How to Send Documents and E-Books Wirelessly on Kindle
Your Kindle reading experience can go far beyond what’s available in the Kindle Store. If you, like me, have only purchased your reading material from Amazon (or borrowed e-books from your local library ), it’s time to find out what your e-reader can really do.
Amazon has a special program called Send to Kindle that you can use to wirelessly send articles, text documents, PDFs, and copyrighted e-books directly to your Kindle, without the need for a cable. But now there are many other options. Here are some of my favorites.
How the Amazon Send to Kindle Program Works
You may not know it, but your Kindle has its own email address that you can use to send documents directly to your device.
This technology has been around for over ten years. But now there are many more options for sending articles, documents, and e-books to Kindle. These include Chrome extensions, desktop apps, and native support for the feature in the Kindle apps for iOS and Android. Here, you don’t even have to worry about remembering and finding your device’s email address (though I do like the simplicity of the email method).
Before you start sending files, a few words about format support. Amazon won’t let you send .MOBI files (which is one of the native file formats for the Kindle), but it will happily accept your EPUB file and run it on both your Kindle and the Kindle app. In fact, it even syncs the reading position between your Kindle and the iPhone app, just like if you bought the book from the Kindle store.
Kindle devices support .DOC, .DOCX, .HTML, .TXT, .PDF, and .EPUB file formats.
Send eBooks using your Kindle email address.
Sometimes the old-fashioned way is the best way. Not everyone needs a different service or browser extension.
To do this, all you need to do is find your Kindle’s email address. You can do this from the Kindle itself. Open your Kindle settings and go to your account . Here below you will find the email address to send to Kindle. Write it down.
Now, after downloading the e-books or documents you want on your non-Kindle device (whether it’s a computer or a phone), open your email app and compose a new email. Add this Kindle address to the To field. Make sure you use the same email address that you used when you created your Kindle account.
Then attach the documents or eBooks to the email, leave the Subject field blank, and send the email. Amazon will process the files on its servers, add them to your cloud account, and also send the files to your Kindle, all in just a few minutes. The book will appear on your Kindle as shown in the screenshot below.
If this doesn’t work for you, you may be using a different email address. This is fine, but you will need to approve this secondary email address in your Kindle settings before you can use it to send files to your Kindle. Unfortunately, this can only be done on the Amazon website.
Go tothe Content & Devices section of Amazon. Here, select the Settings tab at the top of the page and go to Personal Document Settings .
Scroll down to the Approved Personal Documents List section and click the Add a new approved email address button.
Here, add the email address you want to use to send documents to your Kindle.
Send any document or eBook using the Send to Kindle website.
This is a great option if you just need to send a document every now and then. Visit the Amazon Send to Kindle website and sign in to your Amazon account. The website automatically detects your connected Kindle devices, so there’s nothing more for you to do except drag and drop files. Click the “Submit” button and wait a couple of minutes for the documents to appear on your Kindle.
Send documents on the go with the Kindle app
Sending documents to Kindle using iPhone or Android is easier if you already have the Kindle app set up. The Kindle app doesn’t support web articles, but it works well with .EPUB and .PDF files.
First, find the file in your Files app of choice, open the Share menu, and select the Kindle app. The Send to Kindle menu will open. Click the “Submit” button and wait for the ebook or document to appear on your Kindle.
Submit articles using a Chrome extension
Let’s say while browsing you come across a long article that you’d like to read on your Kindle later. The best way to do this is to use the Send to Kindle Chrome extension.
In the extension, log into your Amazon account and go to the page you want to send to your Kindle. Click the extension and select the Quick Send option to send a distraction-free version of the website to your Kindle. It will be free of advertising and formatting.
Use a third-party Send to Kindle service
The Amazon Send to Kindle extension only works in Chrome and has very little customization options. Luckily, there are plenty of third-party extensions to help you submit articles to your Kindle. Push to Kindle is a customizable option, but the free plan limits you to 10 articles per month (the unlimited plan costs $2.99 per month). I prefer to use Push to Kindle because it does a great job of formatting text and has the option to remove all images.
If you’re looking for a completely free option, Reabble is a good choice. You can also use post-reading apps like Pocket or Instapaper to send articles to your Kindle.
They all work on the same basic principle. You can use their browser extensions or their bookmarklet, which can also work on mobile browsers. First, you need to add the service’s email address to your Amazon account’s list of approved personal email documents. I explained how to do this in the email section above. Then provide the service with your Kindle’s email address (again as described above) and submit it. The service will do part of the work for you to convert the article into an e-book.
Best Kindle Devices for Reading Non-Kindle Documents
To use any of these tips, you’ll need a Kindle. Here are some good options for reading any document on your Kindle, especially those not from the Amazon store.
Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s first version of digital note-taking, meaning it comes with a stylus that you can use to mark up documents. If you send school assignments to your Kindle, this is a great choice.
Otherwise, the Kindle Paperwhite is a great option. More affordable than Scribe, its ability to control color temperature is good for late-night reading, making it a more convenient way to read long articles from the Internet.