Early 2011 I bought an Amazon Kindle 3G (Free 3G + Wi-Fi)
Here’s a list of some miscellaneous tips, tricks, and resources I discovered since owning my Kindle
Tips & Tricks
Configure Your Kindle Email Address
Your Kindle has an email address. Unfortunately, the default address given is usually unhelpful and difficult to remember.
Visit Manage Your Kindle > Manage Your Devices and click ‘edit’ next to your current Kindle Email Address. Set it to something you can easily remember. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be secretive either as only authorised email addresses can send emails to it.
Configure Your Maximum Personal Document Charge
If your Kindle has 3G it is free to receive book purchases (and use the Kindle Browser) when you’re outside of WiFi range. However, Amazon will charge you if you send “personal documents” to your Kindle while you’re connected via 3G.
If you want to avoid any unsuspected charges, visit Manage Your Kindle > Personal Document Settings and change your Maximum Personal Document Charge. I have mine set to $0.00.
Configure Your Approved Personal Document E-mail List
Who can send documents to your Kindle? Whoever you allow.
Visit Manage Your Kindle > Personal Document Settings and click ‘Add a new approved e-mail address’ to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List.
You can add a single personal email address [eg. add 'email@gmail.com'] or if you own your own personal domain name or have a corporate domain, you can allow any email address associated with that domain access [eg. add '@mypersonaldomain.com'].
Force WiFi When Emailing Personal Documents
Your Kindle Email Address defaults to this format: [username]@kindle.com.
If your Personal Document Charge allows for it, the documents you send to this address will arrive even when you’re connected to 3G and you’ll incur charges. However, you can force the document to arrive the next time you’re connected to WiFi and therefore avoid all charges.
Simply use this format for your email address: [username]@free.kindle.com
Supported Personal Document Formats
Will be converted…
The following file types can be emailed to your Kindle and will be converted for use on the Kindle.
- Microsoft Word (.doc)
- Rich Text Format (.rtf)
- HTML (.htm, .html)
- Text (.txt) documents
- Archived documents (zip , x-zip) and compressed archived documents
- Mobi book
- Microsoft Word (.DOCX) is supported in Amazon’s experimental category
Won’t be converted…
The following file types can be emailed to your Kindle but they will not be converted. You can still view them on your Kindle.
- JPEGs (.jpg)
- GIFs (.gif)
- Bitmaps (.bmp)
- PNG images (.png)
- Adobe PDF (.pdf)
Get Amazon To Convert Your Adobe PDF
If you email an Adobe PDF to your Kindle it will remain a static PDF. However, if you want Amazon to attempt to convert it into their format simply set the subject line of your email to ‘Convert’.
There are reasons why you would or wouldn’t want this to occur. You’ll see an example when I discuss using your Kindle to display your speaking / preaching notes.
View / Print All Your Highlights & Notes
It is easy to highlight sections of your books. You can even share your highlights if you desire. See a list of the Top 10 Most Highlighted Bible Verses.
If you want to view all your highlights and possibly cut and paste them to print them, visit http://kindle.amazon.com, log-in and click ‘Your Highlights’. Voilà.
Add Custom Screensavers & Fonts
Don’t like the gallery of dead writers that appear as screensavers (book covers) when your Kindle goes to sleep? Maybe you do like them but wish you could add your own images. Well, if you jailbreak your Kindle you can.
Do you have an obsession with a font not included with your Kindle? Again, if you jailbreak your Kindle you can add your own custom fonts.
This is a more advanced trick, so do it at your own risk. However, if you follow the instructions it should be safe. Here is a thread with all the information you will need.
You can find a gallery of Kindle Screensavers here, or simply use Google.
Play Minesweeper
Need another distraction from reading and other productive activities? If you press Shift+ALT+M from the home screen you can activate Minesweeper.
Game controls: M or enter to mark, R to restart game, and 5-way controller to move cursor.
If you press G while in Minesweeper you will activate another game, GoMoku.
