Starting over on my Kindle 3

[crich70]

Is there a simple direct way to remove large #'s of books from the Kindle without having to delete each one, one at a time? My Kindle is getting kind of cluttered of late (when I'd buy a book I ended up having them go directly to my Kindle3 rather than thinking of having them go to my Kindle App. I'd like to be able to organize my books a bit more neatly but there are so many it's hard to know where to start.

[markdek]

use Calibre to remove "chunks" of book at a time

[slkissinger]

I use Calibre for that. There is a plugin for 'Kindle Collections' as well. I just did something similar a few weeks ago.

1. Calibre; and get the Plugin for Kindle Collections.
2. In Calibre, make up a new custom column (preferences, add your own column), to store the names of your Collections when you use the Kindle Collection plugin.
3. after plugging in your kindle, copy your books from your kindle into calibre (yeah, might take a while if you have a lot).
4. Use Kindle Collection plugin to copy the collection tags from the Kindle to the books that are now in Calibre.
5. Do whatever cleanup you need on the Kindle itself (If you really mean to wipe it, just go to the drive letter\Documents, and delete everything in that folder)
6. Back in Calibre, copy all the books back to your now-empty Kindle.
7. I cleaned up my collections in Calibre first; put things in only 1 Collection for example. Then I used the plugin to put the collection tags onto the books on the Kindle.

and, done!

Note that some things will be lost, I think, if you wipe it like this. Some of your metadata, like highlights or notes which are stored in the Kindle:\Documents\MyClippings.txt, or bookmarks in bookname.MBP or bookname.apnx file. But I'm not really sure about that. If you're paranoid, before wiping out Kindle:\documents folder, you may want to copy the whole thing to a backup location locally on your computer, just in case you have something important in those files.

[HarryT]

Or just delete them using Windows Explorer.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Or just delete them using Windows Explorer.

This. Plug in the USB cable and highlight all the folders and files for deletion (in the 'Documents 'Folder). Delete as many as your heart desires all at once. Why over-complicate things?

Or if you're serious about starting over (as the thread title implies) and want the quickest, easiest solution... just do a factory reset. Your Kindle will be like brand new (unless you've done some hacking).

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Or just delete them using Windows Explorer.

True.

But you need to be careful to remove all related auxiliary files (.mbp, .phl, ...) together with the main file (.azw). Otherwise, those auxiliary files remain in the Kindle flush memory, using up some space forever.

Another problem to use Windows Explorer for the purpose is that it may be unclear which file is for which book. My MobiHandler may help in the case. (Ah, yes, this is a sort of an ad. )

[RainingLemur]

I'd just do a factory reset. Start from scratch.

[Harry_Y]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I'd just do a factory reset. Start from scratch.

That was my thought

I did a factory reset on one of mine and it cleared out everything

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by crich70

Is there a simple direct way to remove large #'s of books from the Kindle without having to delete each one, one at a time? My Kindle is getting kind of cluttered of late (when I'd buy a book I ended up having them go directly to my Kindle3 rather than thinking of having them go to my Kindle App. I'd like to be able to organize my books a bit more neatly but there are so many it's hard to know where to start.

in calibre there's a subcommand under 'remove books' that says 'remove matching books from device'. also you can view 'device' instead of 'library' and delete in bulk from there. both are better than using windows (or linux or apple's os) to do it (which all work too, but require more effort/thought).

[chas0039]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Your Kindle will be like brand new (unless you've done some hacking).

Does a factory reset undo jailbreak on a Kindle 3?

[Mike L]

The trick is to remove each book soon after you've finished reading it. That way, the Kindle won't get cluttered up, and you won't need to delete books en masse.

[markdek]

Originally Posted by Mike L

The trick is to remove each book soon after you've finished reading it. That way, the Kindle won't get cluttered up, and you won't need to delete books en masse.

Yeah, I thought and did that once, but, it's actually nice to be able to go back to books that I've read, to search for info/text/quotes, do research, reread minor sections, and just generally have books I've read available for display.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by chas0039

Does a factory reset undo jailbreak on a Kindle 3?

Yeah, it'll undo the standard jailbreak. You'd have to ask the developers if a reset reverts everything that the jailbreak changes/adds. I don't know for sure.

[Harry_Y]

Originally Posted by chas0039

Does a factory reset undo jailbreak on a Kindle 3?

I thought it did .......

But then when I went to re-jailbreak mine I found that it was still active from
before the factory reset, though it did appear to clear out the screen-saver hack.

[Gort]

Originally Posted by Mike L

The trick is to remove each book soon after you've finished reading it. That way, the Kindle won't get cluttered up, and you won't need to delete books en masse.

I personally just add the book to my own created "Finished Books" collection once I've finished it. That way, I can stop the clutter and retain the book on the Kindle, in case I need to quickly reference it again.