Sending personal documents to Kindle

My wife just got a Kindle Touch for Christmas and she loves it. It’s lightweight, the screen is perfect for reading in daylight, and it came practically preloaded with a bunch of books. Well, Amazon doesn’t actually ship their Kindles with books, but because I had been using the Kindle app on my iPad for the last 20 months, all the books that I had collected or purchased during that time were ready to be downloaded into her Kindle registered under my Amazon account.

On my iPad, I prefer the Kindle app to Apple’s iBooks for a number of reasons, but chief among them is the fact that whatever books or documents I have registered with my Amazon account are available to be read on any device that runs the Kindle app (read: just about anything your heart desires, including but not limited to PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, and Android devices). That, of course, includes the line of Kindles themselves.

I read a lot on my iPad, both professionally and for leisure reading, and I was perfectly content with the Kindle app — except for one feature. I admit to having Kindle envy, not for the lighter weight or the e-ink display, but for the ability to email any document to be immediately available for reading. The Kindle app is great for books, but I wanted to be able to add my own custom content or documents in other file formats.

If you’re like me, I have good news and better news. The good news is that last month Amazon added that “e-mail document to Kindle” feature also to users of the iPad app. Just make sure your iOS app is uploaded to the most recent version, open the Kindle app, and touch the little “i” icon on the bottom right of the screen. You’ll see your own personal “Send-to-Kindle E-mail Address” which will work for that particular device (but also be available in your other Kindle-app-ready devices). Each file is limited to 50 MB, but the list of formats supported is fairly generous:

• Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
• HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
• RTF (.RTF)
• JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
• Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW)
• GIF (.GIF)
• PNG (.PNG)
• BMP (.BMP)
• PDF (.PDF)

The even better news is limited (so far) to Windows users.  You can now download a free “Send to Kindle” application for your PC which will allow you to send any document (in the above-listed file formats) with a single click from Windows Explorer or through the print menu of your software. Again, this works for both the regular Kindles as well as any device with a Kindle app.

This is a wonderfully convenient way of making all sorts of documents available for reading on your iPad: sermons, devotional materials, Bible studies, study notes, and much more. I used to think that I would be asking to borrow my wife’s Kindle from time to time, but instead my iPad has increased its usefulness to me.