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1. View Table of Contents of a Book

If you want to check the chapter titles in the book, you can look at the Table of contents page. Open the book in question, tap at the top edge of the screen to open the Quick access menu, then press the “Go to” icon.

You will see the Table of Contents and your “Notes & Highlights” from the book.

2. Scroll Through the Book without Losing Your Page

Typically, if you go to a new page on your Kindle, you will lose your location in the ebook. But there’s a feature that lets you explore other pages without losing your location.

First, tap on the top edge of the screen to open the “Quick Access” menu. You will see the chapter name at the bottom with two icons. Tap on the first one to scroll through the pages with the help of the arrows on the page.

Use the second icon to view the pages in a grid view. This gives you a good idea of what to expect from the book.

3. Zoom in on Images

While reading a book, you may come across an image that isn’t completely visible on the screen. You can, thankfully, zoom in on an image on your Kindle. To do so, press and hold the image for a few seconds before lifting your finger. Tap on the Zoom icon that appears on the image. To further zoom in and out of the image, use a pinch in and out gesture.

4. Access Definitions

You may know that if you press and hold a word, Kindle will display its definition – even without an Internet connection. But you can also view the Wikipedia definition of the word as well as translate it into another language for a better understanding.

Press and hold the word to see its definition in the Dictionary. To access the Wikipedia and Translation sections, swipe left on the Dictionary box.

5. Switch Dictionaries

If you’ve added multiple dictionaries, you can quickly switch between them. To begin, open the Dictionary section by holding down on the word, then, in the Dictionary section, tap the dictionary name and choose the new dictionary from the list.

6. Find the Same Word Elsewhere

If you come across an intriguing word in a book, you can see if it is mentioned elsewhere in the same book. To do so, hold down the word and tap the Search icon. The Search dialogue box will appear. Choose whether to view the word in the same book, all books in your library, or in the Kindle store. If you tap on an author’s name and choose the Kindle store from the search menu, you’ll be able to see all the books they’ve written in the Kindle library.

When you select the All text option, the names of all books that contain the word will be displayed. Tap on a book to see all occurrences of the word.

You can also search for a specific word across all of your Kindle books and notes by using the Search icon in the book’s Quick access menu or the Search bar on the Kindle home screen.

7. Get A Summary Using X-Ray

You can use Kindle’s X-Ray feature to get a summary of the book before you start reading it. It scans the book and provides an in-depth analysis, as the name implies.

To use this feature, tap on the three-dot icon in the book’s Quick access menu. Choose “X-Ray” from the menu. Tap on one of the tabs at the top: “Notable Clips,” “People,” “Images,” or “Terms Used.”

8. Learn New Words with Vocabulary Builder

Are you trying to memorize new words by reading books? The Kindle’s Vocabulary Builder feature will be of immense help. It collects all of the words you’ve looked up in a dictionary on your Kindle in one place.

To access this feature, open a book and tap on the three-dot icon in the Quick access menu. Select “Vocabulary Builder” from the menu. Tap on a word to view its meaning and usage in the book. Even more importantly, use the Flashcards button at the bottom to memorize the words.

Note: If the Vocabulary Builder appears blank, go to “Kindle Settings → Reading options.” Enable the toggle for Vocabulary Builder.

9. Show Hints for Unfamiliar Words

If you don’t want to keep checking the meaning of words, you can have Kindle show hints for unfamiliar words. This helps in learning new and difficult words. To do so, tap on the “Aa” icon in the book’s Quick access menu and go to the “More” tab. Enable the “Word wise” option.

10. Bookmark Pages

If you want to quickly return to a page while reading a book, bookmarking it is a great way to do so. The bookmarked page will appear in a small window above the current page.

To bookmark a page, open the Quick access menu by tapping on the top edge, then press the Bookmark icon. A quicker way is to tap on the top-right corner of the screen. When the Bookmark icon shows up, tap on the + (plus) icon next to the current page number to bookmark it. You can bookmark additional pages similarly.

Tap on a page from the bookmark menu to open it. To remove a bookmark from a page, tap on the X icon next to its name.

11. Add and View Notes and Highlights

To highlight text, press and hold the first word to be highlighted, then drag your finger to highlight the rest of the text. The highlighted text will be darker than the surrounding text.

Tap on the Note button in the menu bar to add notes to the text. To change the highlight on the text, tap on it. You will see two icons at the start and end of the highlighted text. Move these to change the length of the highlighted text.

To view your notes and highlights, either go to the Table of Contents screen as shown above or tap near the top of the book and press the three-dot icon in the top bar. Select “Notes & Highlights.”

You can view the passages in a book that are most highlighted by other readers. To do so, navigate to the Notes & Highlights section as shown above. Under the Notes & Highlights tab, tap on the “Popular” option at the top.

13. View Kindle Notes and Highlights on Other Devices

14. Read Highlights from All Books on Kindle

When you create your first highlight on the Kindle, it will create a book out of highlights from all of the books. You can read through your highlights just like you would a regular book. This book is called “My Clippings,” and it’s located in the Library section.

The only disadvantage is that the My Clippings book will only display highlights taken on the Kindle device and not from other devices. Furthermore, the highlights are organized in the order in which they were taken, rather than according to the books.

Pro Tip: when you connect your Kindle to a PC, you will find this book under “Kindle Documents -> My clippings.txt.” To export the file, copy and paste it to your PC.

15. Export Kindle Notes

Alternatively, you can copy-paste the highlights from Kindle Cloud Reader. If those two options don’t suit your needs, check clippingsconverter.