Use Twitter on Your Kindle
Using the web browser built into the Kindle you can use Twitter. Twitter does have its own mobile friendly version, but it isn’t brilliant on a Kindle.
To use a Kindle-friendly version of Twitter click Menu > Experimental > Launch Browser and visit the web address http://kintweet.com
You can watch a helpful video tutorial of Kintweet here.
Use Facebook on Your Kindle
There isn’t a specially designed Kindle-friendly version of Facebook, but Facebook’s smartphone site works well.
Click Menu > Experimental > Launch Browser and visit the web address http://touch.facebook.com
Take A Screenshot of Your Kindle
If you press Shift+ALT+G a screenshot will be taken of your Kindle screen.
The screenshot will be saved as a .PNG file accessible by connecting your Kindle to your computer and looking in the documents folder.
Activate Hidden Image Viewer
Amazon does not advertise there is an image viewer built into their Kindle software. This is probably because it isn’t that good. However, if you want to try it out you can.
Connect your Kindle to your computer and create a folder called ‘pictures’. Within that folder create one or more sub-folders (these will be the name of each collection of images). Copy and paste your images into those newly created sub-folders. After disconnecting your Kindle, press ALT+Z from the home screen. The sub-folders containing your images will now appear among your books.
Get A Digest Delivered Featuring All Your Unread Articles
Every day there are articles and blog posts published online that I would like to read. Most if it, if I had the choice, I’d prefer to read comfortably away from the glare of my computer screen. With Kindle’s e-ink and Instapaper this is now possible. Here’s how:
Sign-up for a free Instapaper account and grab their ‘Read Later’ bookmarklet, placing it in the bookmarks bar of your web browser. When you come across an article you want to read later, click the ‘Read Later’ button in your bookmarks bar and it will be saved to Instapaper for you.
Configure how & when you would like to receive your digest and remember two important things:
Make sure your Kindle email address is set to @free.kindle.com, and be sure to add the unique email address they assigned you on the configuration page to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List in Amazon’s Manage Your Kindle > Personal Document Settings section.
Now, as per your custom settings, you’ll wirelessly receive an easy to read digest filled with all the unread articles and blog posts you’ve saved to Instapaper. I close my Macbook and read mine in bed or on the couch.
Use Your Kindle for Speaking / Preaching Notes
I’ve used my Kindle to display notes when I’ve given talks and preached sermons. Despite its small screen size I’ve found it to be very practical and discreet.
The main teething problem I had was learning how to control exactly what text appeared on each page / screen. I personally like to format my paper notes in such a way as to not have dot points running over two pages. I want to avoid forgetting a sub-point, verbally close off a point, and then discover the dreaded extra sub-point when I turn over.
Here is my solution to page perfect notes for use on the Kindle when public speaking:
Create a new A5 (5.8 x 8.3 inches) document in Word or Pages. For metric users A5 is close enough to the size of the Kindle screen and it has saved me having to pull out a ruler and measure it.
Type your notes using 15pt, making use of bold, underline, and shades of grey. You may want to increase that type size depending on what your eyes are comfortable with.
Save the document as a PDF. This feature should be available to most users via the print function, but if not a quick Google search will return several free software or online alternatives.
Email or USB transfer this PDF to your Kindle.
Once it has arrived, open it, press the Aa button and set the contrast to ‘darkest’.
That’s it. Remember, once you wake your Kindle you will have ten minutes before it goes to sleep again if you don’t change pages. This should be long enough for you to get to the next page, but if not I suggest you space out your notes more when you first type them.
Resources
Online Forums
If you have questions regarding your Kindle and are looking for an online community to find answers and ask questions, then I’d suggest the very popular MobileRead Forums. If you’ve found a good community of Kindle users, leave a comment and let us know.
Get Free and Cheap Books
One of the most appealing factors of any e-Reader is the possibility of growing a library of books very cheaply, if not for free. I use several of the below sites, and some of them were suggested by you when I asked on Twitter and Facebook.
eReaderIQ
This site is amazing and really helpful. It will display the latest free books on Amazon, let you know when a specific book has dropped in price, or when a title you’re after becomes available in Kindle format.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg had made a massive collection of public domain books available in a variety of eBook formats.
