Text/PDFs with Author Field

94dgrif · 12-18-2010, 08:17 PM

Hey all

I'm new to the world of eReaders - literally less than an hour with them! I'm trying to set up my wife's birthday present - her new Kindle 3 Wi-Fi. I want to load all of her revision material, which are mostly personally typed text files, with some PDF lecture slides, and several more exotic files (Excel etc). I've resigned myself that the best I can do with the exotic files is to use a PDF printer to convert them to PDFs for her to read through. Though that's a headache for another day.

Basically I've dragged and dropped the text files into the documents folder of her Kindle from my computer. I've gone to the Home screen of th eKindle and verified they're all there and readable. However they are all spread out en masse without any order. I'd like some advice to my options for sorting these to make them easier to find and digest. If it were a PC I'd just move the files for each school class to a different folder, but I doubt the Kindle allows subfolders. I suspect I'll have to make use of the Author field by somehow assigning an 'author' to each file, which would be a pain to do for so many files but I am willing to do it.

Does anyone have a solution to my problem? Would it work for PDFs as well as text files?

FF2 · 12-18-2010, 09:35 PM

you can create COLLECTIONS. Find a document, press the RIGHT side of the 5-way and chose "add to collection" and then you can create new collections. You mentioned CLASSES or some such. You could define various collections.

Under the document folder, you can for organization purposes, make subfolders and the Kindle will find the docs. It is blind to folders but it helps with your organization. Then use the collection feature. It may take some experimenting and she might want a different organization but that's her issue(g)

94dgrif · 12-24-2010, 01:05 PM

Wow I only just received a subscription reminder this morning from mobileread.com to alert me there had been a reply!

Thank you very much for your post FF2. The Collections idea is a good one, and I've been working through setting them to specific Collections. It's such a pain to do it that way, especially as some notes are just a few scribbles on a page...

I've done enough for now though and giving the present as is. I suspect she'll want me to work on it later too however. Do you know if Collections are records stored in some hidden areas of the Kindle, or if they are stored within the book file itself? If it's the latter, I might be able to find/make a batch Collections editor, but if it's the former I doubt there will be a quick fix.

CWatkinsNash · 12-24-2010, 05:34 PM

There are a couple of software solutions available here on the forums. Check out these threads:

Kindle Collection Manager

Kindelabra

Here is a script solution that works in conjunction with Calibre:
Creating Kindle Collections from Calibre's Data

Also, if you search for "managing Kindle collections" you'll come up with lots of organization ideas that others have tried.

Hope this helps!
CW

CWatkinsNash · 12-24-2010, 05:40 PM

Oh, and to answer your question, the collections are stored in a file, not in the book. It's basically a text file that uses unique identifiers so that the Kindle knows what goes where. It's in the "hidden" system folder on the Kindle that you can see if you enable your computer to see protected system files and folders (for Windows, at least, don't know the function on other OSes). The file name is collections.json if you'd like to take a gander at it. It will open in Notepad or any other text editor.

Outside changes to the file require a restart before the Kindle will read the changes, which is why the solutions in my previous post will instruct you to restart.

94dgrif · 12-31-2010, 12:18 PM

All the information I was missing - thank you so much! That was the perfect answer.

CWatkinsNash · 12-31-2010, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 94dgrif

All the information I was missing - thank you so much! That was the perfect answer.

Glad to be of help!

My obsessive organizational tendencies have always been focused towards music and books, and ebooks are apparently no exception, so I've spend entirely too much time looking into all things related to Kindle Collections. Because of the wonderful developers who have made managing them easier and more flexible, I actually have time to read.

12-18-2010, 08:17 PM	#1
94dgrif Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle 3 Wi-Fi	Text/PDFs with Author Field Hey all I'm new to the world of eReaders - literally less than an hour with them! I'm trying to set up my wife's birthday present - her new Kindle 3 Wi-Fi. I want to load all of her revision material, which are mostly personally typed text files, with some PDF lecture slides, and several more exotic files (Excel etc). I've resigned myself that the best I can do with the exotic files is to use a PDF printer to convert them to PDFs for her to read through. Though that's a headache for another day. Basically I've dragged and dropped the text files into the documents folder of her Kindle from my computer. I've gone to the Home screen of th eKindle and verified they're all there and readable. However they are all spread out en masse without any order. I'd like some advice to my options for sorting these to make them easier to find and digest. If it were a PC I'd just move the files for each school class to a different folder, but I doubt the Kindle allows subfolders. I suspect I'll have to make use of the Author field by somehow assigning an 'author' to each file, which would be a pain to do for so many files but I am willing to do it. Does anyone have a solution to my problem? Would it work for PDFs as well as text files?

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12-18-2010, 09:35 PM	#2
FF2 Wizard Posts: 1,105 Karma: 1025784 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: WiFi Kindle3	you can create COLLECTIONS. Find a document, press the RIGHT side of the 5-way and chose "add to collection" and then you can create new collections. You mentioned CLASSES or some such. You could define various collections. Under the document folder, you can for organization purposes, make subfolders and the Kindle will find the docs. It is blind to folders but it helps with your organization. Then use the collection feature. It may take some experimenting and she might want a different organization but that's her issue(g)

12-24-2010, 01:05 PM	#3
94dgrif Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle 3 Wi-Fi	Wow I only just received a subscription reminder this morning from mobileread.com to alert me there had been a reply! Thank you very much for your post FF2. The Collections idea is a good one, and I've been working through setting them to specific Collections. It's such a pain to do it that way, especially as some notes are just a few scribbles on a page... I've done enough for now though and giving the present as is. I suspect she'll want me to work on it later too however. Do you know if Collections are records stored in some hidden areas of the Kindle, or if they are stored within the book file itself? If it's the latter, I might be able to find/make a batch Collections editor, but if it's the former I doubt there will be a quick fix.

12-24-2010, 05:34 PM	#4
CWatkinsNash IOC Chief Archivist Posts: 3,950 Karma: 53868218 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Fruitland Park, FL, USA Device: Meebook M7, Paperwhite 2021, Fire HD 8+, Fire HD 10+, Lenovo Tab P12	There are a couple of software solutions available here on the forums. Check out these threads: Kindle Collection Manager Kindelabra Here is a script solution that works in conjunction with Calibre: Creating Kindle Collections from Calibre's Data Also, if you search for "managing Kindle collections" you'll come up with lots of organization ideas that others have tried. Hope this helps! CW

12-24-2010, 05:40 PM	#5
CWatkinsNash IOC Chief Archivist Posts: 3,950 Karma: 53868218 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Fruitland Park, FL, USA Device: Meebook M7, Paperwhite 2021, Fire HD 8+, Fire HD 10+, Lenovo Tab P12	Oh, and to answer your question, the collections are stored in a file, not in the book. It's basically a text file that uses unique identifiers so that the Kindle knows what goes where. It's in the "hidden" system folder on the Kindle that you can see if you enable your computer to see protected system files and folders (for Windows, at least, don't know the function on other OSes). The file name is collections.json if you'd like to take a gander at it. It will open in Notepad or any other text editor. Outside changes to the file require a restart before the Kindle will read the changes, which is why the solutions in my previous post will instruct you to restart.

12-31-2010, 12:18 PM	#6
94dgrif Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle 3 Wi-Fi	All the information I was missing - thank you so much! That was the perfect answer.