Newish Kindle Owner...I must admit, I'm a little overwhelmed

JMC08 · 11-17-2011, 08:07 PM

Hi all,

I got a Kindle Keyboard about two months ago, and I have been reading up on different aspects of working with your Kindle over this time. I'm pretty computer and forum literate, so I've been able to set up Calibre and get a bunch of epubs on my kindle for reading.

There are a few issues though that, even though I have spent time browsing through and reading on, I am overwhelmed on what to do. I see so many options and so much computer code which I don't understand (and don't have an interest in understanding if I don't need to). I was hoping someone could help me out on a few key sticking points I'm having...

1. The best PDF converter for the non-coder: I understand that no converter will be perfect. I have tried numerous clean PDFs in calibre but there are always header/footer/page number and sometimes chopped off sentences and three word lines and such. I have read that Mobipocket Creator does a really good job tackling these problems. Is it the best converter, and do I have to do something special to get it to recognize the aforementioned pitfalls? If it isn't the best, what is?

2. Highlights and Annotations/Metadata: Is there a quick way to back up all of my highlights,notes, and metadata so that it is stored somewhere besides my Kindle? Better yet, can this data be viewed nicely on my computer?

3. Amazon says they back up everything to the cloud, but I've gotten the sense that this is only for books purchased through them. True?

4. I have an iPhone, and when trying to view pdfs I have to zoom in and out and such, and its pretty messy. Is there an app that converts pdfs on the fly into a nice readable format? Or do I have to do it all on the computer first?

5. Is there a way to include pictures in articles sent to the kindle through instapaper?

I realized this is a very lengthy post, so I do appreciate any amount of input given to help. Thanks a lot.

Toxaris · 11-18-2011, 02:07 AM

Ad 1. There is none. All of the converters will result in manual correction work. The amount also depends on the source. Personally I would rather throw the PDF through the OCR track.

Ad 2. No idea, perhaps with the Kindle of PC software?

Ad 3. I would not be surprised. I would always want a local copy.

Ad 4. Convert to anything except PDF. It is a shortcoming of PDF.

Ad 5. No idea, I don't have a kindle.

DaleDe · 11-18-2011, 04:27 PM

4. You might want to try Bluefire reader. It can reflow a PDF for reading on a smaller device.

Dale

dwig · 11-19-2011, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

4. You might want to try Bluefire reader. It can reflow a PDF for reading on a smaller device.

Dale

Dale: The OP has a Kindle Keyboard (aka K3) so there is no option for using a different PDF reader.

JMC08: RE #2 - check out the "My Clippings.txt" file generated in your Kindle's \documents folder. It contains all of the annotations that you've created in plain text format.

As to PDF conversion, they taught us about that in nursery school. Remember "Humpty Dumpty"? Simply read "Humpty Dumpty" as being the original document, "the great fall" as being the conversion to PDF, and "all the King's horses and all the King's men" as being all of the available tools for converting a PDF back into a linear document.

JMC08 · 11-21-2011, 07:27 PM

Thanks for the useful information guys. The 'My Clippings' file is great...thanks dwig for pointing me towards it. I am going to try out MobiPocketCreator on a few pdfs, and just see what happens. I noticed it has automatic header and footer removal, which is exactly what I was looking for.

susan_cassidy · 11-22-2011, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMC08

2. Highlights and Annotations/Metadata: Is there a quick way to back up all of my highlights,notes, and metadata so that it is stored somewhere besides my Kindle? Better yet, can this data be viewed nicely on my computer?

Your highlights and annotations are kept in the .mbp file which accompanies the .azw or .mobi file. A separate copy (human-readable) is placed in "My Clippings.txt". If you copy the .mbp file to your pc, or whereever, you will have a backup of those. Make sure that the filename matches what goes on the Kindle.

Also, if you sync annotations, etc., you can log onto kindle.amazon.com and view your highlights and notes there.

Edited to add: the metadata is stored in the book file itself, so no need to back it up.

11-17-2011, 08:07 PM	#1
JMC08 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Kindle 3	Newish Kindle Owner...I must admit, I'm a little overwhelmed Hi all, I got a Kindle Keyboard about two months ago, and I have been reading up on different aspects of working with your Kindle over this time. I'm pretty computer and forum literate, so I've been able to set up Calibre and get a bunch of epubs on my kindle for reading. There are a few issues though that, even though I have spent time browsing through and reading on, I am overwhelmed on what to do. I see so many options and so much computer code which I don't understand (and don't have an interest in understanding if I don't need to). I was hoping someone could help me out on a few key sticking points I'm having... 1. The best PDF converter for the non-coder: I understand that no converter will be perfect. I have tried numerous clean PDFs in calibre but there are always header/footer/page number and sometimes chopped off sentences and three word lines and such. I have read that Mobipocket Creator does a really good job tackling these problems. Is it the best converter, and do I have to do something special to get it to recognize the aforementioned pitfalls? If it isn't the best, what is? 2. Highlights and Annotations/Metadata: Is there a quick way to back up all of my highlights,notes, and metadata so that it is stored somewhere besides my Kindle? Better yet, can this data be viewed nicely on my computer? 3. Amazon says they back up everything to the cloud, but I've gotten the sense that this is only for books purchased through them. True? 4. I have an iPhone, and when trying to view pdfs I have to zoom in and out and such, and its pretty messy. Is there an app that converts pdfs on the fly into a nice readable format? Or do I have to do it all on the computer first? 5. Is there a way to include pictures in articles sent to the kindle through instapaper? I realized this is a very lengthy post, so I do appreciate any amount of input given to help. Thanks a lot.

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11-18-2011, 02:07 AM	#2
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Ad 1. There is none. All of the converters will result in manual correction work. The amount also depends on the source. Personally I would rather throw the PDF through the OCR track. Ad 2. No idea, perhaps with the Kindle of PC software? Ad 3. I would not be surprised. I would always want a local copy. Ad 4. Convert to anything except PDF. It is a shortcoming of PDF. Ad 5. No idea, I don't have a kindle.

11-18-2011, 04:27 PM	#3
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	4. You might want to try Bluefire reader. It can reflow a PDF for reading on a smaller device. Dale

11-21-2011, 07:27 PM	#5
JMC08 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Kindle 3	Thanks for the useful information guys. The 'My Clippings' file is great...thanks dwig for pointing me towards it. I am going to try out MobiPocketCreator on a few pdfs, and just see what happens. I noticed it has automatic header and footer removal, which is exactly what I was looking for.

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