Kindle 2 as a printer

[mowbray]

I am trying to use my Kindle as if it was a printer. Presently using several PDF printers (such as PDFCreator) to help.

The problem is of course that most Word documents are created in A4 format, and most page setups for other programs assume A4 format too.

I had a good tip from daffy4u (thanks!) to change the format of the source Word document to 3.5 * 4.75 as a custom paper size. I have also use the built in A5 format with some success.

Now instead of printing my international travel confirmations on pieces of paper that get more and more dog eared, I can print to pdf and carry them on my Kindle, along with information and books galore.

What I really want though, is a 'clever' printer driver that will print to either PDF or AZW or MOBI - dont really care which. It should know that the destination paper size is A5 and automatically reflow the text to display correctly. Its a big ask I know, but it would make the Kindle that much more useful. Lots of web pages now have printer friendly options so lots of options would be opened up by this.

I'd buy it anyway. Or maybe I just made the case for the Kindle DX (too expensive).

[dwallbaum]

Amazon will convert a Word doc into an AZW file without charge..would this work?

[mowbray]

Yes, Amazon will convert docs, but the conversion varies, and what I wanted was a one step process. To send the Word file to amazon and back to my kindle either takes several steps or money!

I think the best solution that is presently available is to change the page size in Word to A5 and printing to PDF - unless you need your file to be indexed globally.

[willCode4Beer]

It's a very interesting idea.

I use Linux for my primary os (I'm a software developer) and every distro I've used always has an option to print to pdf from any application (it just looks like a printing device).

You've got me thinking, I could probably scribble a script to make a new print "device" that actually creates a 3.5 * 4.75 pdf and auto-magically mails it to the kindle (or copies to a sync directory).

I'd have to think about how to go about this on windows. I could probably write a faux driver to emulate the same behavior.

[mowbray]

Originally Posted by willCode4Beer

It's a very interesting idea.

I use Linux for my primary os (I'm a software developer) and every distro I've used always has an option to print to pdf from any application (it just looks like a printing device).

You've got me thinking, I could probably scribble a script to make a new print "device" that actually creates a 3.5 * 4.75 pdf and auto-magically mails it to the kindle (or copies to a sync directory).

I'd have to think about how to go about this on windows. I could probably write a faux driver to emulate the same behavior.

Glad I have got a programmer interested!

The challenge (I think) is not so much making the virtual printer driver itself as getting the page to flow correctly to it. I have setup my Word docs to be A5 ish size which is the closest standard size page, and then output to pdf, but its not really ideal.

Interesting to hear if you make any progress even on Linux first. I usualyl run Windows but can always run a livedisk to try it out.

[daven11]

Would you be interested in a word processor that you can just type in and save it as a .mobi file directly? (market research)

[mowbray]

Originally Posted by daven11

Would you be interested in a word processor that you can just type in and save it as a .mobi file directly? (market research)

The idea of saving documents directly to mobi is a nice one, but I dont want to have to use a different wordprocessor especially for documents for the Kindle - I want to get the normal documents that I would usually print out onto the Kindle so I dont have to print them.

Although if such a word processor was available I would probably use it like I use notepad at the moment - for simple lists and notes. But I can already do that with Notepad too as the Kindle reads ".txt" files.....

A ".mobi" virtual printer driver would be of interest....then the files I print would be fully searchable unlike pdf which doesnt support global search.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by mowbray

I am trying to use my Kindle as if it was a printer. Presently using several PDF printers (such as PDFCreator) to help.

The problem is of course that most Word documents are created in A4 format, and most page setups for other programs assume A4 format too.

I had a good tip from daffy4u (thanks!) to change the format of the source Word document to 3.5 * 4.75 as a custom paper size. I have also use the built in A5 format with some success.

Now instead of printing my international travel confirmations on pieces of paper that get more and more dog eared, I can print to pdf and carry them on my Kindle, along with information and books galore.

What I really want though, is a 'clever' printer driver that will print to either PDF or AZW or MOBI - dont really care which. It should know that the destination paper size is A5 and automatically reflow the text to display correctly. Its a big ask I know, but it would make the Kindle that much more useful. Lots of web pages now have printer friendly options so lots of options would be opened up by this.

I'd buy it anyway. Or maybe I just made the case for the Kindle DX (too expensive).

You can get a similar solution using BookCreator and calbire.

Instead of printing out the page you click on the "Create eBook" Then select the MOBI option as the eBook type.

You have to choices.
1)
Under the "eBook Reader" tab there is a "Add book to eBook Reader" check box. This option will create an eBook on your PC and on your reader.
2)
If you don't want a copy on your PC then set the "Save To:" filed to point to your <Kindle drive>:\documents

and it will create a mobi document in that directory.

It's something I did for my sony prs, now I do it for my Kindle/Storm

[=X=]

Originally Posted by mowbray

The idea of saving documents directly to mobi is a nice one, but I dont want to have to use a different wordprocessor especially for documents for the Kindle - I want to get the normal documents that I would usually print out onto the Kindle so I dont have to print them.

Just for clarity sake "BookCreator" is a MS Word template and not a new program.
To get the macros to work you must either attach the template to the word document or import the word document to the marco.

I use the latter approach as it is much faster and easier, you also do not lose any formatting that way.

[kc5cychris]

I use a peice of software called Paper port. you can format it to most any size out put that you like it will print soto speak as a pdf file then just send it to the kindle no hasssles

[mowbray]

Originally Posted by kc5cychris

I use a peice of software called Paper port. you can format it to most any size out put that you like it will print soto speak as a pdf file then just send it to the kindle no hasssles

Yes, I have seen Paper port. I am interested to know what you get for £99? I have the free cutepdf writer software for printing to pdf and my scanner software will scan to PDF too. What more does Paper port give me?