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[cvkemp]

If you manually remove the books you have read and do not wish to keep on the kindle you should have plenty of space. I do not pay those setting any attention, and have no reason to use them. I keep only the books and mag. that I am reading or will be reading due to having series that I have not completed on my kindle. I do not like it loaded with a bunch of books that I am not interested in at the time. I use calibre to keep my books and transfer as needed.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I use calibre to keep my books and transfer as needed.

That's what I do too. The Kindle, or any eReader for that matter, IMHO is not ideal for indexing and searching a large number of books. Navigation is an issue. A user interface with only basic features (compared to a computer's interface) makes handling large collections of things difficult. Just the simple act of scrolling that is so trivially easy on a computer is not so nice on a eReader So like cvkemp, I use Calibre on my desktop computer for all that management. Then I'll put maybe a dozen books or so on the eReader - my top choices for "what to read next" at any given time. So I still have choice available on the eReader, and backup books available should I be on a trip and finish a book halfway through.

But just because I choose to do things this way does not mean that everyone does. And for those who want large collections on their eReaders, that's fine. The software should not try to force it's way in to handle things. From what I've read here in this thread, it appears that it doesn't. But it does give you the tools to shoot yourself in the foot if you're not careful and follow down the path to set up auto deletion in the first place.

The people with intentional large collections on their Kindles probably have that because they want to manage it themselves. So they need the auto delete feature less than anybody else. They have their own personal organization in mind. It is the clueless individual who accidentally ends up with a large collection that these "we'll save you from yourself!" features are most beneficial.

[Atunah]

It actually says "remove content from this device that has not been opened for the last:"
and then it lists the 1 month to 1 year or more so you can see how much in space/files you haven't opened in a long time. First time I even went there and by default the 1 year or more is check marked and there is no option to press the remove button because there is nothing in the 1 year or more. Since the software isn't that old yet. If I go to 1 month or 3 month, where my stuff is at the moment, then I get the option to click remove. Its an option, not a requirement. Just don't ever go to that section ever again on your kindle and everything is as it always was.

I guess its kind of like the thing on computers sometimes where it gives you the option to remove some icons if you haven't opened them in a long time. Although I haven't seen that one in a while.

So just ignore that section if you want to add and delete files as you did before. Its just an added help for those that want it.

[cvkemp]

Yes it does but you do it yourself it is not doing it on its own.

[haertig]

I can see where the confusion comes in then. If you are in the "one year" part that is checked, and there is no "remove" button displayed, it is perfectly logical to assume that this setting is not an option, but a mandatory removal.

How are you supposed to know whether "remove" button is missing because it is enforced removal, vs. missing because you have no content over one year old? No way for users to know, especially with a new feature. It is perfectly logical to assume the missing button means "mandatory removal". Poor design of this feature by Amazon. The button should always be there, but if you click it and there's actually nothing to remove, then you should be told that at the time. Hiding the button when there's nothing to remove is certainly not helping users in understanding this new feature.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by supermighty

This option looks scary. It wasn't clear to me when I first looked that it only would remove the books _if_ I pressed the Remove button.

Originally Posted by haertig

I can see where the confusion comes in then. If you are in the "one year" part that is checked, and there is no "remove" button displayed, it is perfectly logical to assume that this setting is not an option, but a mandatory removal.

How are you supposed to know whether "remove" button is missing because it is enforced removal, vs. missing because you have no content over one year old? No way for users to know, especially with a new feature. It is perfectly logical to assume the missing button means "mandatory removal". Poor design of this feature by Amazon. The button should always be there, but if you click it and there's actually nothing to remove, then you should be told that at the time. Hiding the button when there's nothing to remove is certainly not helping users in understanding this new feature.

I think this is a problem for computer application users that has been getting worse. It is getting harder when encountering an application for the first time to know whether a button (or other UI element) is going to have an immediate effect or lead to more choices. Various hints for this have been around for multiple decades, but programmers, or more likely their bosses, frequently can't bring themselves to use them, especially not consistently, even in the same application or on the same screen.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by haertig

I can see where the confusion comes in then. If you are in the "one year" part that is checked, and there is no "remove" button displayed, it is perfectly logical to assume that this setting is not an option, but a mandatory removal.

There is a remove button there - it's just greyed out. I think it's a common enough user interface convention that most users will be aware that a greyed-out button means "this option is not currently available".

[cvkemp]

Thank you Harry

[haertig]

There is a remove button there - it's just greyed out

Ahhh. I misinterpreted the previous post I was commenting on:

"no option to press the remove button"

I interpreted that to mean the button was missing. But you're correct, that could have just meant the button was grayed out. My mistake for misinterpreting.

Hopefully my repaired Kindle will arrive back home today, so I can see these new features for myself. They supposedly updated the firmware during the repair. I did not have the firmware with these features installed previously - at least I had never seen them - nor looked for that matter.

[Richwood]

If I recall I read somewhere that the removal includes side loaded items which are NOT preserved in the cloud for repeated download so this is a "feature" that could be dangerous if you do not have all side loaded books and items properly backed up. Just be aware of the risk.

Personally I think it should be modified to only remove Amazon purchased books which are also in the cloud.

[cvkemp]

Originally Posted by Richwood

If I recall I read somewhere that the removal includes side loaded items which are NOT preserved in the cloud for repeated download so this is a "feature" that could be dangerous if you do not have all side loaded books and items properly backed up. Just be aware of the risk.

Personally I think it should be modified to only remove Amazon purchased books which are also in the cloud.

They will not be removed if you do not tell it to remove them by clicking remove. What is so hard about that?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Richwood

If I recall I read somewhere that the removal includes side loaded items which are NOT preserved in the cloud for repeated download so this is a "feature" that could be dangerous if you do not have all side loaded books and items properly backed up. Just be aware of the risk.

No, it doesn’t. The text on the Kindle’s “Storage Management” page tells you exactly what it does:

Quick Archive
Free up storage by removing items downloaded from the Cloud that have not been opened recently. These items will still be accessible from the All view of your library.

That seems entirely clear and unambiguous to me. It only removes items that are in Cloud storage.