Kindle Scribe

[jhowell]

To follow up on the use of KFX for personal documents, both books appear to have the same internal formatting as published books. The PDF was converted to KFX print replica format, which includes the original PDF but also adds a hidden text layer that the Kindle uses for dictionary lookups and annotations.

One difference is that published KFX books are always split across multiple files on a Kindle device. That is not the case with these books. Everything is actually in a single file that can be copied to another Kindle app or device.

I tried both KFX files on my Oasis running 5.15.1 firmware. The book produced from an EPUB worked fine. The PDF-sourced book was readable but I was unable to lookup words or annotate it. The same KFX file sideloaded to the Kindle for iOS app handled lookup and annotation properly.

[LDB]

Turns out the bottom margin is fine. Apparently the specific page in the photo had something going on as other pages have a small bottom margin.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by LDB

Turns out the bottom margin is fine. Apparently the specific page in the photo had something going on as other pages have a small bottom margin.

Probably widow/orphan elimination, i.e. the next line was the first line in a paragraph that had > 2 lines in it.

[innocenat]

I wondered if fixed-layout epub (comics/manga) are also converted to KFX.

Though the Scribe doesn't support sticky note on comics/manga anyway so I guess they are still find with delivering them in AZW3.

[nprentiss]

Originally Posted by pendragginp

Introducing a different thought, is anyone else having problems opening books from their Kindle library on the Scribe? I find that if I have the book also in an Audible version the Audible is the only one that downloads.

If this has already been asked please forgive and point me to the posts? Thx

You might be having a version of the same problem I had initially. All my bought-at-Amazon audiobooks appeared in my library at my first setup, but only books purchased in the past year showed up in my library (I could send them to my Scribe from the Manage Content and Devices page @ the Amazon site).

For some reason, the other books didn't show up in my library until several days later--and it just happend, without my doing anything to trigger it.

[tomsem]

So at present, these KFX personal documents only get sent to Scribe?

I just tried converting an ePub and it didn't download as KFX on my PW11th. Guessing and hoping they will throw a switch to enable this for other Kindles and the Kindle apps.

[jhowell]

Amazon delivering KFX format to the Scribe for personal documents may be a sign that the new annotation features of that platform require KFX format. There are some books for sale on Amazon that use reflowable format but are not available in KFX format, for example Predators I Have Known Kindle Edition with Audio/Video and That's a Wrap from The Sea of Tranquility. These books do not support Enhanced Typesetting (KFX format) and the listings for those books show "Sticky notes Not Enabled".

I am curious how sticky notes and PDF annotations are actually stored on a Scribe. Regular text annotations for KFX format are stored in a .yjr file in the .sdr folder associated with the book. In the KFX personal documents posted earlier in this thread the .yjr file associated with the PDF document has a new data structure called "annotation.personal.handwritten_note". Where the text of a regular annotation would appear it instead has the string "cv5GW4xHvSmWMXVPefHzMPQ0". There is no apparent sign of an actual annotation image. Perhaps it is stored elsewhere on the device.

[sanch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can you use negative margins with the Scribe to get rid of the wasted L/R margins?

Yes, I did this today via Calibre, converted an epub to kfx for the non-justified text alignment. -100 to reach the very edge of the screen, so I went with -75 to leave a tiny bit of space and still get more words on a line than the default.
The hand icon overlaps, but I put it on the right side and at -75 it’s an acceptable trade-off.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by sanch

The hand icon overlaps, but I put it on the right side and at -75 it’s an acceptable trade-off.

What is the hand icon for, and is it possible to hide it?

[tomsem]

Allow me to take the opportunity to point out the absurdity of the asymmetric tap zones ('Easy Reach'), particularly on a screen the size of the Scribe with its 'grip'. It has always only ever worked if you are holding it in your left hand. If you hold in right hand, there's no easy reach of the Previous page zone. And with Scribe, it seems that it is more difficult to reach over with a thumb while holding this device on the left side and reach the 'forward' zone. Is it possible to turn pages comfortably with left hand only?

At the least they should make Next zone next to the grip as that is usually what you want to do. After all, the device orientation is known. (should apply to Oasis as well)

And even on my (non-Scribe Kindles) I keep tapping the middle of the screen to bring up options, as is the way of doing things on virtually ever other reading device or reading app.

Enough, Amazon! Let's have 'standard' tap zones at least, if not some tap zone options.

[sanch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

What is the hand icon for, and is it possible to hide it?

Good call out here— I just looked it up in the manual, and it is possible to hide it. Now I feel silly for not having looked it up earlier.
It’s the writing toolbar for annotating.

[LDB]

Don't they also offer an option of top and bottom half so either hand can easily turn either page depending on how high/low one taps? Or is that a smarter than Amazon company like Kobo or someone?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by LDB

Don't they also offer an option of top and bottom half so either hand can easily turn either page depending on how high/low one taps? Or is that a smarter than Amazon company like Kobo or someone?

Nope. On the Oasis, you can reverse the default behavior of the page turn buttons, but Scribe does not have any. Every touch screen Kindle has been the same way.

I remember them being quite proud of this weirdness (in the marketing anyway), as if it were some bit of genius. I do understand the point: usually you want to page Forward, so make that region larger and easier to tap from the left side (and it does reverse for manga). But at least I never tap with my left thumb; I'm more of a swiper, as it is a little more predictable. It's not terrible, but I would just like center tap to do what it does with most reading apps and have the option to set it that way.

[LDB]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Nope. On the Oasis, you can reverse the default behavior of the page turn buttons, but Scribe does not have any. Every touch screen Kindle has been the same way.

I remember them being quite proud of this weirdness (in the marketing anyway), as if it were some bit of genius. I do understand the point: usually you want to page Forward, so make that region larger and easier to tap from the left side (and it does reverse for manga). But at least I never tap with my left thumb; I'm more of a swiper, as it is a little more predictable. It's not terrible, but I would just like center tap to do what it does with most reading apps and have the option to set it that way.

Yep, I double checked. It's a much smarter company, Kobo. They offer 4 different setups for tapping to page turn, one being 50/50 top and bottom. Guaranteed to work no matter which hand is holding the device. Amazon should license that.

[John F]

Originally Posted by LDB

Yep, I double checked. It's a much smarter company, Kobo. They offer 4 different setups for tapping to page turn, one being 50/50 top and bottom. Guaranteed to work no matter which hand is holding the device. Amazon should license that.

Maybe true, maybe not.

The middle two choices mirror each other, why aren't there mirrors for the 1st and 4th? And what if you like to change hands fairly often, seems rather inconvenient to have to go into the menu each time? And why not provide one choice where the entire screen page forwards as an option?

Some of this may be provided by patching.