Baen Books
Baen Books offer a significant number of free books in the pulp sci-fi genre.
Bring The Books
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you’ll be familiar with the eBooks provided by Bring the Books. Browse the ‘Free Kindle Book’ tag and you’ll find lots of public domain books that have been carefully edited, table of contents added, ready for you to email or USB transfer to your Kindle.
Gospel eBooks
Not all the Christian books at Gospel eBooks are worth reading, but occasionally you’ll find a bargain.
Amazon Kindle Store
Visit the Christian section
Tim Challies suggested last week that you narrow your Amazon search by publisher. For example, search for “Crossway Books”
Puritan Library
The Puritan Library offer a huge collection of free puritan eBooks available in multiple formats.
CBD Reformed
Again, thanks to Tim Challies I’ve discovered CBD Reformed. Visit their less than $5 section and you might find a bargain.
Software
Aside from the Free Kindle Reading Apps
Calibre is simple to use, but it also has many advanced features. If you’re interested in digging deeper, Google search and you’ll find heaps of information out there.
Over To You…
I hope you’ve found these Amazon Kindle
If you’re a Kindle user already:
- Was any of the above new to you?
- Do you have anything you would add to this list?
Leave a comment, discuss it on Facebook, or send me on a tweet on Twitter.
Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) is a wonderful piece of free software for kindle users. It can convert most non-DRMed document formats to kindle format. It sometimes does a better job than amazon’s conversion options and gives you more control over file metadata. It will also download RSS feeds and format them into an ebook, complete with table of contents. You can include multiple feeds in one “book” if you want. It is particularly useful for newspaper feeds.
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/online-books/by-title has heaps of free books by John Piper. The font size is normally a bit on the small side for kindles, but converting them by Calibre normally solves that
A cruciform press subscription (http://cruciformpress.com/) is really worthwhile. You get a quality short Christian ebook in kindle format every month for $4 a month. You can also buy the books individually for a little more.
I’ve also just set up a new blog listing cheap non-fiction- http://www.cheapnonfiction.com/
Joanna: That’s a great point about RSS feeds in Calibre. Thanks for sharing DG, and I must say I’ve been very impressed with the titles coming out of Cruciform Press. I reviewed “But God…” recently.
I hope your new blog takes off. You’ve been very helpful as we’ve discussed the Kindle even before I purchased mine.
So … any recommendation for 6″ vs. 9.7″ screen? Trying to decide.
Susan: I’d suggest 6″ for several reasons. The smaller size is not too small for reading, and it actually suits the task nicely. Its small size makes it very portable and very light. And most significantly, and I have not the time to check this at the moment but I believe it to be correct, the DX (9.7″) does not run the latest Kindle software. As a result you miss out on things like real page numbers, public notes, and a new magazine / newspaper format.
My vote is for the 6″. Thanks for commenting and welcome to the blog.
If you intend to read a lot of pdf documents with smaller text or lots of graphics, then the bigger one might be worth the extra cost. Otherwise the smaller one will probably be better. It is considerably cheaper, has longer battery life and a few extra features. As the smaller ones are more common, I suspect you would find it easier to get accessories (cases ect.) for the smaller ones.
Thanks! Exactly the kind of things I needed to know. I very much appreciate your blog. So glad Tim Challies pointed the way to it!
I’m glad Tim did too!
I have been thinking about getting a Kindle for a long time. I had no idea there were so many little “tricks” you could do with it – so this is just another selling point.
Thanks for compiling this!
Tom
Happy to help Tom. I’m sure you’ll love it when / if you get one.
Very helpful post! The info about the best facebook and twitter links were new to me as were the instructions on how to configure for preaching/speaking. Thanks for putting this together!
Welcome to the blog, and I’m glad the post was helpful.
