Although Kindle has one of the best user interfaces out there, it can be quite daunting when you first use it.
Especially if you're not used to reading on an electronic device.
In this guide, I'll show you how to navigate around your Home Screen and personal Library, make the best use of the toolbar, and to effortlessly switch between books.
So you're spending more time doing the thing you love... reading.
Shall we get started?
Before you do, have you setup your Kindle by signing into your Amazon account and connected to WiFi? If not, I suggest you do this first.
When you first turn on your Kindle, you'll (eventually) be greeted by the Home Screen.
To help you navigate, the Home Screen is organized into several sections:
Find a book you like? Simply tap on the book cover or title to open it and start reading.
Additionally, a long-pressing on any book will bring up a menu where you can select one of several options, such as, remove from collection.
Your Kindle's Library is where all your books, newspapers, and magazines are stored, with the front cover on display. You can scroll down to view every book in your collection. There are three icons just above your library of books to better organize your `collection and make finding a particular book much simpler:
You can also Create a Collection to organize your books into custom categories for easy browsing.
Next, we'll take a look at the Kindle toolbar and some of the features available.
To open the toolbar tap on the arrow pointing down on the Home Screen.
The toolbar will drop-down and display several features, including:
Just below this we also have a Brightness and Warmth slider bars. These allow you to increase/decrease the brightness of the backlight LED's and the reduce the amount of blue light displayed.
There is also the option to schedule a specific time for when the warm light should turn on. If you regularly read at night it's a good idea to have warm light enabled.
Lets now open a book in your library and give you a tour of the page layout.
Whilst reading is fairly straight forward, there are a few handy things to know to improve the reading experience.
In the top-left hand corner you should see an arrow next to word Library and (as you would guess) this takes you back to your Kindle library. As well as this we have the following icons:
Your Kindle offers various accessibility features to cater to a diverse reading needs. Here are some of the key features you may find helpful:
By getting acquainted with these features in your Kindle's library, reading options, and accessibility settings, you can enhance your reading experience.
Managing your Kindle library is essential to make the most out of your reading experience.
To sync the content on your Kindle and other devices, ensure you are connected to the internet and logged in to your Amazon account.
Once done, navigate to your library screen, press the toolbar button, and select Sync to update the library.
When it comes to downloading, you can selectively choose which books to store on your device.
To do this, tap and hold a book in the library, then select Download.
To remove a downloaded book from your device, tap and hold the book, and choose Remove Download.
Remember, doing so will not delete the book from your account - you can always download it again later.
Navigating to the Kindle Store on your Kindle device is quite straightforward.
On the Home or Library screen, look for the Store icon (trolley basket) at the top-right of the page.
The Kindle Store is a nicely organized into categories making easier to find a specific book.
At the top of the page there are a several deals and offers available such as:
You can browse through different sections to find books that appeal to you.
If you already have a specific book or author in mind, you can use the search icon at the top-right of the store page. Simply type in your search query and hit enter. The results will display relevant books and authors based on your search.
While browsing through books, tapping on any book cover will give you access to detailed information about the book, such as the synopsis, reviews, and ratings. From here, you can also purchase the book or add it to your wishlist or even read a sample. Once complete, the book will arrive in your kindle Library.
Navigating the Kindle Store should become more familiar over time. Remember, you can always return to your Home Screen by tapping on the "X" button found at the top-right of the page.
Kindle offers a wonderful user-interface that makes it a joy to read.
When you're reading a book, you can easily flip between pages by tapping or swiping on the left or right side of the screen.
Tapping the top of the page brings up the toolbar.
If you select the Contents Icon a pop-up window will display all of the chapters in the book. This allows you to quickly jump between sections in the book without having to turn every page individually. You can also quickly jump the beginning of the book.
In the toolbar you will also find Bookmark and Highlight Icons.
Bookmarks: As the name suggests, you can bookmark several pages for reference later. To add a bookmark, simply select the bookmark icon and tap on the "+" in the top-right corner, this will highlight the bookmark.
Highlights & Notes: Tap and hold on a specific word and then drag the end tabs to highlight specific sentences you want. You also have the option to make a note of the highlight for later use
The search tool helps you quickly find specific words and sentences. It will It's certainly one the perks of owning a Kindle device.
To use this select the magnifier icon near the top right of the toolbar and enter your search term. Tap return to see the result.
When you don't have your Kindle to hand, you can also read your ebooks on a phone or tablet by using the free Amazon Kindle app. The app allows you to access your Kindle library and provides the same reading experience with customizable settings.
Don't forget that syncing and managing your library applies similarly to the app as well.
However I have noticed that any custom reading settings that you have made previously on a Kindle does not translate over to the app, so if you have a specific setup, you will need to adjust the font style, size, and page color to your preference.
When using the Kindle app, you'll notice much of the settings and layout are pretty much identical to using a Kindle device. Here are some key navigation elements within the app:
