# What do you do with books you've finished reading?



## agilepup (Sep 30, 2011)

Hi all,

I got a Kindle Touch for Christmas (yay!  ).  I had been collecting free and low-cost books for a few months prior, so I arranged them into collections on the kindle.  My question is, once you've finished the book, do you leave it in place, move it to Archived items (how does one do that?) or remove it completely from your device.  If you remove it completely, is it still in your kindle account so that you could get it back again if necessary?  I'm only referring to things purchased/downloaded from Amazon.  I don't have any outside content yet.

Thanks!
Michele


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Welcome, Michele!

It's really up to you.  Some people like to keep absolutely everything always on their kindle.  Often they set up a collection like "already read it" to move things they've finished to.  Others want the kindle to only have what they haven't read yet.  Still others want almost nothing on the Kindle except what they intend to read soon.

Whatever you decide, the book will always be there in your account at Amazon.  If you've not yet done so, explore the "Manage Your Kindle" page a bit -- you can get to it by logging into your account.  You can do all sorts of things there.  Specific to your question, the 'books' section lists all the books you've bought.  So if someone else starts sharing your account, or you want to re-read something, you can go there to send your books to the appropriate device.

If there's a book you don't want to keep -- I've gotten a few stinkers before I began being a bit more careful about what free stuff I downloaded -- you can permanently delete it by chosing that option on the 'actions' button.


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## Hadou (Jun 1, 2011)

For most books, I'll back them up using Calibre and delete them off the Kindle.  Some will get moved into a "Keepers" folder.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

You ask 'can you move it to Archived items or remove it completely from your device?' That's actually the same thing.

This is how it works. On your 'manage your kindle' page at Amazon it will list every book you've bought. Delete it from there and it's gone for good - you'd have to repurchase it to read it. But on your device, when you go into 'archived items' it doesn't show the complete list - just everything that isn't on your device. So when you remove it from the device, it automatically reappears on the device's 'archived items' list.

To remove content from your Kindle Touch - from Amazon's support pages:-



> To remove content:
> From the Home screen, press and hold the cover of the item you want to remove to bring up additional options.
> Tap Move to Archived Items from the options. (Non-archived personal documents will state Delete Document, samples will state Delete this Sample.)
> Note: Samples and non-archived personal documents will be deleted from your Kindle Touch and not stored in Your Kindle Library.


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## Beatriz (Feb 22, 2011)

agilepup said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I got a Kindle Touch for Christmas (yay! ). I had been collecting free and low-cost books for a few months prior, so I arranged them into collections on the kindle. My question is, once you've finished the book, do you leave it in place, move it to Archived items (how does one do that?) or remove it completely from your device. If you remove it completely, is it still in your kindle account so that you could get it back again if necessary? I'm only referring to things purchased/downloaded from Amazon. I don't have any outside content yet.
> 
> ...


I think if you delete it, it automatically goes to the archive items and you have to call support and ask them to delete permanently if you really want to get rid of them. I keep them because sometimes if I liked a book a lot, I like to reread them.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Beatriz said:


> I think if you delete it, it automatically goes to the archive items and you have to call support and ask them to delete permanently if you really want to get rid of them. I keep them because sometimes if I liked a book a lot, I like to reread them.


As has been said, deleting the book from your Kindle moves it to the archive. As Linjeakel posted, to delete permanently (remove from archive) you go to Manage Your Kindle. Find the book in your listing, then click on the "Actions" drop down menu on the right side. "Delete from Library" will be one of the options. If you do this, the only way to get the book again is to buy it.

Betsy


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## agilepup (Sep 30, 2011)

Thank you for the replies!  I love this little thing!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Glad we could help, Michele!

Just curious about your username--are you into agility trials? (with a pup)  

Betsy


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

Congrats on your new Kindle!  I only keep books on my Kindle that I have not read, so once I am done, I delete them off the Kindle.  I also use Calibre to manage my entire book library (both Amazon purchased books and non-Amazon purchased books).  Once I delete it off the Kindle I go into Calibre to indicate that I have read the book and the date completed.  This system works for me because I only want to keep items on the Kindle that are unread.  To Ann's point though, it really is a personal preference of how you want to work out a system.  Good Luck!


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## kapierce65 (Dec 31, 2011)

So...How do you put your Amazon books on Calibre I'd like to be able to manage them there as well.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

kapierce65 said:


> So...How do you put your Amazon books on Calibre I'd like to be able to manage them there as well.


