My Kindle Fire Read online

  * * *

  Easy Bookmark Removal

  Bookmarks can also be deleted from the My Notes and Marks screen. Tap and hold the bookmark and tap Delete.

  * * *

  Moving to a Bookmark

  You can easily move directly to a page that you’ve bookmarked using the My Notes and Marks screen.

  1. Tap the center of a page while reading your book.

  2. Tap the Menu icon.

  3. Scroll to the bookmark.

  4. Tap the bookmark to move directly to that bookmark.

  Reading Magazines and Newspapers

  The Kindle Fire is a wonderful way to read magazines and newspapers. The full-color screen and the touch interface make the experience of reading periodicals much better than on previous Kindles.

  Reading a Page View-Enabled Magazine

  Many magazines that are available in the Kindle Store are Page View Enabled, which means that they provide two views; Page View and Text View. Page View represents the look of the actual printed magazine. Text View is a view that is better suited to reading because of the focus on text rather than graphics.

  Magazines that have Page View are labeled as Magazine - Page View Enabled in the Newsstand store. These magazines open in Page View by default.

  1. From Newsstand, tap a magazine that is Page View enabled to open it.

  2. Tap the center of a page to display page thumbnails.

  3. Tap a page thumbnail to move to that page. The current page is outlined in blue.

  4. Use the slider to quickly move to a specific page.

  5. Tap the Contents icon to see a list of articles.

  * * *

  Unread and Read Articles

  In the list of articles, unread articles are displayed with white text and articles that you’ve read are displayed in gray text.

  * * *

  6. Tap an article to move directly to the article.

  7. Swipe left to move forward one page or swipe right to move back one page. You can also tap the right edge of a page to page forward and the left edge to page backward.

  8. Double-tap or reverse pinch to zoom into a page.

  9. Slide to move to a particular place on the page.

  10. Double-tap or pinch to zoom out.

  11. Tap on the center of a page containing text.

  12. Tap the Contents icon and tap Text View to switch to Text View.

  * * *

  Reading in Text View

  When in Text View, a Page Viewenabled magazine is just like a magazine that’s not Page View enabled.

  * * *

  Reading in Text View and Reading Newspapers

  Magazines that aren’t Page View enabled always display in Text View and do not offer the option of displaying in Page View. The experience of reading a magazine in Text View and reading a newspaper is identical.

  1. From the Newsstand, tap a magazine that is not Page View enabled or tap a newspaper.

  2. Tap the center of a page to show the Progress and Options bars.

  3. Tap the arrows on the Progress bar to move forward and backwards through articles.

  4. Tap the Text icon to change text size, typeface, and color options.

  5. Tap the Contents icon to display a list of articles and sections.

  6. Tap an article to go to that article.

  7. Swipe left to move forward one page or swipe right to move back one page. You can also tap the right edge of a page to page forward and the left edge to page backward.

  * * *

  Newspaper Sections

  Many newspapers have a Sections button in the upper left that makes it easy to quickly move to a specific section.

  * * *

  Managing Personal Documents

  In addition to Kindle content from Amazon, your Kindle Fire also directly supports reading of text files and Adobe PDF files. Other file types are supported, but they first have to be converted to a format that the Kindle Fire can handle.

  Emailing a Personal Document to Kindle Fire

  The easiest way to convert a document for reading on your Kindle Fire is by emailing the document to your kindle.com email address. When you do, the Kindle Personal Document Service converts the document for you and delivers it to your Kindle over the Wi-Fi connection.

  1. If you don’t already know your kindle.com email address, tap Docs from the Home screen to display it.

  2. Create a new email message on your computer addressed to your kindle.com address.

  3. Attach the document you want to convert to the email message.

  4. Send the email message.

  * * *

  Supported File Types

  The Kindle Personal Document Service can convert Microsoft Word documents, Rich Text format, HTML files, compressed documents in Zip or X-Zip format, and Mobi books.

  * * *

  * * *

  It’s Not All Good

  Only email addresses that are on your Approved Personal Document E-Mail List can successfully send documents to your Kindle email address. After all, you don’t want strangers sending documents to your Kindle and incurring costs for conversion, do you? You can add emails to your list from the Manage Your Kindle page, and you can read more information on doing that in Chapter 4.

  * * *

  Sideloading Personal Documents

  You can sideload personal documents, as described earlier in this chapter, as long as they are in a format that the Kindle Fire supports natively. You should convert files that are not natively supported by the Kindle Fire using the Kindle Personal Document Service or a tool such as Calibre. (Calibre is discussed in detail in Chapter 5.)

  1. Connect your Kindle Fire to your computer using a micro-USB cable.

  2. Wait until your Kindle Fire notifies you that you can transfer files to it.

  3. Open your Kindle Fire on your computer and locate the Documents folder.

  4. Copy your personal document to the Documents folder.

  5. Disconnect your Kindle Fire from your computer.

  * * *

  Changing Personal Document Titles and Authors

  The title and author of your personal documents might not be what you want them to be. You can easily edit them using Calibre. Read more about Calibre in Chapter 5.

  * * *

  Reading Personal Documents

  Your experience in reading personal documents differs depending on what type of file the document is. Personal documents in Mobi eBook format have all of the features you’re used to from Kindle books, but other formats offer only a basic reading experience.

  Deleting Personal Documents

  You can easily delete personal documents from your Kindle Fire using the Docs screen.

  1. From the Docs screen, tap and hold on the personal document you want to delete.

  2. Tap Delete.

  Searching Content

  Your Kindle Fire automatically maintains a searchable index of all the content in your libraries. You can also search in Wikipedia or Google.

  Searching the Current Item

  You can search for one or more words in an item that you’re reading.

