Kindle Apps are widely recognized for their capability to read books purchased from Amazon, but that’s not their sole function. Did you know that Kindle apps inherently support the PDF format as well? Reading PDFs with the Kindle app is much simpler than you might think. Here, you will explore a few distinct methods to add PDFs to the Kindle app.
- To remove DRM from pdf file, please read How to Remove DRM from PDF on Adobe Digital Editions.
- To remove passwords from pdf, please read How to Remove Password Protection from PDF Files.
Add PDF to Kindle for PC/Mac
The steps for adding PDF to Kindle for PC and Mac are nearly identical. Therefore, I will demonstrate how to add a PDF to Kindle for PC, but you can apply these steps on a Mac as well.
Method 1 Right-click on the PDF file, and choose to open the PDF file with Kindle for PC.
Your PDF file will be open with Kindle for PC. Meanwhile, the pdf will be added to kindle library under PDF tab. But many users complain that this method doesn’t work sometime. It will take a few attempts until you get the pdf added. But you can choose the method 2 which is 100% working.
Method 2 Add pdf file to "My kindle content" folder.
Adding pdf directly to the kindle library local storage is an effective method. You just need to find where are you kindle books stored on your PC or MAC and then copy & paste the pdf to the "My kindle content" folder.
- "My kindle content” folder on PC: C:\Users\YourComputerUsername\Documents\My Kindle Content
- “My kindle content” folder on Mac:
Case 1: (Kindle for Mac installation package downloaded beyond app store) /Users/Macusername/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content Case 2: (Kindle for Mac get from App store) /Users/MacUsername/Library/Containers/com.amazon.Kindle/Data/Library/Application Support/Kindle/My Kindle Content
Note: After adding the pdf to "my kindle content" folder, please relaunch the kindle app, the pdf will show in the kindle library under pdf tab.
Add PDF to Kindle App Android/iOS
Method 1 Send PDF to Kindle App Android/iOS via Email.
Before the specific method for each kindle app, I want to share the general method for adding PDF to any kindle app which is sending pdf to kindle app via email. This process can be done via email, and it is completely free.
Is there any limitations on sending pdf to kindle? Yes, there are both ebook formats limitation and file size limitations. Let’s check them at first. If your pdf files are out of this range, then please skip this method.
File types supported include Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX), HTML (.HTML, .HTM), RTF (.RTF), JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG), Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW), GIF (.GIF), PNG (.PNG), BMP (.BMP), Epub, PDF (.PDF).
File size limitations:
1. For Amazon side, it will not accept personal files larger
than 50MB.
2. For your “send to kindle” email address provider, it will have its own size limits for attachments (25MB
for Gmail).
1 Find send to kindle email address.
Go to Amazon Manage Your Content and Devices page>>Devices>> Click on the device you want to add the pdf file>> your will find the send to kindle email like below picture.
2 Add your email address to Approved Personal Documents Email list.
You cannot send pdf file via any email unless you authorize it. Go to Amazon Manage Your Content and Devices page>>Preferences>>Personal Document Settings>>Approved Personal Documents E-mail List>> click on “Add a new approved e-mail address” and fill in your personal email address to the pop-up window.
3 Send pdf to kindle app via email.
Input the send to kindle email address as the recipient, add pdf as attachment and send out this email. After a few minutes, you will see the pdf at the corresponding kindle app.
Pro tip: Kindle email convert feature--Convert pdf to azw via email.
If you want to convert the pdf file to kindle format, please add “convert” to the subject when you send out the email. In this way, the file you received will be in azw format, not pdf.
Method 2 Add PDF to Kindle app android/iOS via send to kindle for PC/Mac.
Beside sending via email, you can also add pdf file to kindle for android/iOS via send to kindle desktop application.
1 Download and install send to kindle for pc/mac.
Send to Kindle for PC Send to Kindle for Mac
2 Add pdf to kindle.
Here I will show you how to use send to kindle for mac. It works the same on Windows. Its supported file type includes DOC, DOCX, PDF, TXT and RTF.
Drag & Drop: Launch send to kindle for mac and register with your Amazon account information. When you log in, you will see “Drag files here to send your kindle”. Please just drag the files you want to send. Please remember you can send several files to different devices at once.
Control-click: Once the send to kindle application installed successfully, it will appear on your Dock. To add pdf to your kindle application, right click on the file and then select send to kindle, the send to kindle application will launch. Then you can just pick up the right kindle app and click on “Send” to send pdf to your kindle for android or IOS.
Method 3 Add PDF to kindle app android/iOS via Cloud Storage.
If you are familiar with the cloud storage service, you can also add pdf to Kindle for android/iOS via cloud storage. Here I pick Drobox as the cloud storage to add pdf. The blow steps will show how to add pdf to kindle for iOS. Adding pdf to kindle for android via cloud storage is almost with the same steps.
1 Log in Dropbox on web browser on your computer or any device you stored the pdf file. Then upload the pdf file to your Dropbox.
2 Install Dropbox on your Android or iOS device. Run the Dropbox on your device, you will see the files you added recently. Just tap the action icon and tap “Export” >>Open in…>>Kindle.
3 A new window will pop up to ask if you want to convert this pdf to kindle format or not. You can click "No“ if you want to keep the its original format. A few seconds later, you will be reminded that this pdf has been added to kindle library successfully.
4 You will be able to read pdf on your kindle app for iOS.
Method 4 Add PDF to Kindle for Android via USB
If you can connect your computer and android device via USB, you can just copy the pdf to the “Kindle” folder of your android device.
You can see the pdf file in your kindle for Android library as below picture.
Method 5 Add PDF to kindle for iOS iTunes.
No matter you are one Windows or Mac platform, you can add pdf to your kindle app for iOS via iTunes.
1 Plugin your iOS device to your computer and run iTunes.
2 Click on your device on iTunes>> File sharing>>Kindle>>Drag and drop the PDF file to the “Kindle Documents” column>> Click on “Done” button to start the transfer.
3 Your PDF files will be transferred to kindle app iOS successfully a few seconds later.
Those are all methods of adding pdf to kindle app I want to share today. I guess now you can transfer the PDF files to any kindle app. If you have any better ways to sync pdf to kindle app for pc, mac, ios or android, please share in the comments.
Iris Yan has been a passionate member of Epubor since 2017. Her mission is to enhance your ebook reading experience by sharing insightful tips and tricks. Join her on a journey towards reading excellence today!
