Transfering PDFs to Kindle


Technology


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Hi, new poster here, if this is in the wroung place, please tell me. So on to the question.

I might buy Kingmaker, the problem is they are way out of print (seriously, on Amazon a good chunk of the books about $50 each!) so I'll get them via PDF, but I want to bring them all with me, so after I purchase each one here, how can I transfer them over to my kindle properly so I can have access to them when running my campaign? Does it depend on what kind of Kindle it is? Thanks alot. :)


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I have a Kindle Fire tablet, and in my case I just hook the usb cable up to a computer and drag & drop to transfer files.


Scythia wrote:
I have a Kindle Fire tablet, and in my case I just hook the usb cable up to a computer and drag & drop to transfer files.

Unfortunely it's only a regular Kindle, so I don't know if you have to format the pdf to even be able to read it corectly. Does anyone know?


I only have the 3rd gen kindle, and I haven't tried with on anything with lots of art, but just from trying to get through academic papers on that thing, I have to say that the PDF reader is pretty dire.

"Buying the PDFs and printing them" might be a better option.


Printing an entire book to Treeware seems excessive. How borrowing a laptop?


Even if the Kindle support for PDF is not that good, there are third party programs that can convert a PDF to other formats. From what I understand sometimes the PDF may have some problems rendering, but are useable.

If you can access your email from the kindle simply email the document to yourself.


Thanks everyone for replying!

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Even if the Kindle support for PDF is not that good, there are third party programs that can convert a PDF to other formats. From what I understand sometimes the PDF may have some problems rendering, but are useable.

If you can access your email from the kindle simply email the document to yourself.

This seems to work some what. Not Kingmaker, I'm waiting to buy them), but the free Basic Rules of D&D 5th (can I mention that name here?) seem to at least be in a readable format so I'm assuming it will be the same for these PDFs as well, but I'm most worried about the maps since they might end up being cut in half. Does anyone know. Anyway thank you since this might have solved my problem. But I have another question, but that's going into another thread altogether.


You can convert PDF to MOBI online, so it's as simple as dragging the PDF into the window on the web page and it pops out a MOBI to download. All free and no external program needed. Just web search 'conversion pdf to mobi' and it's easy to find a site. Try the PDF unaltered first though as it may work fine as-is.


You can open and read PDFs on the kindle, but there is usually one problem: the PDFs are scans and not flowtext, so they don't scale to size. You have to zoom and move around those overlarge pages which makes for poor reading. If there are pictures, even flowtext is tedious.

I would go with PDF to mobi suggestion and see if it works. You can test it with any PDF of that kind.


I've transferred PDFs onto my 2010-vintage "Kindle Keyboard" via the USB cable. Pretty much drag-and-drop.

I will have to echo the other posters, though: Paizo PDFs on a standard Kindle are tough to work with. You have to constantly scroll around the pages to read them, and the eInk display doesn't do any justice to the illustrations.

Using the PDFs on a full tablet (like a Kindle Fire) or a laptop would be preferable IMO.


I would warn that large pdfs might render your kindle a brick until it reboots. Had that happen with my kindle keyboard and the core rule book at one point. I haven't tried it with my paperwhite though. I've also never tried converting one to mobi format, I might have to dig out the old kindle keyboard and give it a shot.

Like many people have said, reading on the e-ink kindles just aren't very pleasurable. Honestly your best bet is probably to pick up a kindle fire, from what I understand they go on sale fairly regularly.


I purchased a huge trove of Pathfinder 1e content on humblebundle in 2019 as pdfs, and trying to read them on my laptop got old quickly. I wanted something more portable and more like a book than a computer, so I have just purchased a Kindle Paperwhite (though I deeply, deeply loathe Amazon) to view the content more easily.

My understanding from reading reviews is that the Paperwhite is preferable to a Fire Tablet because the Paperwhite is designed for reading and has a matte finish screen (especially good in high glare environments or direct sunlight), while the Fire has a gloss finish screen which is really better for HD video content.

So, in terms of converting pdfs to MOBI format (which is the approved Kindle file format), I have found it an easy process.

I am using Calibre to convert the files, which can be done in bulk (and is preferable to emailing the kindle people each pdf individually). The DRM/watermark on Paizo's exported pdfs is not causing any issues for me so far.

As an example, I just converted the following Paizo pdfs (the lite single file version, wherever possible) into MOBI, which took Calibre 20 minutes to complete. That's 253 MB of raw pdf data.

*Core Rulebook
*Game Mastery Guide
*Bestiary
*Advanced Player's Guide
*Advanced Class Guide
*Ultimate Combat
*We Be Goblins
*Goblins of Golarion


UPDATE: While the conversion process (PDF to MOBI) using Calibre was relatively hassle-free, the reulting output on the kindle was sadly....garbage! The graphics layout in the original PDF files present major issues for MOBI. And, the kindle has no way of internalizing the table of contents, index, etc.

I returned my kindle and am using a 4th Generation iPad now. It's very easy to import pdfs to the "Books" app, and view them in full resolution there. All of the art is well-rendered and the text is easily navigated.

So, to sum up...do not use a Kindle to view Paizo's pdf resources. Not worth it.


I have moved various PDF files to Kindle, and I never had any problems with it. Just use the USB lead you get with the kindle, and drag and drop the file into Docs or Books file. The main problem is the size of the screen in my opinion. I mainly used them for reading when out and about,and displaying NPC portraits at the table. Now though I use a tablet type laptop, and moving more towards remote play, so they dont get used quite so often.

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