  1. While reading the item you want to search, tap the middle of a page to access the Options bar.

  2. Tap the Search icon.

  3. Enter your search words in the Search box.

  4. Tap Go.

  5. Wait for the progress bar while the search completes.

  6. Scroll to locate a specific search result.

  7. Tap to move to the search result in the text.

  Searching Wikipedia or Google from Books

  You can search Google or Wikipedia for words that you select in books. If you select more than two words, these options won’t be available.

  1. Select one or two words for which you’d like to search.

  2. Tap More.

  3. Tap Search Wikipedia to search for the selected word(s) in Wikipedia.

  4. Tap Search Google to search for the selected word(s) in Google.

>   5. After you’ve finished reading the search results, tap the Menu icon.

  6. Tap Back to Reading to go back to your book.

  * * *

  Going Back

  The Back icon can take you back to reading as well, but if you’ve clicked a link in the search results, the Back icon takes you back to the page you were viewing before you clicked the link. If you want to return to reading in one step, use the Back to Reading menu item.

  * * *

  Searching Wikipedia or Google from Periodicals and Personal Document

  Searching Wikipedia or Google from periodicals and personal documents is performed a little differently than from books.

  1. Select one or two words for which you’d like to search.

  2. Tap Wikipedia to search for the selected word(s) in Wikipedia.

  3. Tap Google to search for the selected word(s) in Google.

  4. When finished reading search results, tap the Menu icon.

  5. Tap Back to Reading.

  * * *

  Personal Documents and Books

  Remember that personal documents that are in Mobi format are treated as books and not personal documents. Therefore, search in Mobi files works just as it does with books.

  * * *

  4. Using Amazon’s Manage Your Kindle Page

  In this chapter, you’ll learn how you can use Amazon’s Manage Your Kindle page to keep track of your books, your subscriptions, and manage your payment and device information.

  • Working with Books and Docs

  • Managing Subscriptions

  • Updating Kindle Payment Information

  • Managing Your Kindle Devices

  Amazon’s Manage Your Kindle page is a one-stop location for managing your Kindle content and your Kindle devices. If you have multiple Kindle devices, the Manage Your Kindle page is even more useful.

  You can use the Manage Your Kindle page to send books from your Kindle library to any of your Kindle devices. You can also use it to see the periodicals you subscribe to, and you can manage those subscriptions as well. There are also links to manage your method of payment to Amazon so that you can ensure that items you purchase on your Kindle Fire get charged to the right credit card. Finally, you can register and deregister Kindles and rename your Kindle from the Manage Your Kindle page.

  Working with Books and Docs

  You can view all of the books and docs in your library using Manage Your Kindle. You can also transfer them to your Kindle. Books are eBooks that you’ve purchased from Amazon’s Kindle store. Your docs can also be eBooks, but ones that you purchased from a third-party or obtained from another source other than Amazon. Docs that you see listed in Manage Your Kindle have been emailed to your kindle.com email address for document conversion. Manage Your Kindle won’t list docs that you sideload to your Kindle Fire using the micro-USB cable.

  * * *

  What’s Up with Docs?

  When I talk about “docs,” I’m talking about Kindle Personal Documents. I use the term “docs” because the Kindle Fire uses the Docs screen for your Personal Documents.

  Docs are covered in detail in the Managing Personal Documents section in Chapter 3, “Reading on the Kindle Fire.”

  * * *

  Accessing Manage Your Kindle

  Manage Your Kindle is a web page that you access using the Web browser on your computer or using Silk on your Kindle Fire.

  1. Open your web browser.

  2. Browse to www.amazon.com/managey-ourkindle.

  3. Log in using your email address and Amazon password if prompted.

  Viewing Books and Docs

  Manage Your Kindle’s default view shows you your Kindle books, but you can view other content types as well. I talk about handling newspapers and magazines in the next section. This section covers just books and docs.

  From the Manage Your Kindle page, you can select the type of content you want to view using the View drop-down. Content can be sorted by title, author, or by date by clicking on one of the column headers. The first click of a column header sorts in ascending order, and if you click the same column header again, that column will sort in descending order.

  If you want to see details on an item, click the plus sign next to the item title. If you have a lot of content and you want to search for a particular item, enter a search term and click Go.

  * * *

  Why Use Manage Your Kindle?

  A lot of the functionality in Manage Your Kindle is also available on your Kindle Fire. However, if you have multiple Kindles, Manage Your Kindle is a great way to manage content on all of them. It’s also convenient to use Manage Your Kindle when someone else in the family is using your Kindle Fire, something that’s likely to happen.

  * * *

  Sending Books and Docs to Your Kindle

  You can send books and docs to a Kindle device. Books can also be sent to the Kindle app running on your computer or a mobile device. Content is delivered to your Kindle within a minute, assuming you are connected to Wi-Fi.

  * * *

  Kindle Apps

  When I mention Kindle apps in this chapter, I’m not talking about apps installed on your Kindle Fire. I’m talking about the Kindle app that you can use on a computer, iPad, or your mobile phone.

  * * *

  1. Locate the book or doc that you want to send to your Kindle.

  2. Point to the Actions drop-down.

  3. Click on Deliver to My.

  4. Select the device from the drop-down. If the doc you are sending to your Kindle isn’t in a format supported by a particular device, that device is not available in the drop-down.

  5. Click Deliver.

  * * *

  Sending Docs

  Docs can only be sent to Kindle devices. You cannot send them to a computer or mobile device running the Kindle app.

  * * *

  Downloading Books to a Computer

  You can download books to your computer. (This option is not available for docs.) After you download a book, you need to sideload it to your Kindle using the micro-USB cable.

  1. Point to the Actions drop-down.

  2. Click Download & Transfer via USB.

  3. Select the Kindle to which you plan to transfer the book.

  4. Click Download.

  5. Save the book using your browser’s download option.