What Can You Do on a Kindle Besides Read Books
15 and a one-half Amazon Kindle tips and tricks to assist with your new ereader
Make the most of your Kindle
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If you've simply joined the wonderful world of Kindle ownership, or are a veteran of the club looking to teach your old dog new tricks, nosotros've used them enough to have loads of useful tips and tricks that y'all might not know about.
Amazon Kindle ereaders are terrific devices for volume fans, as they let you send and access whole libraries on one slender device, but there's so much more than you can do with them to enhance the reading ability.
That's why we drew up this list of useful Kindle tips and tricks, and then you can truly capeesh your Amazon ereader. In that location are fifteen full features and one one-half i, and hopefully below we've got at least ane entry that'll assist y'all with your Kindle.
New such devices are ever coming out, with the Kindle Paperwhite family the new additions for 2021, and these tips and tricks will piece of work whether y'all have an older model or the brand newest.
1. Change the font and page color and size
There are a couple of means of changing how your Kindle page looks, and depending on your preferences, you lot might desire to tweak these to make reading equally comfortable as possible.
Firstly, there is a Dark Fashion like almost electronic devices have, which makes the background dark and the text light. Toggle this by pressing 'Settings' from the master menu, then 'Dark Fashion' at the peak. Information technology'south easy to utilise, so there's no damage in doing then to encounter how information technology looks.
In that location are loads more options, though. Jump into a volume, tap the screen at the elevation, then press the 'Aa' text logo. In here you can bound betwixt different themes which affects the font, size and disrespect of the font, and save presets if you prefer, and change the kerning or spacing of words and lines. You can really customize the words to your heart's content.
Want an piece of cake way to modify font size? Use ii fingers and pinch them together on the screen, to quickly bring up the font size slider to adjust them while you're reading.
Furthermore, depending on your Kindle, yous can press 'Settings' at the top to discover a style to adjust the effulgence and warmth of the page itself. Warmth basically gives a folio a redder crispy hue, equally though you're reading on an older book.
2. Sign upwards to a subscription service
Avid book readers can salve coin past signing up to reading subscription services instead of buying new books individually.
If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you're already on 1 of them - Prime number Reading lets you download from a select catalogue of texts, and you can have whatever 10 on your Kindle at in one case. You tin read our total write-up of the service here.
The big service is Kindle Unlimited, which doesn't come up with Prime so yous'll have to buy information technology yourself. For $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$ 13.99 a month you tin get unlimited access to over a one thousand thousand books, as well as audiobooks, magazines and comics. For prolific readers, you lot'll likely save quite a bit of coin using Unlimited instead of buying books.
There are more services though. ComiXology is a big one, which y'all can read nearly here, and it lets yous download loads of comic books onto your Kindle. If you take an ereader with Bluetooth audio functionality, Audible is also a great selection as it works with Kindles, and nosotros'll explore that in more item after on this list.
iii. Set up a Kindle password
If y'all're security witting, y'all might desire to set a countersign for your Kindle, to cease people reading your books or other files stored on the device.
Doing this is like shooting fish in a barrel. From the main Kindle menu press 'Settings' at the acme, and then 'All Settings', so 'Device Options' and then 'Device Passcode.
Now you can set up a numerical code to protect the Kindle, and while this will make jumping into a story or verse form a lilliputian harder, information technology will mean other people can't practise then fifty-fifty if your Kindle is stolen.
four. Become definitions of words
If you're reading a book and the language starts to misfile you - maybe you haven't seen a word before, or the text is from another dialect or time menstruum - you don't have to but gloss over the discussion. Your Kindle has a congenital-in dictionary.
But press and hold on a word that you're unfamiliar with, and the dictionary volition popular upwards telling you various meanings of a word. Information technology'll even tell you regional ones, depending on where your text is set or who wrote it.
The best part is, this dictionary doesn't use the internet, so you can even search words and meanings when you're offline.
five. Set a cool screensaver
The default Kindle screensaver, which pops up when the device is not in use, is fine. But yous tin can actually change it, to the comprehend of whichever volume you lot're reading.
To practise this, from the device habitation folio, press 'Settings', so 'All Settings', and so 'Device Options'. At present toggle 'Display Cover' to turn information technology on. Easy!
