet is used. My device is Wi-Fi, so I haven’t investigated Whispernet. The first time you use it, you will need to log in to your Amazon account to verify your identity.
Email Documents to Your Kindle
Did you know you have a Kindle email address? Yes, you have one. Check it out in your on-line ‘Manage Your Kindle’ after you’ve logged into Amazon. After clicking on that, then click on ‘Manage My Devices’ over on the left. Then you’ll see a screen similar to the one below:
The email address given to you from Amazon can be easily changed to something unique and more memorable, if you prefer. It will have a kindle.com ending. Send documents via email to your Kindle. If you want them converted into the Kindle format, be sure to put the word ‘convert’ in the subject line – otherwise it’ll remain in the format sent.
Email Verification-Amazon Requirement
To stop spam (so they say), anyone emailing something to your Kindle must have their email address on your Amazon approved list. To add email addresses, click on ‘Personal Document Settings’, which is just down from where you clicked on the ‘Manage Your Devices’ earlier.
Then you’ll see the screen below. Here’s where you add the email addresses. Also note that you have a 5GB limit on all the content you send to your Kindle. You can delete things as your Kindle gets filled. To delete anything (not just documents), simply go to your Kindle Library and click on ‘All Items’. From here, you can choose to keep or delete the content on your Kindle.
So that’s it – easy enough. I have so many PDFs on my computer that I’ve never read because I don’t like reading FROM my computer. This will make things so much nicer.