How to get your PDF documents on the Kindle:
One of the things I love about the Kindle is that now I can read all my pdf files on it, instead of being forced to read them on my computer. Even reading them on a laptop is kind of a pain since you have to lug the laptop around.
Now you can read your pdfs in bed if you want.
Here is how to get your pdfs onto your Kindle ebooks reader.
There are two ways to get PDFs onto a Kindle.
The first way:
If you have the Kindle software version 2.3, you can simply plug your kindle into your computer with the enclosed usb cable. Once its plugged in, you will be able to see the kindle as a ‘disk drive’ in Windows explorer or the Mac’s Finder. At this point all you need to do is drag the pdf file you want onto the kindle. There is no conversion, nothing…. The Kindle’s operating system 2.3 can read and interpret a native pdf file.
The up side to getting the pdf file on your kindle this way is precisely that… no conversion. Just drag and drop.
The downside is that (depending on the particular pdf file) it will be formatted to fit the screen so that each page of the pdf file will be on your screen … that means in most cases the font will be small, if not tiny.
This is also the only case where I’ve found that the font cannot be increased in size.
I prefer the second method of transferring your pdfs to the Kindle
The second way:
When you first get your kindle, one of the things Amazon asks for when you register it, is a ‘kindle’ email address. By default, the ending part of the email address is @kindle.com and all you have to do is tell Amazon what you want the first part to be. So, you could create a kindle email address of Arts_kindle@kindle.com.
Once you have your Kindle email address, all you have to do is email whatever pdf file you want to it, and within just a few minutes (sometimes seconds) you will get a reply with your ‘converted’ pdf file.
The act of emailing your pdf file to your kindle email address tells Amazon’s servers that you have a file that needs to be converted to the Kindle format.
So here is how it works:
Step 1. From your regular email, mail a copy of the pdf file to your kindle email address. Let say my normal email address is art@yahoo.com and my kindle email address is arts_kindle@kindle.com.
I would write an email from art@yahoo.com TO arts_kindle@kindle.com with my pdf file as an attachment. You don’t need to put any subject line or any text in the email… Just the pdf file.
Hit the send button.
Within a few minutes you’ll get a reply from your kindle email address (in this case, Arts_kindle@kindle.com with an attachment that is the Amazon Kindle version of your pdf file.
Just download that to your computer, plug in your Kindle to your computer using the usb cable, and then drag and drop the converted pdf file over to your kindle.
(You can have Amazon deliver it wirelessly to your Kindle if you want, but Amazon charges a fee each time they do that with pdf files, so I don’t do it).
It sounds a lot more complicated in writing than it really is. Just try it and you will see how easy it is.
The downside to method #2? having to convert the pdf file.
The upside to method #2? Now that the pdf file is in the Amazon Kindle format, you can increase the font size and page through it just like a Kindle book.
To me the extra effort of going through the conversion process is worth the trouble.
