# Bluetooth and MAC won't connect



## sszd (Jan 10, 2013)

I have a new kindle fire hd and am still trying to figure this thing out (my first e-book reader).  My current problem is attempting to connect my kindle to my MAC OSX 10.6.8.  I was eventually able to get the kindle and mac to pair.  The kindle shows in the bluetooth preferences on the mac, and the mac shows in the bluetooth screen on the kindle.  Unfortunately, that's as far as I can get.  The mac shows that they are not connected.  Does anyone know how to get the devices to connect?  Thank you for any help you can provide.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Maybe it would help. If I understood what you're trying to accomplish? Are you trying to transfer files? Use the Kindle as a keyboard for the Mac?


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## sszd (Jan 10, 2013)

I'm trying to connect the kindle to the mac so I can transfer files back and forth between the two devices.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Welcome sszd.

I'm not a Mac person but it should be pretty straightforward.  Just plug in the USB cord and you should be able to see the Kindle as a drive on your Mac.

Once the devices are physically connected, you can just copy and past files from one to the other. . .note that the files on the kindle have to be compatible file types and located in the proper folder on the Kindle for them to work.

Bluetooth isn't, I think, going to work for this.  The bluetooth the Kindle has is for things like keyboards and external speakers.  Even if you have both devices on the same wifi network, you can't transfer files the way you potentially could if both were full computers.

If you want to transfer files wirelessly, you can do that by sending them via Amazon.  The easiest way is the Send to Kindle applet: Send to Kindle for Mac is available for download at www.amazon.com/sendtokindle/mac.  With that resident on your computer you can easily send compatible files, even several at a time, wirelessly to your kindle AND they'll be archived for you at Amazon.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

sszd said:


> I'm trying to connect the kindle to the mac so I can transfer files back and forth between the two devices.


Ann's correct, the Bluetooth on the Fire isn't set up for those kinds of transfers... You can, however, use an App like Dropbox. Create an account, set it up on your Mac and then install the app on the Fire (you'll have to sideload it, more on that in a bit) and anything you put in your Dropbox folder on your Mac will appear in the Dropbox folder on the Fire. This works great for non book or document files in addition to non-DRM'd book files

If what you want to transfer are non-DRM'd book files, Ann's right, the Send to Kindle is the best way to go. If you downloaded books from Amazon to use on your Kindle for Mac, you'll have to re-download them directly to your Fire as they most likely have DRM that will enable them to be read only by the Kindle for Mac app. DRM'd books from Amazon can only be read by the device or app that they are downloaded to.

If you want to install Dropbox, you'll need to go to Settings > More > Device > Allow Installation of Applications > Set to "On."

Then, using your Fire, go to http://www.dropbox.com/android and download the apk. Once it's downloaded, install it. You can check your notifications to see if it's been installed. Tap on the notification to install.

Betsy


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Send to Kindle is great if you want to use the Kindle app.  If you want a reading app with more options for customization, download one like Aldiko, Overdrive, Mantano, Moon+ (all have to be sideloaded except Overdrive) which read ePubs.  Non-DRMed books/documents can be converted to ePubs if necessary, put into Dropbox and transferred that way.  

Or if you use Calibre you can access any of your books wirelessly via your wifi (but you do have to be near your computer and Calibre has to be open on that computer).  

Dropbox works for all kinds of files, of course - documents, books, photos, videos, even apk files for launching apps.


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## Jesslyn (Oct 29, 2008)

In addition, Amazon has a video and help page on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201008230


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## sszd (Jan 10, 2013)

Thank you all for the great info. I'll start researching some of this stuff to see if I'll be able to accomplish some of the things I'd like to do. In the mean time, I would like to respond to a couple of points.

*Ann*, Connecting the kindle via usb will not show up on my computer as a drive. That is what I originally expected. However, it doesn't work that way with the new kindles. This is one reason I started exploring the bluetooth option. The reason for this (after quite a lot of research online) turns out to be a "feature" that was recently removed from the Android OS. The USB connection will no longer show up as a device or drive on your computer. You now have to download an app for your MAC called "Android File Transfer". This is really nothing more than a very simple Mac "Finder" window with many of the standard Finder features not present (e.g. being able to search folders). Anyway, this app will show the contents of the Kindle file structure, and allow you to copy files to/from the Kindle. This app "may" be all I need, but I wanted to explore other options for reasons that I'll discuss in a moment.

Regarding the correct "folder" to put things in. Well, this is another problem I have. I can find all kinds of documentation on how to run the app I previously mentioned, but I can find no documentation anywhere on where you are suppose to put things, or how you are suppose to organize files on the Kindle. For example, I would assume you would copy "book" files into the "Book" directory. However, when I tried to copy a .mobi file (the "standard" file format for the kindle, or so I read somewhere) to the Book directory, I originally put it in a subfolder in that location. When I looked on the Kindle, I could not find or access the book anywhere. I then tried to put the book directly in the Book directory (vice a subdirectory) and I could then see the book in the carousel on the kindle, but I still could not see it in the Bookshelf tab on the kindle. So, I'm not sure if that's even the correct place to put such a file, or how files are suppose to be organized. There are so many different folders on the kindle (accessible through that app), I don't even know what most of them are for. And as I mentioned, I can't even search the folders to find specific file types because the app has no search capability. You have to go in and open each folder individually. I still haven't found the default books that came with the kindle in any of the folders. It's just very confusing, especially since I can't find any documentation on any of this.

