# Optimizing PDF's?



## UAGeo (Jan 15, 2011)

Hi,

I purchased a Kindle specifically for viewing PDF's. Most of what I'm dealing with are scientific journals articles downloaded from say Jstor or several journals I subscribe electronically to. The issue is these pdf's are not formatted ideally for the Kindle. The have very wide margins, headers and footers so to get a page readable is an effort.

I used the "name"@free.kindle.com option to convert one to an .azw but for some reason while I get numerous options of font size and spacing nothing makes any changes. Not one parameter is changable....

Any advice?

Thanks,


Still hopeful..

Warren


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Is it a K3 or a DX?

Mike


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## UAGeo (Jan 15, 2011)

I think it's a K3? It's brand new from Amazon the graphite wifi model...$139....

Warren


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

The K3 is an unsatisfactory PDF viewer. If you really need to view PDFs, I'd recommend returning the K3 and getting a DX (larger screen) and view the PDF without conversion.  Alternatively, return the K3 and get an iPad or other tablet computer.

PDFs are intended to be a fixed format, and can’t satisfactorily be converted to a reflowable format. I've tried dozens of methods (free and paid) over the last two years, and all the PDF-to-ebook conversions are very unsatisfactory. They can’t even manage a very simple text conversion with any degree of accuracy, in my opinion.

Mike


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I too find the k3 not completely satisfactory for PDF's. . .some don't mind viewing what was designed for an 8.5x11 sheet on a 6" diameter screen but I find it too small. There are pan and zoom options, but I find them awkward to use.

The thing is, PDF was designed to allow a person to put fancy formatting on a page and save it in such a way that the person they're sending it too wouldn't need a specialized extensive program to view it. That's why Adobe gives away the reader free.

Kindle is designed to work best for narrative documents. . . .just text, no fancy formatting, no columns or charts or graphs. The DX handles PDF's a little better, mostly because of the larger screen and will probably be satisfactory if you just need it handy for reference. It is, of course, rather more expensive. 

As to conversion, there are a couple of free options and probably some you can pay for. . . .but PDF wasn't designed to be converted _from_, it was designed as a final product, so even the best of these will probably not produce an optimal result if the file in question is anything but straight text. And the formatting may be iffy -- though once you've made it not-PDF you can manually mess with that yourself.

Oh, and if you want Amazon to do the conversion (you mentioned sending to your free.kindle.com address) you have to be sure to put 'convert' in the subject line. I'm thinking maybe you didn't and that's why it came back the same as you sent it. If it's still in pdf format you'll see a small 'pdf' in the margin to the left of the title on the home screen.


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## willus (Jul 19, 2011)

Warren,

Try k2pdfopt (google it).  I had the exact same issues as you (I wanted to read tech articles on my small-screen kindle), so I wrote this program.  It's exactly what you want, and it's freeware.

-Willus


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

willus said:


> Try k2pdfopt (google it). I had the exact same issues as you (I wanted to read tech articles on my small-screen kindle), so I wrote this program. It's exactly what you want, and it's freeware.


Does it reflow the text?

Mike


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## Martel47 (Jun 14, 2010)

No, it doesn't reflow.  I just tried it.

It works well if the PDF is an image, but still doesn't allow for the tools I want.

And, I had a 2-page/page PDF that was rotated the wrong way and it mixed up the pages when it separated them.  That's my fault for scanning them wrong, I guess, but I'd like a program "smart" enough to recognize page numbers and shuffle them correctly.  

I wonder how this would work in conjunction with some other conversion software out there...


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

When you email the files, are you putting "convert" in the subject line, so that the file is converted to Kindle format, or just mailing it to get it onto the Kindle?


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

Here's the best trick I've discovered for reading PDF files.  First I press the font key, and change the zoom on my PDF files to "stetch to fit." Then on the same screen I change my "Screen Orientation" to landscape!  This creates the maximum amount of horizontal screen space, so the text has much more room to stretch out.

But yeah, if you're reading a lot of PDF files, a Kindle DX is also a great way to go. (You'll really appreciate the extra screen space...)


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## Guest (Jul 20, 2011)

Another option that exists is changing the default firmware. There is an alternate firmware developed by a Chinese firm called Duokan (I think it means "read more" in Chinese) that will remove the white margin around most pdf files. That seems to be the hardest part for me about reading pdfs on the Kindle. I did try the firmware myself but I didn't like the load times for standard books. The good news is that it allows for dual book; so you can run the stock firmware and Duokan side-by-side and use the one for e-books and the other for pdfs. Having said all this, if reading pdfs is the reason you have an e-reader, I would go with the DX instead. Installing an alternate firmware may be more trouble than it's worth.


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## willus (Jul 19, 2011)

Martel47 said:


> No, it doesn't reflow. I just tried it.
> 
> It works well if the PDF is an image, but still doesn't allow for the tools I want.
> 
> ...


Sorry--I haven't checked this thread in a while. K2pdfopt will reflow text--check the examples on http://willus.com/k2pdfopt. It also has a rotation feature now that would likely address the issue you had with your 2 page/page file (menu option "rt"). It's had several other improvements since July as well. You might try it again...


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## yswandy (Nov 7, 2011)

I think it's must be a K3? Just like jmiked said,The K3 is an unsatisfactory PDF viewer.You'd  change to  DX .


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