# View directory structure on the Kindle



## mdietz39

I have a Kindle 3.  I can look at the directory structure on the Kindle from my computer using Windows Explorer since the Kindle is an external drive on the computer.

Is there any way I can look at the directory structure on the Kindle display screen?


----------



## SusanCassidy

No.  It is not designed to be used as a computer.  Why would you need to anyway?  It displays all the books and/or collections that you have set up.


----------



## mdietz39

The main reason is I am now up to over 300 books on the Kindle.  It is a hassle to look through that many books to find one.  So I have them in collections, but I have about 25 collections which is several pages of looking for the collection.  I also have downloaded two additional collections from Gutenberg containing another 500 books, mostly short stories.  I will not put all of them on the Kindle but probably a couple of hundred.  This will just complicate matters even more.

Along that same topic I plan to "move" the books I have read into the Archive.  And again if there are 200 books in that archive it is just going to be very difficult to find them  I know the Kindle is not a computer but I do not really understand why it keeps data in a "directory/folder" format and then hides that structured format from the user.


----------



## pidgeon92

mdietz39 said:


> Along that same topic I plan to "move" the books I have read into the Archive. And again if there are 200 books in that archive it is just going to be very difficult to find them I know the Kindle is not a computer but I do not really understand why it keeps data in a "directory/folder" format and then hides that structured format from the user.


I could be wrong, but I am almost 100% certain that all of the ebooks on your Kindle are in one directory.

Remember, this is an ebook _reader_. It was not created to be an organizational tool.

Can you describe what you mean by this?:


> And again if there are 200 books in that archive it is just going to be very difficult to find them


With the search function on the Kindle, it shouldn't be hard to find any of your books.


----------



## chuckf410

mdietz39 said:


> I do not really understand why it keeps data in a "directory/folder" format and then hides that structured format from the user.


As Pidgeon92 said, the files are all in one directory on the Kindle. The books are searchable via the current interface.

So using a traditional file browser you would effectively be browsing ~500 file names on an eink display looking at file names like 'pg934123.mobi' and such unless you take time to rename them to something identifiable, which to my mind is the title of the book.

The way it is set up now, the Kindle title browser is effectively a file browser using the book title as the file name. Putting them into collections is the equivalent of dropping the files into different directories. (A collection on the Kindle is just a formatted file that points to books/files on the Kindle in a manner that you gather them together in)

Given that, I'm not sure how effective a 'traditional' file browser would be on the Kindle. Out of my geek curiosity, how would you use an existing file browser or design a file browser that is better than the current system?


----------



## mdietz39

If I use Windows Explorer on my PC to look at drive F which is the Kindle I see seven directories: ".active-content-data", "audible" "documents" "linkss" "mucis" "src" "system".  Documents has the books in it. Linkss has six sub-directories: "backups", "bin", "etc", "run", "screensavers". System has three subdirectories: "com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader", "screen_saver", Search Indexes".
  If I click on properties for the linkss folder/directory I get 63 files and 7 folders.  If I click on properties for the system folder/directory I get 72 files and 4 folders.  If I click on properties for the documents folder I get 327 files, 42 folders. So there definitely is some type of structure to the placement of the files on the Kindle.

The folders/sub-directories in the documents folder are named by the author of the book(s) that are in them.  So I have a folder under documents named "Norton, Andre" and in the folder I have a dozen books, one of which is named "All Cats Are Gray - Andre Norton.apnx", size 1 KB, modified at 6:28 AM on 3/18/2011.  The actual book is named "All Cats Are Gray - Andre Norton.mobi", size 65 KB, modified at 6:28 AM on 3/18/2011.

I use Calibre to rename the books to something that is legible.  The way I would use these directory/folder names and the file names is I could look for the Author and then find the book I wanted to read.  Now I have a collection "SYFY Norton" which go to find the book.  I also have a collection "Horror Lovecraft" with almost 70 books in it.  I also have a collection ""Cthulhu Mythos" with about 2 dozen books in it, 14 of which are by Lovecraft.  I have to construct these collections and place the books in them.  I did not create the directories, they were created either by Kindle or Calibre when I moved the books from my PC to the Kindle.  They created the folders based upon the author names.  Amazon or Kindle also created the other second level directories to hold the software for the Kindle.

I just find it a bit strange for the software to process things based upon a directory structure but not allow the user to view it.


----------



## mdietz39

I am not wanting to modify the directories, books, files, folders, etc., in any way.  I just would like to find a book based upon the author in a straightforward manner. It would also be nice to see the size of the file to get an estimate of how long it would take me to read it.  If I am on an hour long flight I can read a short story rather than start a 500 page novel.


----------



## pidgeon92

Calibre is creating these subdirectories, not your Kindle.

File size is a poor indicator of how long a book really is. Topaz books have humongous file sizes, and pictures will bloat the file size as well. Better off looking at the number of dots below the book title on the home page.