*Meemo*, Funny you should mention Calibre. This is an application I recently ran across and decided to download to my MAC. In fact, this is one of the reasons for my attempt to get bluetooth to work. Let me explain... from what I can tell, Calibre requires the computer to recognize the kindle before it will show up in the Calibre user interface. I could be completely off base here, but from what I have ascertained from reading the Calibre documentation, this is the only way to get files from the Calibre library onto the kindle. Since the computer doesn't recognize the kindle via the USB interface, the kindle never shows up in Calibre. So, I then attempted to get the MAC to recognize the kindle via bluetooth, hence, as I eluded to earlier, the reason for exploring additional options. My thought was... if the MAC will recognize the kindle via bluetooth, then maybe Calibre will recognize the kindle. Then, since I have no idea of where these book file types are suppose to go on the kindle, Calibre surely knows. So I would simply use Calibre to download the books to the kindle. But as you know, I haven't been able to get the bluetooth to work. And from the sounds of what some of you have said, I may not be able to.

Anyway, I'll research the information some of you have provided and see where that leads me. If anyone else can shed some light on some of my problems, that would be great!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

sszd--

Neither Ann nor I have a Mac; so you may be right about the Android File Transfer app.  It shows up as a drive for PCs, just as all prior Kindles have.  One of our Mac users will have to address this.

Folders--

Books you transfer do go in the Books folder, not in a subfolder.  You should be able to see them on the Documents tab of the Fire.  That's where non-Amazon books will appear.

With Calibre, my understanding is that you can have Calibre act as a file server and do wireless transfer to your device.  I believe it sets up a URL for you to use; you access that URL from your device and download the books.  Someone who actually uses Calibre this way can give the specifics.

Betsy


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Sorry, I have a Mac, but not the Kindle Fire HD. My kindles do show as a drive in Finder.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Depending on when you downloaded Calibre, if you have the 8.9" Fire HD you might need to update Calibre. The developer was planning to update it to recognize the 8.9" Fire HD in late December. (Every new device requires him to update it to allow Calibre to recognize the device via USB.) My Mac recognizes my 7" Fire HD.

At any rate, assuming you have wifi, you can connect your Fire to Calibre via wifi (not bluetooth). Directions are here:
http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.html#how-do-i-use-app-with-my-android-phone-tablet-or-kindle-fire-hd 
You might need to scroll down to get to find the section on connecting via wifi - it's just below the section on how connect Apple devices to Calibre wirelessly. I don't use the Calibre Companion App (I'm cheap that way ) because I can just do it the old-fashioned way which is in the paragraph below the bit about Calibre Companion. Or...here's a cut & paste of the directions:

*calibre also has a builtin web server, the Content Server. You can browse your calibre collection on your Android device is by using the calibre content server, which makes your collection available over the net. First perform the following steps in calibre

Set the Preferred Output Format in calibre to EPUB for normal Android devices or MOBI for Kindles (The output format can be set under Preferences->Interface->Behavior)
Convert the books you want to read on your device to EPUB/MOBI format by selecting them and clicking the Convert button.
Turn on the Content Server in calibre's preferences and leave calibre running.

Now on your Android device, open the browser and browse to

http://192.168.1.2:8080/

Replace 192.168.1.2 with the local IP address of the computer running calibre. If your local network supports the use of computer names, you can replace the IP address with the network name of the computer. If you have changed the port the calibre content server is running on, you will have to change 8080 as well to the new port.

The local IP address is the IP address you computer is assigned on your home network. A quick Google search will tell you how to find out your local IP address. You can now browse your book collection and download books from calibre to your device to open with whatever ebook reading software you have on your android device.

Some reading programs support browsing the Calibre library directly. For example, in Aldiko, click My Catalogs, then + to add a catalog, then give the catalog a title such as "Calibre" and provide the URL listed above. You can now browse the Calibre library and download directly into the reading software.*

Note: The computer will need to be on and Calibre will need to be open for this to work.


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## photocat (Nov 17, 2012)

I have a mac and a kindle fird hd.  If you connect them via the USB cable you can transfer your files.  You won't do it via the finder, you'll do it via an app that is loaded to your mac first (this was in the link Jesslyn provided earlier)  Here is the key thing you'll need to do:

Macintosh: Mac OS X 10.5 or later. Note: Mac users need to install a free app, Android File Transfer, to complete a USB transfer. Visit android.com/filetransfer and follow the onscreen instructions.


