We may receive a commission for purchases made through links.
Some people prefer e-books to physical copies because they are easier to collect and exchange with. There is a Bunch of different formats in which e-books can be downloaded and read, but EPUB and PDF remain the most common. An Amazon Kindle, on the other hand, primarily uses proprietary ones File formats AZW1 and AZW3. So if you’re about to switch to a Kindle — or already love one — it’s worth noting that you can transfer ebooks and other documents in unsupported formats to your Kindle.
The Kindle remains at the top of the limited choices one has when looking for an e-reader. It was one of the longest known devices with an E Ink display and newer models – including the Kindle Scribe – make it an even more desirable device. However, using an Amazon product also means being involved in an imagery walled garden. The general consensus is that you can only read books that you either rent or buy from the Amazon store, which can discourage some people from making the switch to a Kindle, especially if their old hard drives are stacked with countless PDFs and e-books.
If you are one of those people who like to keep their precious collection of e-books or PDFs close, you can read PDFs and other digital documents on your Kindle with a very simple technique. The first technique is to share PDF files to your Kindle.
How to transfer PDF to Amazon Kindle via email
With so many streaming services are taking over our lives, the Kindle’s download-to-view technology seems to be a thing of the past. But that’s also one of the biggest benefits of owning and using a Kindle e-reader. You can download any e-book to your reader and take it with you, even when you are outside of the network connection.
The Amazon Kindle series devices support a built-in PDF reader for over a decade. However, since the Kindle runs special software, you cannot transfer files directly using a wired or wireless connection option. To view a PDF file on your Kindle, you must first transfer it to the reader.
To transfer the PDF file, you need to email it to your Send-to-Kindle email ID. This email ID is unique to your Amazon account only to import documents to your Kindle library.
Send files to your Kindle library
You can find the email ID by launching your Kindle reader. From the Kindle home screen (this is the Library), tap the three dots button in the top-right corner. Next, tap on “Settings” and then on “Your Account”. Below is an email ID ending with @kindle.com (via Amazon).
You can also find this email in the Kindle app on your Android or iOS device. In the app go to More > Settings and here you will find the Send to Kindle email address.
Just write a blank email to that address, attach the document you want to send to your Kindle, and it will appear in your library the next time it is connected to an internet connection.
Note that if you have multiple Kindles, or multiple Android or iOS devices with the Kindle app installed, the email IDs will be different. You must send documents to these email IDs separately so that they reach the respective Kindle.
In addition to PDF, this process also supports various file formats (acc Amazon). These include:
-
HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
-
RTF file (.RTF)
-
Text (.TXT)
-
JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
-
GIF (.GIF)
-
PNG (.PNG)
-
BMP (.BMP)
-
PDF (.PDF)
-
EPUB (.EPUB)
Note that native EPUB support was just recently added, and may not work as well as other file formats. This may require special attention as, unlike other file formats, an EPUB is more dynamic and contains more data, especially when it comes to how the e-book is viewed – including details of animations and graphics within the e-book.
Other methods to transfer PDFs and other documents to Amazon Kindle
Although Amazon recommends that users email documents to their Kindle devices, some archaic methods still work. You can use dedicated Send to Kindle tools that allow you to send files from a Windows PC or Mac directly to the Kindle. These apps require you to sign in to your Amazon account in order to send files.
After logging in, you can simply drag the files to the app’s area or use the browsing method to select files. In the app’s settings, you can choose to transfer the file in its original format or convert it to Amazon’s AZW format for Kindle. Warning, the latter changes the default orientation on the page and optimizes the document based on the settings on your Kindle. You can leave the option unchecked if you want to keep the original configurations of the document file.
Bonus: How to Open Web Pages on Amazon Kindle
While the Amazon Kindle is great for reading static pages of an e-book, browsing the web isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when you think of one. That doesn’t mean you can’t surf the web with a Kindle.
If you already use Kindle, you know that it lets you search any highlighted text on Wikipedia, along with a dictionary, from the reader interface. This can be further expanded to display entire webpages on the e-reader. A Kindle inherently has a web browser that can be accessed directly, as easily as a book since it is connected to the internet.
To use the web browser, tap the three dots button in the top-right corner of your Kindle home page, then tap Web Browser. This opens a primitive web browser, which can be a useful tool to help you research more about something from the e-book or document you’re reading.
The browser may not support modern dynamic web elements and loads websites like mobile devices used in the 2G internet era. But it can be a neat addition if you’re in the flow of reading and want to avoid juggling between different devices.