----------



## Morf

mdietz39 said:


> If I use Windows Explorer on my PC to look at drive F which is the Kindle I see seven directories: ".active-content-data", ... "linkss" "mucis" "src" "system". ... Linkss has six sub-directories: "backups", "bin", "etc", "run", "screensavers". System has three subdirectories: "com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader", "screen_saver", Search Indexes".
> If I click on properties for the linkss folder/directory I get 63 files and 7 folders. If I click on properties for the system folder/directory I get 72 files and 4 folders.


Stay clear of these 5 directories, they are the operating system of your Kindle. Like the Windows folder on a PC. Don't do anything in there unless you know exactly what you are doing (or are prepared to "Brick" your Kindle!) 



mdietz39 said:


> The folders/sub-directories in the documents folder are named by the author of the book(s) that are in them.
> ...
> I did not create the directories, they were created either by Kindle or Calibre when I moved the books from my PC to the Kindle. They created the folders based upon the author names. Amazon or Kindle also created the other second level directories to hold the software for the Kindle.
> 
> I just find it a bit strange for the software to process things based upon a directory structure but not allow the user to view it.


Agree with Pidgeon92, Calibre created these directories. The standard Kindle approach is to have all the books in the documents folder, with no subfolders. If the books are in subfolders the Kindle will still see them, but it takes no notice of the folder structure and certainly does not allow you to manage the books using them.

I'm afraid the only way to manage books on the Kindle is by collections. They are not perfect, we all know that, but they are all there is.

There is a Calibre add-in that helps you to manage collections, this might be of help.


----------



## SusanCassidy

Note that all the books from Gutenberg, etc. will not be in your Archives on Amazon.  You will have to save them on your computer at home.


----------



## SusanCassidy

If your books have the author metadata correctly defined, just change the Kindle sort to "By Author", then press the first letter of the author last name you want to jump to.  Done.


----------



## Elk

SusanCassidy said:


> If your books have the author metadata correctly defined, just change the Kindle sort to "By Author", then press the first letter of the author last name you want to jump to. Done.


Exactly.

Or create collections for each author.

Or search for an author from the home page.

All are very easy.


----------



## ff2

While it might be nice if there were a way to view the Folder (I'm of the age when they were called Directories) structure on the Kindle, I can see that Amazon designed the Kindle for those who are not computer-literate.

I have created subfolders for my own purposes - it is just easier to have SciFi, Mystery, Shakespeare, etc subfolders under "documents" than have 600 or more separate files (along with their complementary page files, and pointer files).  My subfolders generally mirror my collections.  

Actually, I am not fond of Calibre's method of creating even more subfolders based on authors' names.  I don't want that many subfolders.  I only started using Calibre to transfer to my k3 when Calibre added the PAGE-NUMBERING function and I wanted those for non-kindle books.  I suddenly had another 20 subfolders.  I've moved the books and subordinate files into their respective genres and killed this author subfolders.

But even my Blackberry has an Explorer type function that allows navigating through the folders and files on the device.  It might be nice if Amazon added something similar.


----------



## Warrendeape

I agree that the Kindle should allow users to have more control over how we organize our files.  Hopefully Amazon will address this problem. The Kindle IS a computer and any hardware worth having that is dedicated to processing specific types of files allows users to sort files in a similar manner as in Windows.  

I've had my Kindle for less than a day and am shocked to find this out.  Maybe I am overlooking something, but according to the posts above it seems as if there is no way to change the current structure in which files are organized on the Kindle.  I like to keep my e-books in general categories that way I can transfer files from storage discs to my PC to my e-reader, etc, (usually I look for something to read by browsing these categories instead of knowing right away and searching by author).


----------



## SusanCassidy

Sounds like you need to define some Collections.


----------



## Warrendeape

SusanCassidy said:


> Sounds like you need to define some Collections.


via this page: http://www.accwebworks.com/kindle.aspx

?


----------



## Morf

I think that tool, or something very similar to it, has since been merged into Calibre.


----------



## Warrendeape

Morf said:


> I think that tool, or something very similar to it, has since been merged into Calibre.


This is what I found on Calibre's FAQ page:



> Why does calibre not support collections on the Kindle or shelves on the Nook?
> 
> Neither the Kindle nor the Nook provide any way to manipulate collections over a USB connection. _If you really care about using collections, I would urge you to sell your Kindle/Nook and get a SONY. Only SONY seems to understand that life is too short to be entering collections one by one on an e-ink screen _
> 
> Note that in the case of the Kindle, there is a way to manipulate collections via USB, but it requires that the Kindle be rebooted every time it is disconnected from the computer, for the changes to the collections to be recognized. As such, it is unlikely that any calibre developers will ever feel motivated enough to support it. *There is however, a calibre plugin that allows you to create collections on your Kindle from the calibre metadata. It is available here* (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118635).


----------



## Morf

Yep, that's it. I don't know if the plug-in is by the developer of the web page - there was a discussion here http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,47348.msg823209.html#msg823209 where we suggested he looked at doing so - but I think the end results are similar.


----------

