How to Format an Essay to Run on a Kindle

With proper formatting, Kindles support essays, books and multimedia.

The first generation Kindle has limited compatibility with third party documents, but any Kindle from the second installment forward can run an essay file. With the release of the Kindle 2.3 firmware patch in 2009, Kindles are able to display native PDF files. This means that you can save virtually any document as a PDF and upload it to the Kindle without errors. When you save an essay as a Kindle PDF, there are still some measures necessary to ensure the best possible Kindle display.

Things You'll Need

• Kindle 2.3 or later

Instructions

1. Open your essay in a word processing program, such as MS Word Starter Edition, MS Office or Open Office Writer.

2. Click “File” on Open Office, or click the Microsoft Office orb in MS Word Starter or Standard editions.

3. Click “Save As.”

4. Click on the “Save as type” drop-down box, and select “PDF.”

5. Click the “Options” button.

6. Click to select “Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded.” This converts any non-standard fonts into images before saving the PDF file. The Kindle can handle a wide variety of margin sizes and page details, including landscape formats and images, but it has a limited number of preinstalled font packs. When a font cannot be embedded into a PDF, the bitmap version should still appear flawlessly on a Kindle.

7. Enter a file name for the essay, and click “Save.” The PDF file is created, ready for uploading to your Kindle. With bitmap fonts and a PDF format, your essay file should run properly on the Kindle.

Tips & Warnings

• Download Adobe's free PDF reader before saving new files as PDFs. Without the reader, you cannot view the recently created file to check for conversion accuracy.

References

• The Register: Amazon Instaboosts Kindle Battery Life
• Microsoft Office: Save As PDF
• Amazon: Transferring, Downloading, and Sending Files to Kindle