You can import the books directly from your desktop or Kindle for PC/Mac for PC. Once the books are imported into Calibre, you are able to edit the metadata to your liking. Once in Calibre, you can side load the books from Calibre into your Kindle. Upon plugging your Kindle into your computer, Calibre automatically recognizes the Kindle and will even tell you which books are ON THE DEVICE.

I would highly recommend you go over to MobileRead and take a look at the Calibre thread. It is not the most intuitive program but there are lots of really terrific people (including the developer of Calibre, Kovid Goyal) who will answer any questions you have. In addition, if you do a Google search for Calibre, it will take you to the site, it has a video tutorial that can help also.

I started off not knowing a thing about Calibre and through some trial and error, I have been able to master the application pretty well for my needs. Good Luck. Here's the link to Mobile Read.

[url]]http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166/url][url]


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

kapierce65 said:


> So...How do you put your Amazon books on Calibre I'd like to be able to manage them there as well.


Plug your Kindle into your PC, and open Calibre. After a few seconds you'll get a "Device" button appear, click this and it will list all the books on your Kindle, with a tick if they are in your Calibre library already.

The books without ticks are your Amazon books.

Right click on the Amazon books, and pick "Add books to Library".

Remember that these books have DRM on them, which means they are locked to your Kindle. You will be able to store and manage them in Calibre, but you won't be able to convert them and you won't be able to use them on another Kindle or on Kindle for PC - if you want to use them on Kindle for PC you'll have to open them there directly.


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## kapierce65 (Dec 31, 2011)

Morf said:


> Plug your Kindle into your PC, and open Calibre. After a few seconds you'll get a "Device" button appear, click this and it will list all the books on your Kindle, with a tick if they are in your Calibre library already.
> 
> The books without ticks are your Amazon books.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much Morf!!! Wow, sounds so simple when you explain it. I've been using Calibre for awhile now and it seems everyday I learn something new thanks to generous people like you who share their knowledge. Thanks again!


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## kapierce65 (Dec 31, 2011)

chilady1 said:


> You can import the books directly from your desktop or Kindle for PC/Mac for PC. Once the books are imported into Calibre, you are able to edit the metadata to your liking. Once in Calibre, you can side load the books from Calibre into your Kindle. Upon plugging your Kindle into your computer, Calibre automatically recognizes the Kindle and will even tell you which books are ON THE DEVICE.
> 
> I would highly recommend you go over to MobileRead and take a look at the Calibre thread. It is not the most intuitive program but there are lots of really terrific people (including the developer of Calibre, Kovid Goyal) who will answer any questions you have. In addition, if you do a Google search for Calibre, it will take you to the site, it has a video tutorial that can help also.
> 
> ...


Thank you chilady! I like you, knew next to nothing when I first started using Calibre. I find it quite useful as I have (ahem) ALOT of ebooks. Calibre manages them nicely for me. I learn new things all the time thanks to people like you! And I will check out the Mobilreads thread too!


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## Jeh (Dec 11, 2011)

I have a lot of books on my K2 and one thing I have noticed is as the number increase the K2 slows down a little. Not so much as in page turns but on startup. The newer ones may not do this but I will probably end up removing a couple of hundred books just to speed it up.

As far as what to do with them, My Amazon books are stored on Amazon and I also will backup my book collection on a separate hard drive with what was on the K2 in one folder and all my other sourced books in another broken down by author.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I download everything to my Kindle, often to my wife's Kindle, and to my desktop (the Kindle app). Books in the Kindle app also go to Calibre. Apparently I have a deathly fear of a massive server crash at Amazon that causes me to lose the book I just paid two dollars for!

When I've read a book, I put it in the Books I've Read collection on my Kindle. Eventually this will have to move to Calibre, I guess, as I don't want to slow down my Kindle and I suppose I'll eventually reach the storage capacity, if I live that long.


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## ireadbooks (Jan 11, 2011)

I'm one of those weirdos who likes to keep all my books on Kenzo.

After I finish a book it is moved to the Read list. I like seeing the number grow 

Sent from my awesome Kindle Fire


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## agilepup (Sep 30, 2011)

Betsy, yes I have two bad border collies    One is nearly 12, so she doesn't compete anymore, but does still enjoy it just for fun.


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## oceaneagle (Jan 13, 2012)

I only keep a half dozen or so books on my Kindle. I hear the more you keep the slower the Kindle is. All my books (over 2,500) are stored on Calibre and even then I back up the Calibre Library to a portable drive. 
God first gave us the Kindle and saw that it was good. He then gave us Calibre a marriage made in heaven.


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