# How to archive books on the Kindle



## gerryruth (Jul 6, 2010)

Hi.  Once I've read a book I'd like to be able to archive it - not delete it.  Reading how to remove (closest I could find to archive) a book, it sounds like it is a permanent removal.  Do I need to keep reading the user guide or is it not possible?  As I said in previous post - I'm new to the Kindle.  Thanks for any help you can give me.  Gerry


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## Stormy (May 24, 2010)

If it's a book that you got from amazon then you can delete it from the device and it will be archived.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Stormy's given you the answer. . .but I would still suggest you read the Users Guide. 

For a book you got from Amazon, they will store it indefinitely unless you go to the trouble of going to "Manage Your Kindle" in "Your Account" find the book and permanently delete it.  So if you just use the 'delete' on the Kindle, it's no longer on the device, but will be available to you still via the wireless (Whispernet or WN) or by transfering via USB.  Via WN, you can 'send' it from "Manage your Kindle" or you can 'pull' it via the Archive 'folder' on your Kindle.

For books not bought from Amazon, it's generally a good idea for you to keep a copy on your computer as if you delete them from your Kindle they will NOT be automatically saved at Amazon.


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## Kimmieg (Jul 4, 2010)

Glad you asked this question.  I was wondering the same thing---I'm a newbie too!

Kim/SC


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## Phil75070 (Dec 30, 2009)

For Amazon purchased books, isn't the option "Remove from device" which is the indication that it gets archived? For non-Amazon purchased content, doesn't the option read "Delete"? I can't confirm this right now as I don't have any non-Amazon purchased content on my Kindle.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I believe that non-amazon stuff is treated the same way that Samples are treated - that is, you choose to delete the item from the Kindle and a second confirmation box comes up telling you that you are going to permanently delete the item and you have to agree to continue.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Andra said:


> I believe that non-amazon stuff is treated the same way that Samples are treated - that is, you choose to delete the item from the Kindle and a second confirmation box comes up telling you that you are going to permanently delete the item and you have to agree to continue.


That sounds right. . . .I do recall that it's perfectly obvious.


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## Varin (May 12, 2009)

mrscottishman said:


> In general reference to archiving, I read today where a man said he lost his Amazon bought copy of a book when the author withdrew it from the Kindle store during the first thirty days of the book contract. That and a few other stories I have read don't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about Amazon keeping your books for you. Can we just backup that section of the on board Kindle files to our computer for the worst case scenario? Then we could reinstall it if there was a future issue.
> 
> Anyone know if this will work if Amazon pulls the plug?
> 
> Scott


Yes, if you back up the books on your computer/flash drive/external hard drive, no matter what happens on Amazon's front, you'll still have your book.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I would always put a backup on my computer, and I'd back up my computer. (I use Mozy.)

I'm sorry, but you can't trust Amazon to always have your book. (_1984, Animal Farm_) And you can't be sure that you'll always have a connection to their server and that their server won't be hacked or destroyed in a terrorist attack (as happened to the computer banks in the World Trade Centers). You can't be sure that Amazon won't go the way of TWA, RCA, Compaq, General Foods, Standard Oil, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth's and many others.

Anyone who believes "Don't worry, we'll always have your library on our server" is naive.

The best thing that could happen for e-readers (the people) would be for the Kindle to read other formats, such as ePub, and for other e-readers (the devices) to read Kindle-formatted ebooks!

The sooner we get beyond proprietary formats and proprietary DRM, the better.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I don't think I'm naive. . . .I just don't see it as worth my time to do a second backup when Amazon already has one (or two or three, 'cause I bet they do off site backups too.) To each, his own, I guess. 

Personal opinion here: Frankly, I don't see Amazon disappearing any time soon. And in the case of a terrorist attack, I don't think _I'd_ really be thinking about my book files.  As for the books they've pulled, well, they were books that had been illegally offered, they did give everyone a refund and, as I recall, an extra $5 or $10 as well. And they have said they won't pull them from the Kindle any more so if another such issue comes up I could, conceivably, do a back up of the book then, since it would no longer be available for re-download. But, that would mean I was intentionally keeping a book that was offered illegally and for which I've received a refund. So, I probably wouldn't.