While you are reading a book, the Kindle devices can display highlights made frequently by other users. To do so, open the book’s Quick access menu and tap on the “Aa” icon. Select “More tab” and enable the “Popular Highlights” toggle.

17. Set Cover Photo of Current Book on Lock Screen

By default, your Kindle device will show random pictures on the lock screen. You can change this behavior and set the current book’s cover picture as a screensaver. To do so, go to “Kindle Settings → Device options.’ Enable the toggle next to “Display Cover.”

18. Turn Off Screen Saver

If you don’t want to have a screensaver, press and hold the Power button for about seven seconds. The Power menu will appear on the screen. Tap on “Screen off.”

19. Change Font Size

Don’t like the default font size? Use the pinch in and out gesture on any page to change the font size quickly. Alternatively, tap on the “Aa” icon in the book’s Quick access menu, then tap on the “Font” tab and change the font and size.

20. Change Orientation

Kindle lets you read books in the landscape format too. For that, open the book’s Quick access menu and tap on the “Aa” icon followed by the Layout tab. Select the Landscape icon under “Orientation.” You can also change the book’s margins, alignment, and spacing on this screen.

21. Create Themes

If you want to change the book’s multiple parameters simultaneously – such as text size, margins, etc. – you can use either prebuilt themes or create your own custom theme. Tap on the “Aa” icon inside the book’s Quick access menu to go to the “Theme” tab. Tap on a theme to apply it.

To create a custom theme, change the parameters under the “Font” and “Layout” tabs, then go back to the Themes tab and tap on “Save current settings.”

22. Change Brightness Quickly

You can control the brightness of the Kindle by swiping down from the top and using the Brightness slider to change the brightness incrementally. However, if you want to quickly increase or decrease the brightness to the lowest or highest setting, press and hold the minus (-) or plus (+) icons.

23. View Clock in Kindle

To enable the built-in clock on Kindle, open the book’s Quick access menu and tap on the “Aa” icon. Go to the “More” tab and enable the toggle next to “Show clock while reading.”

24. View Reading Progress

Tap on the bottom-left corner of your Kindle to cycle through different reading progress types, such as speed, page number, and location. You can also change it through the “More” tab under the “Aa” icon in the book’s Quick access menu.

25. Create Collections to Organize Books

With time, your Kindle Library might become cluttered with lots of books. An easy way to reduce the clutter is to organize them in folders, aka Collections.

To create a collection, go to the “Library” tab and press the three-dot icon. Select “Create new collection” from the menu. Give a name to your collection and add books to it. The new folder will appear in the Library. You can add or remove books from it anytime.

26. Read Kindle Books without a Kindle Device

If you thought you could only read Kindle books on the Kindle device, you are mistaken. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can still read the books using the Kindle apps for Android, iOS, PC, and its web reader.

27. Manage Multiple Books

28. Read PDFs, Web Pages, and More on Kindle

In addition to the books downloaded from the Kindle Store, you can read PDFs and web pages on Kindle. For that, you will need to send the eBook or the document to Kindle. There are two ways to do that

If you feel that the book doesn’t load properly on your Kindle, type “Convert” in the email subject when you email the book to convert it to a Kindle format (MOBI or AZW). This will help to fully utilize all of the Kindle’s features.

Alternatively, download the Send to Kindle app on Windows, macOS, Android, or Chrome to send content to Kindle. Check out our guide on how to send articles to Kindle from Android.

29. Make Your Kindle Faster

If you feel pages load quite slowly in Kindle, you should enable the “Page Refresh” option. However, it may impact the Kindle’s battery life.

To enable it, go to “Kindle Settings → Reading options.” Enable the toggle next to “Page Refresh.”

Pro Tip: turning off Wi-Fi also makes the Kindle faster.

30. Read Web Pages without Distractions

Kindle has a native browser that is quite slow and can be used for basic browsing only. But you can make the most of it, especially if you want to read web pages, by enabling the Article mode. The browser will hide all the distractions, letting you read in peace.

To do so, tap on the three-dot icon on the home screen and select “Web browser.” Enter the website in the URL bar, then tap the three-dot icon in the browser and choose “Article Mode.”

31. Take Screenshots

Yes, you can capture a screenshot on Kindle devices as well. Simply tap the opposite corners of the screen simultaneously: i.e., top left and bottom right or vice versa. The screen will flash to let you know a screenshot has been captured.

To view the screenshots, you will have to connect Kindle to your PC. When you do so, you will see the screenshots in the “Root” folder of Kindle.

32. Use Echo to Read Kindle Books

You can have Alexa read Kindle books to you. Just say, “Alexa, play the Kindle book, [title].” Check our in-depth guide on how to connect Echo and Kindle.

33. Increase Kindle’s Battery Life

Kindles have great battery life. But if you feel it’s draining a lot, you can improve the battery life by turning on “Airplane mode.” To do so, swipe down from the top and tap on the Airplane mode icon to turn it on.

Also, turn off Page Refresh by going to “Kindle Settings → Reading options → Page refresh.”

34. Enable Device Password

Like mobile phones, if you don’t want anyone else to access your Kindle device, you can protect it with a passcode.

To do so, tap on the three-dot icon on Kindle’s home screen and select “Settings” from the menu.

Tap on “Device Options” followed by “Device Passcode” to set a password.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you return Kindle books?

2. Can you download Kindle books on other devices?

Mehvish is a tech lover from Kashmir. With a degree in computer engineering, she’s always been happy to help anyone who finds technology challenging. She’s been writing about technology for over six years, and her favorite topics include how-to guides, explainers, tips and tricks for Android, iOS/iPadOS, Windows, social media, and web apps.

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