At present when you start reading a new book, the screensaver will alter to friction match it too.
6. Keep the bombardment lasting longer
Kindles mostly have pretty good battery lives, lasting weeks or months between charges depending on how frequently you like to read. But there are ways to extend information technology fifty-fifty farther if you want to ensure it'll have charge when yous need it.
Firstly, it'due south all-time to turn Wi-Fi off when you're not using information technology, and if you take a data-connected Kindle model, switch that off too. This is the single best affair you tin can practise to improve battery life (well, other than non using the Kindle!). From the main Kindle carte, press 'Settings' then 'All Settings' and 'Wi-Fi & Bluetooth', which will let you lot alter these settings. 'Aeroplane Mode' will too exist worth turning on.
Other means to salve battery life would be changing display settings - printing 'Settings' again, and turn down Brightness and Warmth (if your Kindle has the latter) to salvage some juice. Turning off Motorcar Brightness on models with that feature will as well aid (bold you gear up the brightness low as well).
Oh, and as with all electronics, try to avoid keeping the Kindle plugged in when it's already fully charged - this'll stop the ability pack degrading every bit much over time.
7. Scan the cyberspace
You might non know this, but Kindle devices take internet browsers built into them - sure, it'south not going to be as quick to utilize every bit the one on your phone, tablet or estimator, but it exists.
To find information technology, from your Kindle's menu, press the three vertical dots in the meridian-right corner to bring upwards the options list, then select 'Experimental Browser'. Yous'll need to exist connected to the net for this to work.
The word 'experimental' is pulling a lot of weight there, and the browser isn't neat for handling lots of web formatting - images don't usually piece of work, for case, making the TechRadar domicile page look horrible. But if you need to speedily search something, it's a fine option.
8. Clean upward your library with collections
If you're like us, your Kindle library can easily become cluttered with loads of books y'all've downloaded (including plenty you lot'll probably never read). You don't have to have such a messy library page though.
Using collections, you can group selections of books together, so a collection volition take upward just i slot in the library. To apply them, press the 3 vertical dots from the Kindle bill of fare, select 'Create New Collection' at the bottom, give the collection a name, then choose texts that are on the Kindle to pair them all together.
By creating themed collections, like bringing together all the works from a certain series or by a particular writer, you tin hands reduce the amount of clutter in your library pages, making it much easier to find whatever you're looking for.
9. Plow your Kindle into a kid-friendly device
If you desire your kid to be able to read a book via your Kindle, but don't want them stumbling onto something more developed-focused from your ain library, you can use the Amazon Kids function, accessible by pressing the three-vertical-dot options button from the menu, then clicking 'Amazon Kids'.
This role lets y'all make a specific profile for the child, and share whichever books from your ain drove you lot want them to read. You lot tin can even set them goals for how much they need to read, bank check their progress, stop them accessing the same net browser, and advantage them digital badges for their work.
If you want, you tin pay for Amazon Kids Plus for a nominal fee, which does the same as the above, just also lets the kids access a curated collection of appropriate books depending on their age. This service works on all Kindles, not just the Kindle Kids Edition, though nosotros'd propose caution earlier handing an expensive Kindle Haven over to a immature child.
ten. Leave notes, highlights and bookmarks when reading
If you're reading something that y'all observe peculiarly profound, or that y'all want to remember, you can leave a multifariousness of markers to help yous observe it again in a compression.
First, and most basic, is the bookmark, which lets you call back the position of an entire page. To make a bookmark, when y'all're in a volume, press at the tiptop of the screen, so the Kindle header and footer appear. Now, side by side to 'Go To' at that place will be a piddling bookmark icon to the right of the screen - press this to set a bookmark. Yous can and so press in this corner when the bill of fare's not up, to find a listing of the bookmarks you've left.
2d is a highlight, which y'all can use to identify quotes you lot like. To leave one of these, press and concur on a word, and when information technology'southward highlighted, depict the start or end mark to encompass the whole quote. Select 'Highlight', which is 1 of the options that appears, and the text will darken a tiny scrap to show it'due south a highlighted section.