I connected the kindle fire to my mac (via the USB cable) and I got the pop up message that took me right to the app, I installed it, and have used it ever since.  Very easy!

sue


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## sszd (Jan 10, 2013)

Meemo, I also have the 7" Fire HD, and mine does not show up in Calibre as the Calibre directions indicate it should.  And I do have the latest version, 9.14.  My assumption is as I explained earlier.  Since the MAC doesn't recognize the device as a separate drive, Calibre won't recognize it either.  Anyway, with some of the other suggestions that have been made, I was finally able to get some decent results.  I'll explain in a moment.

Meemo & Betsy, Your suggestions on using the browser on the kindle to access Calibre via a simple URL did work… sort of.  I was able to establish the connection and see the library in Calibre via the kindle.  I could even click on the "Get" button for a specific book to download it.  This is where things went a little awry.  The books still did not show up in the Books tab.  In fact, I couldn't find the downloaded books in any tab whatsoever, not even Docs.  I did, however find them in the "Notifications" area.  From there you can click on a "Down arrow" icon next to it which would bring up the reader to read the book.  But, once you've done that, it disappears from the "Notifications" area, and once you exit reading the book, it's nowhere to be found.  I also couldn't figure out a way to move things from the "Notifications" area to other areas in the kindle, like the books tab.

So, this brings us to what actually did work successfully.  It turns out that the reason my books weren't showing up in the book tab when I simply copied them to the "Book" directory via the "Android File Transfer" app had to do with a conversion issue.  My books were already in a .mobi format (the native format for the Kindle), however, I needed to do a .mobi to .mobi conversion using Calibre.  I still don't quite understand this, but it has something to do with a tag that was associated with the metadata.  Anyway, after performing a conversion, I could then drag the book from Calibre directly into the "Book" folder within the Android File Transfer app.  Lo and behold, the book finally showed up in the books tab.  So I at least now have one way of getting my books on the Kindle.

Thank you everyone for your help and ideas.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Personal books that are transferred usually show up in the "Documents" tab.  It sounds like the Calibre conversion fixes the tag so that they show up in the Books.

Sounds like you've solved it!

Betsy


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## sszd (Jan 10, 2013)

Yes, thanks again!


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Interesting. I wonder if that's a Kindle thing?  I've transferred lots of epub books wirelessly from Calibre to the Aldiko app on my Fire HD with no special Android File Transfer app.  I prefer the reading apps that aren't connected to a bookstore because they have lots more options for customization. I should probably play around with it more - to be honest I don't use the HD as much now that I have an iPad Mini.


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

I had to download the Android Mac thing for the 7" HD I was setting up - and fought the books thing too. I can't recall where they ended up on the device  - that was almost Christmas Eve! LOL!!

It didn't act the same each time I tried it either - at first I was having issues with movies, and then after quitting/launching it a few times, BAM, it started working.

Meemo - at the moment i'd give anything to be able to swap my android tablets for iPad Mini's, but I could swing ONE and I don't think my kids would share well at this point.....


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## cdyard (Nov 30, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Ann's correct, the Bluetooth on the Fire isn't set up for those kinds of transfers... You can, however, use an App like Dropbox. Create an account, set it up on your Mac and then install the app on the Fire (you'll have to sideload it, more on that in a bit) and anything you put in your Dropbox folder on your Mac will appear in the Dropbox folder on the Fire. This works great for non book or document files in addition to non-DRM'd book files
> 
> If what you want to transfer are non-DRM'd book files, Ann's right, the Send to Kindle is the best way to go. If you downloaded books from Amazon to use on your Kindle for Mac, you'll have to re-download them directly to your Fire as they most likely have DRM that will enable them to be read only by the Kindle for Mac app. DRM'd books from Amazon can only be read by the device or app that they are downloaded to.
> 
> ...


Hi, Betsy,

I'm a bit surprised because when I wanted to install Dropbox on my Fire HD, I got the message "this app is not compatible with your device" or something like that. I've got a Dropbox account and QuickOffice can load from/save to the Dropbox folder, which is a great help. But installing Dropbox itself... I'm afraid something would go wrong... 

cdyard


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

cdyard said:


> Hi, Betsy,
> 
> I'm a bit surprised because when I wanted to install Dropbox on my Fire HD, I got the message "this app is not compatible with your device" or something like that. I've got a Dropbox account and QuickOffice can load from/save to the Dropbox folder, which is a great help. But installing Dropbox itself... I'm afraid something would go wrong...
> 
> cdyard


Not to worry - it works just fine to get it direct from the Dropbox site - I use it all the time to transfer stuff.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

cdyard said:


> Hi, Betsy,
> 
> I'm a bit surprised because when I wanted to install Dropbox on my Fire HD, I got the message "this app is not compatible with your device" or something like that. I've got a Dropbox account and QuickOffice can load from/save to the Dropbox folder, which is a great help. But installing Dropbox itself... I'm afraid something would go wrong...
> 
> cdyard


I've got Dropbox on my Fire HD. Have you allowed installation of applications from unknown sources?

On the Fire 8.9, you go to Settings (swipe down from top) and then select Device > Allow Installation of Applications and select ON.

Betsy


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