Jan Strnad said:


> The best thing that could happen for e-readers (the people) would be for the Kindle to read other formats, such as ePub, and for other e-readers (the devices) to read Kindle-formatted ebooks!


I agree with this 100%. I also think it's funny that "they" keep saying ePub is the industry standard and Amazon should get with it. I don't know, of course, but it seems to me like there are a TON (or two) of Kindles (especially when you count the Apps for iThing, Android, etc.) out there and rather fewer of other devices. Is ePub industry standard just because Sony picked it and they were first to offer a reader? Hmm. Anybody got a Betamax.  Anyway, it just seems to me that the popularity of Kindle and Kindle Apps makes Amazon's format the 'industry standard'.  But, as I said, I really don't know; that being the case I'll not argue the point further. I just offer an observation. 

As for DRM, I don't really have a problem with it. I completely see why companies feel the need for it. Though I'm not convinced it serves the purpose they think it serves. I'd be perfectly happy with no DRM too.

But really, none of this is anything I spend a lot of time worrying about.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Varin said:


> Yes, if you back up the books on your computer/flash drive/external hard drive, no matter what happens on Amazon's front, you'll still have your book.


However, the books (with DRM) will be tied to a specific Kindle. So a more accurate statement would be that you have the files and they will be useful as long as that particular Kindle is still working.


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## ladeb (Feb 26, 2010)

So, can you archive an entire collection, or do you have to do it one book at a time?


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## Tom Diego (Jun 30, 2010)

mrscottishman said:


> No wonder you see so many DRM hacking sites with all of these issues, but I have too much to do to figure out how to hack a book I "bought."


Removing DRM is actually quite simple but it probably helps if you're more knowledgeable about computers than the average user.

I recently removed the DRM on an e-book that I purchased several years ago. I used to use MobiPocket on a Palm device and I purchased, downloaded, and read "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov on that Palm device. When I bought my Kindle recently I discovered that I couldn't read that e-book on the Kindle because of DRM. What was really ironic is that MobiPocket is now owned by Amazon (since 2005) but I couldn't read that e-book on an Amazon device!

I did some research using Google, discovered that I need to download and install Python and xPython and a couple of Python scripts. The initial setup was very simple and I just followed the instructions. Python uses a command level interface so once you've done the initial setup it's just a manner of typing in one command with the appropriate parameters and the DRM is removed. I can now read that e-book on my Kindle.

I haven't tried this with .azw files, but from what I've learned, .prc, .mobi and .amz files are identical and the DRM method used is identical for all three formats. If one were truly concerned with losing the ability to read a purchased e-book some time in the future because of DRM, the removal process is pretty simple, at least the DRM that Amazon is currently using.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Please note that discussions of how to remove DRM or links or directions to sites that have DRM stripping scripts is not permitted on KindleBoards.

Thank you,

Ann
Moderator


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

ladeb said:


> So, can you archive an entire collection, or do you have to do it one book at a time?


If you're doing it from your Kindle, deleting the collection won't delete (archive) the books within that collection - you'd have to delete each book individually. A quicker way to do it would be to connect your Kindle via USB to your computer and go into the Kindle's 'documents' folder and manually delete the books there. You could select all the ones you want to archive and then delete them in one go. Be sure to do a manual sync before you start, backup any non Amazon books you might have in case you accidentally delete any of those, and also be sure to get all the files for each book you're deleting - most books have at least two files with the same names, but different extensions.

It's _easier_ to do it from the Kindle, but more time consuming if there are a lot of books involved.


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## MAGreen (Jan 5, 2009)

It's times like these that I love my K1! I just pop in an SD card and tranfer everything to it (I do this book by book as I get them so it doesn't bog down indexing them all) and I have a back up! I know this will only work for as long as this Kindle keeps working, but it's there.


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