Finally, y'all can leave a note on a quote. To do this, follow the to a higher place steps, but press 'Annotation' instead of 'Highlight', and then type in whatever yous think of the excerpt. You can navigate the Notes by pressing at the acme of the book to bring up the Kindle footer, selecting 'Become To', pressing 'Notes' at the top and so browsing this list.
If you desire to see a handy overview of all the excerpts you've noted or highlighted, the browser-based Kindle site has a handy Notebook tool which lists it in an like shooting fish in a barrel-to-understand way.
11. Download PDFs or other documents onto your Kindle
The best hidden Kindle flim-flam is the fact that you're not locked to Kindle ebooks on the device - y'all can transport your ain PDFs, discussion documents and more onto the ereader, to read at your leisure.
Nosotros've written an in-depth guide on how to send a PDF to your Amazon Kindle device, every bit writing downward each footstep would double the length of this article. Information technology'due south a petty fiddly, but is actually worth information technology to master.
With this tool, you can send piece of work documents to your Kindle, go complimentary ebooks from your friends or sources like Project Gutenberg, and get all your school or university reading onto your device (which plays really well with the aforementioned Notes and Highlights functions).
12. Mind to audiobooks
If, for any reason, you ain a Kindle ereader merely don't similar to read, you can actually use the Aural audiobook service through your Kindle. Just exist warned, yous'll demand some Bluetooth headphones to connect to the ereader to actually listen to them.
From the Kindle carte, press the three-vertical-dot options card and select Audible Store. Audible is an Amazon-endemic company, hence the shut collaboration. From here yous can peruse a long list of audiobooks (many of which take Kindle versions too).
If yous have a carve up Aural subscription, you tin use this to go audiobooks for costless or reduced too.
13. Read reviews of books or log your reads
Another book-related service Amazon owns is Goodreads, a website where you log books you read, review them, and read reviews from other fans. And, of class, the service is bachelor from Kindle ereaders - well, parts of it.
From the Kindle menu, simply press 'Goodreads' at the summit - it couldn't be easier. This will bring you to the service, and once you've logged in (or made an account), yous can using the social service largely as you would on desktop.
This includes seeing what your friends have read recently, recommending books to people, and calculation things to your wish list. Some functions are missing though - namely, you can't write reviews, though you can log and rate books.
14. Download books onto your Kindle without using it
Kindles aren't the snappiest devices in the world, only you don't actually have to scroll through the on-device library to buy or download books. You lot can do it all via your computer.
We've written a whole guide on how to purchase, download and lend Kindle books via the Amazon web store, and this will let you hands cull which books to buy on your figurer before sending them to your Kindle. We notice this the easiest style to buy Kindle books, and we expect yous volition too.
fifteen. Read your Kindle ebooks, without using the ereader
Sometimes y'all'll find yourself without your Kindle - maybe you didn't manage to fit it in your suitcase before a holiday, or forgot to charge information technology before a trip. Fortunately, you don't take to forget about reading until you're back, equally in that location are other ways to admission your books.
There's an online Kindle reader platform which lets you lot read books assigned to your account, even ones not actually downloaded onto your device. There'south also an Android app and iOS app which do the same thing, so you tin can read on your telephone.
Using these, you lot'll be able to keep upward your reading habit while not physically touching your Kindle.
And finally... charge your Kindle wirelessly
We're listing this final point as a one-half-tip instead of a full i since but 1 Kindle can currently do it. Hopefully, more Kindles will offer this functionality in the future.
If you've got the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, launched in 2021, you can actually charge up your device without using cables. That ways no more faffing almost trying to piece of work out which plug you demand.
You practise demand a wireless charging mat, pad or stand, but y'all might have one of these for your smartphone, smartwatch or earbuds already. If you practice, simply place your Kindle on the charger and watch information technology power up.
If y'all don't take a dock, Amazon sells a adequately inexpensive one that fits the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition.
- These are the best Kindles money tin can buy
Tom'due south function in the TechRadar squad is to specialize in phones and tablets, just he likewise takes on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fettle trackers and more. He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the Academy of Eastward Anglia, and outside of TechRadar works in picture show.Deputy Editor, Phones
Source: https://www.techradar.com/how-to/amazon-kindle-tips-and-tricks-2022
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