Kindle Tips: Adding a Collection (book folders or labels/tags) to a new or replacement Kindle

Using a books Collection structure created on another Kindle

There are various ways to add a collection structure you've created, for one Kindle, to a replacement or new Kindle on your account.  You don't have to start from scratch if you're replacing or adding a Kindle on or to your account.

On the forums, I replied to someone who had 600~ books on the Kindle and asked how this is done, and I described the way I do it. I thought adding this as a blog entry could be useful.

' If Kindle Support sends you a replacement Kindle, be sure to keep your CURRENT Kindle registered and active, as it will be the source for getting your Collections onto your replacement Kindle.

Once you get your replacement Kindle, its own Archived Items folder will have the titles of all the books you have bought but which are not on your new Kindle yet.

So, go to the Archived Items folder of your replacement Kindle and click on each title, which will download each to your newer Kindle.

I tend to press 'Back' button after each click has started a download, as it leads me 'back' to the list of Archived Items and while it's downloading the last clicked-title, I can choose the next title and click on that one also, and then click 'back' to go on. It's just faster for me to use the Back button for getting a lot of Archived Items onto my current Kindle.

AFTER you have all your books on your replacement Kindle, then go into Archived Items folder once more.

There you'll see "Add Other Device Collections" ...

Click on that and it'll let you select which other device's Collection structure (folder-like-labels) you'd want to add to your replacement Kindle.

Choose what should be the only other Kindle on your list and it'll bring in the Collection structure used on your older Kindle,and then all your Kindle books on your replacement Kindle should automatically go into the imported Collection of your new Kindle.

You would then sort your Home screen by Collections to see if it's the way you want it all to be.

I should add that books not purchased from Amazon will not automatically go into the new Collections structure on your replacement Kindle, as they don't keep records of non-Amazon books in your Amazon library. You'd have to manually add those to your new Kindle's Collections.

Hope that all works for you! It'll save some time. '

For those who want to use an undocumented shortcut and don't mind hooking up the Kindle to the computer AND are comfortable with checking their Kindle "System" file folder (some computers are set up to hide that folder and you'd need to 'unhide it, something I don't recommend unless you're used to working with hidden files). there is a backup collections file titled "collections.json" and, and as Dragi Raos mentions, you can use your file manager to transfer that to your new Kindle's system folder.

An advantage could be that your non-Amazon files would be automatically included that way.

TIP 2 - You can read or use the Kindle (UK: K3) when it's plugged in.  For any battery-intensive job, such as adding hundreds of new books to a Kindle, which will result in a lot of time downloading and heavy battery use, indexing each book for keyword searches, I prefer to keep my Kindle plugged in if it's convenient.

  If the battery level is high, there's no need, usually, but with 600 books as in this example, it will drain pretty fast when doing the indexing of 600 newly added Kindle books and will take quite awhile and if battery is low, that could cause a problem with insufficient battery power to complete the indexing and logging.  So I'm drawn to ways that will avoid problems.

  Kindle Customer Support has recommended that people add about 100 books at one time, to prevent problems with Collections.


Related blog articles:
Creating Collections: A Guide [Link fixed]
Collections: Cautions


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.