# How to organize books on the kindle?



## Birdman28 (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi, I just received my kindle, and added a few books onto it that I transfered from my computer. They appear on the home screen along with the dictionaries that come with the kindle. My question is, I would like to know if it is possible to group my books by author or genre, into seperate folders or something. That way on the home screen i could just select the authors's name and then see all of his/her book titles to choose from.
I read the manual and it says to do this: 
To personalize and organize items, you can add your books, personal documents, and Audible
audiobooks to collections on your Home screen. Create a new collection from the Home
screen by pressing the Menu button and selecting “Create New Collection”, and then type a
name for the collection. You can add as many items as you wish to each collection, and you
can even add an item to more than one collection for more flexible organization.

If this is the only way, my problem is that I cannot choose Create New Collection because it is there but greyed out.
Thanks for your help.


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## ireadbooks (Jan 11, 2011)

Welcome to KB, Birdman  

Let's try this instead:
Scroll down to the book and click the right arrow. This should bring up a list of options, the first being "add to collection"
Click "add to collection"
Scroo down to "create new collection"and click on it
Enter new collection name and save

Any luck?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Have you had wireless on since you got the Kindle?  I believe the 'collections' function is not enabled until the first time it connects.


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## Birdman28 (Jun 4, 2011)

hi, thank you both for your help. It works now, i believe it was i had not used the wifi connection because as soon as i registered then it all worked.
Thank you again.
Have a nice day.


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## felicityheaton (Aug 31, 2010)

Thanks to those who replied to this. I received my K3 for my birthday in April and haven't had a chance to look at the manual. I just started loading books and reading, and then got distracted by writing and haven't played with it since, but I've been looking for a way to group my books and neaten up my home screen!

Felicity Heaton


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## Cristo4e (Jun 22, 2011)

Hi:
I too am having an issue trying to figure out how to organize my kindle 3. 
I have collections but my issue is that I have to turn the page to get to the end of the list of books to access them. So in other words my collections are pages back from my home page. 
I am trying to condense my items but I have to scroll through all the books to get to the list. Is there a way to move collections to your opening home page? I cannot seem to word this right but when I download my books and magazines they stay on pages I can add them to a collection but then I have them twice on my kindle. I cannot seem to find any information on how to condense and organize my content. 
Please help beyond frustrated.
Thanks


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

If you choose "Sort by Collections" on the Home Page, the collections will be shown, and not the original copy on the Home Page, assuming that all your books are now in collections.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Cristo4e said:


> ...I can add them to a collection but then I have them twice on my kindle...


It's important to realise that collections are not folders, they are more like tags. So you don't put a book into a single collection, you can add it to one or more collections - for instance a book may be in "classics", "scifi" and "unread" for instance. This is why it feels like a book is on the Kindle twice - if your home page list is sorted by author (say) it will appear there and also within the collections.

This is why it's important to use "Sort By Collections" as Susan suggests.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

I read a lot of series, that's not to say I don't read single novels but preference is series.  Therefore, the use of the Calibre Kindle Collections plug-in I now organize my books by series, not by genre which is the way many people organize their Collections.  

Home Page will look like this:

Vintage Magic Mystery - Blair, Anette (3)

When I go into the Collection, it is organized like this:

01 - A Veiled Description
02 - Larceny and Lace
03 - Death by Diamonds

This is helpful because I don't have to try and remember what the next book in the series is.  I do have a collection entitled "Single Novels" that keeps all of my one off books in a Collection.  However, if I have an author that has 2 or more books that are not in a Collection, those are in a Collection under the Author's Name.  There are lots of creative ways to organize your books.  Keep in mind, Collections are Tags, not Folders.  Good luck!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Cristo4e said:


> Hi:
> I too am having an issue trying to figure out how to organize my kindle 3.
> I have collections but my issue is that I have to turn the page to get to the end of the list of books to access them. So in other words my collections are pages back from my home page.
> I am trying to condense my items but I have to scroll through all the books to get to the list. Is there a way to move collections to your opening home page? I cannot seem to word this right but when I download my books and magazines they stay on pages I can add them to a collection but then I have them twice on my kindle. I cannot seem to find any information on how to condense and organize my content.
> ...


Cristo4e--

Have you tried some of the suggestions here? Let us know if you need more help, our members love to answer questions.

Betsy


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## Cristo4e (Jun 22, 2011)

I cannot thank you enough. I have had this kindle for a while and as I loaded more onto it, it became a bit of a mess. 
Thank you all for taking the time to answer the question and to get me on the road to a more easy to use Kindle. I am sure I will have more questions soon.
Once again thanks to the kind people that took time to write me or answer my question.

Peace,
Chris Webb


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

This is a great place for a new Kindle owner, Chris, don't be afraid to ask if you have a question!

Betsy


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## cork_dork_mom (Mar 24, 2011)

I've got my collections set up by genre, but then I created a "Currently Reading" list because I couldn't remember what I was reading (all depends on the mood if I want a mystery, romance or quick read)... then since I was on a roll and I like things neat & tidy I created a "Tools" collection and moved the dictionary and all the other misc items into it.

If only we could have collections within collections - like series within a genre. Oh well... maybe on the next Kindle.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

chilady1 said:


> I read a lot of series, that's not to say I don't read single novels but preference is series. Therefore, the use of the Calibre Kindle Collections plug-in I now organize my books by series, not by genre which is the way many people organize their Collections.
> 
> Home Page will look like this:
> 
> ...


Just an FYI... if you go to this much trouble to organize your collections through Calibre and then decide to upgrade your K, you'll have to do it all again for the new one. I don't want to discourage you from doing this. Just be aware that the way Amazon's DRM works each book has to be downloaded to the kindle it's being used on for it to work. If you aren't buying from Amazon it's not an issue.

I did this once but won't take the time to do it again. I now just check on Goodreads when I have a question like that.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

sebat said:


> Just an FYI... if you go to this much trouble to organize your collections through Calibre and then decide to upgrade your K, you'll have to do it all again for the new one. I don't want to discourage you from doing this. Just be aware that the way Amazon's DRM works each book has to be downloaded to the kindle it's being used on for it to work. If you aren't buying from Amazon it's not an issue.
> 
> I did this once but won't take the time to do it again. I now just check on Goodreads when I have a question like that.


This is not a problem from me for either Amazon or non Amazon books. Whatever ereader I use, Kindle or other these Collections will move with me via Calibre but thanks for looking out for me. I do appreciate that and I am aware of the constraints of the Amazon books being tied to the Kindle.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

chilady1 said:


> This is not a problem from me for either Amazon or non Amazon books. Whatever ereader I use, Kindle or other these Collections will move with me via Calibre but thanks for looking out for me. I do appreciate that and I am aware of the constraints of the Amazon books being tied to the Kindle.


I'm glad that you are aware of it, but wanted to make sure that Birdman28 was aware of it too.


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## FarcicalFiend (Dec 26, 2010)

I often start the names of my collections with ~ so they show at the top of a standard alphabetic list.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

FarcicalFiend said:


> I often start the names of my collections with ~ so they show at the top of a standard alphabetic list.


This is a method that many of us use. Different combinations of non-alphabetic characters and spaces can force all kinds of sort orders. If you're very particular about the order of your collections, try experimenting till you get them how you want.


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