# Understanding Collections



## Britone (Apr 30, 2015)

I have just acquired a Paperwrite and am having some difficulty understanding Collections. I had previously used an iPad for reading Kindle books. How do I display a listing of the Collection names? Are there two lists, one for books on the device and another for books in the Cloud? How do I move a book from one collection to another? 
Any advice on Collections would be appreciated.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Welcome Britone!

First thing: if you've not perused the user guide, which comes loaded on the PW, I suggest you do that.  It might answer a lot of questions.

Collections you may have made when reading on the Kindle for iPad will still be associated with your account. To see them, on the home page, touch cloud.  If you touch and hold a collection title, you'll be able to 'star' it which will then let it be viewed on your kindle.  Books you already have in it, that are on your kindle will still be in it. Of course you see EVERYTHING when you select cloud, only what's actually ON the kindle when you select On Device.

Play a little with changing sorting options and I think you'll see what's going on. I like to keep mine showing 'All Items' and 'Collection'. That way, my collections (starred to be on the device) are shown first, followed by by subscriptions (the news paper and a magazine that come periodically) followed by uncollected books.  I keep books in a 'Reading Queue' collection until I'm actually reading them and put them in the 'Read it' collection when I'm done. That way my home page is just a couple screens and the ones I am actively reading are always right there.


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## Britone (Apr 30, 2015)

Thanks for your advice.


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## Shei Darksbane (Jan 31, 2015)

I hopped over here for basically the same question. 
I've always just used my book carousel on the paperwhite and haven't messed with collections before, but my sister got me looking at them the other day.
I was super disappointed to find out that they do not function like folders. I really wish they did.
WHY did they not make them function like folders so I can drag books I've finished into a "Finished" folder and thus separate them from books I want to read soon, yet keep them on my device for future use, perusal, or reference? 

When it turned out they are basically just a tag, not a folder... I stopped bothering again.
Though tagging them is still useful, I just got discouraged haha...

Though hum, what Ann in Arlington is saying is that it IS possible to do this if you set the settings right... I have to fiddle more.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I don't do collections on a device but I think to do what you want, make a finished collection then just move the book to it like you would any other book.


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## Tuttle (Jun 10, 2010)

Yep! I have "read", "reading" and "unread" as three of my collections. I also have a bunch of different genres. So, when I get a book I put it into unread and whatever genres it fits into. When I go to read it, I swap the unread to reading. (Then when I pick it up, I only have to look in reading.) When I'm done reading it, I swap it to read. Whenever I want to look by genre, I can. Whenever I want to look by level of completion I can. 

Something I'd love them to add still, and have been thinking since the k2 when they added collections, is the ability to do more complex searches. Look for books that are in both read and science fiction. Books that are unread and nonfiction, etc.


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## Shei Darksbane (Jan 31, 2015)

Of course, right after we talk about this, I open the Kindle and there's an update about changes to collections. Lol.


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## etexlady (May 27, 2009)

Do "Collections" on the Voyage work the same way?  I ask because I have two Collections on mine named "Read" and "Read Next".  There are also several pages of books unassigned to a collection. I put books I especially want to read soon in the "Read Next" collection.  My usual procedure is to read a book, finish it and move it to the "Read" collection.  I can place it in that collection and it shows to be in that collection but it also still shows up with the rest of the books that are not assigned to a collection.  I would prefer the book only be in the collection I place it in and not also in the unsorted group.  Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it works?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

etexlady said:


> Do "Collections" on the Voyage work the same way? I ask because I have two Collections on mine named "Read" and "Read Next". There are also several pages of books unassigned to a collection. I put books I especially want to read soon in the "Read Next" collection. My usual procedure is to read a book, finish it and move it to the "Read" collection. I can place it in that collection and it shows to be in that collection but it also still shows up with the rest of the books that are not assigned to a collection. I would prefer the book only be in the collection I place it in and not also in the unsorted group. Am I doing something wrong or is this just the way it works?


That's probably a function of how you have your home page set to SHOW the books.

I use "all items" and then "collection". This way, the home page first shows all my collections (alphabetically) and then uncollected items follow that.

I put new books in "Reading Queue" and when they come to the head of the line, I'll move 'em out of that collection. So, at any time, I have a handful just floating free on the home page. After I read a book, I put it into "Read it" and it no longer shows there.


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## etexlady (May 27, 2009)

Thanks Ann in Arlington!  I changed the home page function and it shows my two Collection "folders" on the home page.  There are several pages afterward with misc. unassigned books but I don't have to deal with them until I want to replenish my To Read folder.  Thanks again.


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## Cindy Rinaman Marsch (Dec 14, 2015)

etexlady said:


> Thanks Ann in Arlington! I changed the home page function and it shows my two Collection "folders" on the home page. There are several pages afterward with misc. unassigned books but I don't have to deal with them until I want to replenish my To Read folder. Thanks again.


This is a late response (it's almost Christmas!) but I'm grateful. I was getting frustrated with this yesterday. Now I have hope!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

happy to be of assistance.


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