This is SOOO helpful! Thanks for all the information. As a new Kindle owner (I was a hold-out, scoffer, etc…), I’m delighted to have all this put together. Saves me a lot of research.
Welcome to the blog. There are a lot of us scoffers out there…until we get a Kindle. The proof is in the pudding as they say.
The only downside to buying a Kindle is how darn long it takes to ship. I ordered my June 4th, and it still hasn’t even shipped! Can’t wait to get it, though. I’ve been using the app on my phone, which is good, but the device optimized for reading will be much better.
Chris, that wait seems strange. When I got mine, the shipping time for US was only one business day. I’m in Australia, and if I recall I ordered late Thursday night here, and it arrived 9am Monday morning.
Have you checked with them to make sure everything is okay?
I had a shipping problem as well. I sent them an email (partly as a joke) and they apologized and sent it right away by 2-day, no extra charge.
I hope Chris reads your comment Michael. Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the blog.
One more web tool my son, Allen, showed me – google talk. http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/m
Thanks Ed – I’ll add it to the post.
Thanks for this. Ordered a Kindle a week ago and now am pretty keen for it to arrive. Unfortunately I thought I’d save a few bucks and just get the WiFi version… I’m starting to realise just how helpful the 3G could be.
I hear amazon is pretty good about returns so you could possibly return it and order a 3G one
I agree with Joanna, if you’ve changed your mind you may be able to change your order. 3G or not, I’m sure you’ll love it.
Great list! I can’t wait to try some of these out.
Regarding the 3G, check to see if you’re in the AT & T service area. I’ve got about 1/2 a bar most of the time, so the 3G is completely useless. I have to go up to the gas station to even upload a book. The earlier gen. had Sprint, which would have been a lot better for where I live.
Thankfully in Australia Amazon have an arrangement with our premium mobile / cellular network. Good point to consider for those in the US & elsewhere.
I have opened .pdf files in Adobe Reader and then exported the file as an HTML. After that I load the HTML into Calibre and create a .mobi file for my kindle.
This has worked well, so far, and is a pretty good way to get around the small fonts when reading a .pdf in a Kindle.
Great tip Tim. There are lots of things you can do with Calibre to fix formatting too. You can run scripts to remove headers & footers and various other strings too. It can get quite advanced, but the info is their in forums etc., if people are willing to look it up. I still haven’t got my head around it all.
Hi Nathan,
Thanks for the well formated and informative review. Question: how do you take notes if your reading a book, do have to leave that page, if come back to that page will it still show the notes on that page? (Can you organise the notes?)
The e-reader market is widening, does Kindle have the absolute edge or is it a much of a muchness?
This post is so helpful! Love the Minesweeper, oldschool game
Thank you Nathan. I was trying to view my highlights as you mentioned, but I couldn’t. My kindle is already registered, I got a profile name, but when I’m going there it says I have no kindle registered. Any idea?
Does everything work fine if you visit http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle? If that works, use the same username / email & password at https://kindle.amazon.com/ and see if that works.
Another thing: make sure on your Kindle you have clicked Menu > Sync & Check for items.
Looks thatthe “Sync & Check” action was missing. Now it’s working fine. Thank you very much Nathan!
Hi, Just bought a Kindle and am trying to follow your suggestions. I cannot change the e-mail to myname@free.kindle.com. The part of the address to the right of the @ cannot be edited. Am I missing something?
Helen, you don’t need to “change” your email address to that, simple send emails to that address. Amazon defaults to showing you your @kindle.com address so you’ll use that as a priority. If you send it to myname@free.kindle.com it will only arrive when you’re connected via WiFi and will avoid all charges.
I know you are from Australia, but here in the USA, there is a site called lendle, where you can request to borrow books and loan the books you have to other kindle users. The url is http://lendle.me I have loaned one book so far and have requested 2 from other users. The search feature is not that great and there is no index of genres to browse but you can search for a specific book. I looked for “Surpised By Grace” by Tullian the other night and am waiting to have my request answered. Its really a great way to share books. Hoping to see the site develop and expand as time goes by.