New to Forum but not to Kindle

Pearly · 01-05-2019, 08:52 PM

My First Post - Tried searching for the subject but result was confusing. Not sure whether others have encountered the same problem I encountered.

On New Years day I upgraded my old series 4 Kindle to a new Touch unit. I understand that the system is similar in most respects to the Paper White version.
I backed-up all my old 'Documents' folder from my old Kindle to my PC and connected my new Kindle.
Hello there was no Documents folder showing in Windows Explorer.
Okay, assuming I had to create one I decided to just drop my back-up copy to the Kindles root. Appeared to copy across fine BUT no Documents folder appears in my Explorer widow. Damn, I tried to create another folder in the misconception that the copy failed. Explorer rejected the attempt asking if I wanted to overwrite the existing Documents folder. The penny drops - it's a hidden folder but how can that be if I have Explorer is set to show hidden files.

This is how I solved the problem and hopefully this method might be useful to other Kindle users who experience the same problem of not seeing their Documents folder. This will work on a PC but I believe that something similar exists for OSX.

1. Note the Drive letter allocated to your Kindle when you connected it to your PC.
2. On the PC, press and hold the Windows key and simultaneously press the "R" key to open the Run dialog box.
3. Type in "CMD" not case sensitive.
4. After the ">" character, the cursor will be blinking. Type in the following (in my case my Kindle was "E" drive) - attrib E:\documents <enter> (Replace the E: with your drive letter) 5. It should return something like this (as in my case) -
SHR E:\documents
6. At the cursor again, type the following - attrib -s -h -r E:\documents 7. It should then return you back with the original entry that appeared after you first enter "CMD" E.g., in my case - C:\users\Pearly>

The "SHR" attributes in my case told me that the Documents folder I dropped to the Kindle was created by the Kindle as a 'System' 'Hidden' and 'Read only' folder. Why, I've no idea but one would assume that the Documents file was there all along and hidden. By dropping my back-up Documents folder, the Kindle just copied all the folders and files directly into its own hidden Documents folder.

To see whether your NEW Kindle has a hidden Documents folder, follow steps 2 and 3 above and then at the cursor enter - dir E:\Documents The result, if the hidden folder exists, should show you the folder and any contents. If nothing appears you need to create a "Documents" folder in Explorer in the Kindles root. Open the newly created folder and drop all you existing .mobi files and folders into it.

I hope that the above might prove useful to other users.

Cheers, Pearly.

NiLuJe · 01-05-2019, 09:09 PM

That's... weird.

The Kindle *does* set the hidden/system flag on one folder (the aptly named system one), but that shouldn't have happened to the documents folder.

In any case, despite the weirdness of the "how the hell that could happen in the first place", that's definitely one way to get rid of the flag

.

01-05-2019, 08:52 PM	#1
Pearly Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2018 Device: Kindle Touch Gen 8	New to Forum but not to Kindle My First Post - Tried searching for the subject but result was confusing. Not sure whether others have encountered the same problem I encountered. On New Years day I upgraded my old series 4 Kindle to a new Touch unit. I understand that the system is similar in most respects to the Paper White version. I backed-up all my old 'Documents' folder from my old Kindle to my PC and connected my new Kindle. Hello there was no Documents folder showing in Windows Explorer. Okay, assuming I had to create one I decided to just drop my back-up copy to the Kindles root. Appeared to copy across fine BUT no Documents folder appears in my Explorer widow. Damn, I tried to create another folder in the misconception that the copy failed. Explorer rejected the attempt asking if I wanted to overwrite the existing Documents folder. The penny drops - it's a hidden folder but how can that be if I have Explorer is set to show hidden files. This is how I solved the problem and hopefully this method might be useful to other Kindle users who experience the same problem of not seeing their Documents folder. This will work on a PC but I believe that something similar exists for OSX. 1. Note the Drive letter allocated to your Kindle when you connected it to your PC. 2. On the PC, press and hold the Windows key and simultaneously press the "R" key to open the Run dialog box. 3. Type in "CMD" not case sensitive. 4. After the ">" character, the cursor will be blinking. Type in the following (in my case my Kindle was "E" drive) - attrib E:\documents <enter> (Replace the E: with your drive letter) 5. It should return something like this (as in my case) - SHR E:\documents 6. At the cursor again, type the following - attrib -s -h -r E:\documents 7. It should then return you back with the original entry that appeared after you first enter "CMD" E.g., in my case - C:\users\Pearly> The "SHR" attributes in my case told me that the Documents folder I dropped to the Kindle was created by the Kindle as a 'System' 'Hidden' and 'Read only' folder. Why, I've no idea but one would assume that the Documents file was there all along and hidden. By dropping my back-up Documents folder, the Kindle just copied all the folders and files directly into its own hidden Documents folder. To see whether your NEW Kindle has a hidden Documents folder, follow steps 2 and 3 above and then at the cursor enter - dir E:\Documents The result, if the hidden folder exists, should show you the folder and any contents. If nothing appears you need to create a "Documents" folder in Explorer in the Kindles root. Open the newly created folder and drop all you existing .mobi files and folders into it. I hope that the above might prove useful to other users. Cheers, Pearly.

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01-05-2019, 09:09 PM	#2
NiLuJe BLAM! Posts: 13,506 Karma: 26047202 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, France Device: Kindle 2i, 3g, 4, 5w, PW, PW2, PW5; Kobo H2O, Forma, Elipsa, Sage, C2E	That's... weird. The Kindle does set the hidden/system flag on one folder (the aptly named system one), but that shouldn't have happened to the documents folder. In any case, despite the weirdness of the "how the hell that could happen in the first place", that's definitely one way to get rid of the flag .

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