# Amazon's Fire HDX User Guide



## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Haven't the User Guides / Manuals been better in the past -- more detailed?  Can't find a manual on Amazon other than the User Guide that is on the Fire.  I've never put photos on my past Fires.  I'm doing it now in what I think is a round-about way.  Can't find much info about Photos in the on-device User Guide.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

No, there's not much about the photos in the on-device user's guide. We are working on answers to FAQs for the HDX, we'll add Photos to the list.

There's a Cloud photo app, I know, that will import pictures from Facebook to your Cloud. You can also install a Cloud app on your PC and use it to upload pics to your Cloud and then be able to access them on your device. Let me see if I can find you the link.

Edit: here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000796931&ref_=cd_lm_rd_fp

I've played with it a big, and it works pretty well. Let me know, Sandpiper!

Betsy


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I had found that app, but haven't tried it as yet.  From my Mac, I tried e-mailing photos from one of my addresses to another.  Then open the e-mails on my Fire and save the photos on the Fire.  That works OK, I think.  How can you organize the photos?  Is it only alpha by name of photo?  I couldn't find a way to name the photos once they're on the Fire.  If there was, then they'd be easy to organize alphabetically.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

You can also add photos by connecting the Fire to you computer.

It's a bit confusing however.

If you go to the Photos tab, in the upper left hand corner you should see the Menu icon (three stacked horizontal bars).  Tap on that, go down to Add Photos.  Tap on Transfer through USB and it says:

Load photos from your computer onto your Kindle by connecting it to a computer with a USB cable, then copying the files to the Pictures directory on the Kindle.

If you tap on the Help option that you'll see below "Add Photos" in the Menu, you get a more detailed look that says:
-Open the Kindle Fire folder (titled Kindle) on your computer and then open the Internal storage folder.
-Drag and drop your photos into the Photos folder or personal videos into the Movies folder.

Off to check...

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

There doesn't seem to be a way to change the name of the file on the device, unless you use something like ES File Explorer.  And there doesn't seem to be a sort order.

Still playing with it...

Betsy


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I haven't actually named the photos on my Mac.  I can name the photos I want to transfer from my Mac.  (Not too many.)  Then transfer them by e-mail method.  Then they should be alpha on the Fire.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The Cloud Drive app works very well.  When you install it, it creates a folder on your computer called "Cloud Drive."  If you have used DropBox, it's a similar idea.  It's a folder on your hard drive and anything that you add to the folder gets replicated in Amazon's Cloud and then you can look at those items in the Cloud on your Fire HDX, and then download them to your device, if desired.  The Cloud Drive folder has subfolders by default:
Documents
music
Pictures
Uploads
Videos

The nice thing is that you can create subfolders in the Pictures folder in the Cloud Drive on your computer, and those subfolders are visible in your Cloud on your Fire and can be downloaded by folders onto your Fire.  So your pictures can be organized. 

I tried creating folders and dragging pictures directly from the computer to the folders I cared, and it worked, sort of.  The folders showed up but the pictures had some issues and it worked very slowly while connected to the computer.

Hope this helps!

Betsy


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I haven't used Drop Box.  I will look into "Cloud Drive", Betsy.  I called "Mayday" about Photos.  Karl in Washington state was much more help than Chris in Kentucky yesterday.  Was on with Karl for a good while.

I didn't (as yet) get what I wanted in Photos accomplished, but still learned some stuff.  And plugged Fire into my Mac for first time with Karl's help.  (I've never plugged any Kindle or Fire into my computer before.)  He had me download Android Transfer app onto my computer.  That way too I can look into Fire on my Mac.  Karl is going to look further into Photos (problem?) and e-mail me.

So I asked Karl about Calendar question.  (See my other Mayday thread.)  Yes, I need gmail account to use Calendar.  I'll do that.

Karl was much more what Mayday should be.


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I called Mayday again and got Cliff in Washington state.  I took a couple pics with the Fire today.  (Got good ones of Burke, my dog, even with front-facing camera.)  Thought I'd be able to easily name photos on the Fire that I took with the Fire.  NO.  Cliff didn't know / couldn't figure out a way either.  He's passing that on up as feedback.  Mayday Cliff and Karl were good help.  Mayday Chris -- NOT.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Sunday, I downloaded the amazon cloud drive on my laptop. I was able to see the photos that I took from my iPhone. I alao put it on my iPad. I am not techie enough to know what I am doing. My next plan is to go to photos on the Fire HDX & see what happens. If I have to hook the Fire to laptop, it will have to wait. I had to restart my laptop over 7 times with updates & it was over 5 1/2 hours of updating. All I did was put the update on my PW, did the photos & tried to burn the photos. The USB or flash drive, whatever drive it is would not work. I had to use DVD's to burn. It's an old windows, Toshiba Laptop.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

You shouldn't need to hook the Fire to the laptop.  If you've added photos to the Cloud Drive using your iPhone or your laptop, you should see them on the Fire, as long as it has a WiFi connection.

Let us know.

Betsy


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks!!! I am going to try that now. Will let you know.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

OMG!! I have my photos on my Fire & they look better, brighter, more fantastic than on my iPad Mini!!!  i had the amazon cloud drive on my iPad Mini, but not on my iPhone. What I had to do what type in my cell's telephone #, then clicked on links to put amazon's cloud drive on my iPhone. I then clicked the X at the top right side, & whala! My pics appeared. So easy!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Awesome!

Betsy


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I guess I had better try getting photos from my Mac to the Fire.  Don't want them all though.


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## docmama28 (Mar 6, 2010)

Just got my 7" HDX and so far I like it a lot, but it's already crashed a couple of times while using silk or Facebook. I also need help figuring out how to use the X-Ray feature with music (where the lyrics appear on screen)  Do I need to turn this on our does it happen automatically?  Still kinda on the fence with this purchase. I have my old HD ready to go back for trade-in, but now that I have the HDX in hand, I'm having second thoughts!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

docmama28 said:


> Just got my 7" HDX and so far I like it a lot, but it's already crashed a couple of times while using silk or Facebook. I also need help figuring out how to use the X-Ray feature with music (where the lyrics appear on screen) Do I need to turn this on our does it happen automatically? Still kinda on the fence with this purchase. I have my old HD ready to go back for trade-in, but now that I have the HDX in hand, I'm having second thoughts!


Docmama,

I haven't had any crashes yet...you might try a restart. Also, check and make sure the software updated.

Go to Settings > Device > System Updates. Be sure to tap on System Updates even if below it, it says your software is up-to-date. My HDX8.9 said it was up to date, but when I tapped on that, there was a downloaded update available. (I was checking because I got a message that an update had failed during setup.)

Betsy


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## docmama28 (Mar 6, 2010)

Thanks Betsy.  My software is up to date, I just checked.  What about the X-Ray for music?  How does that work?  I don't want to use mayday yet (still in my PJ's,   )

UPDATE:  I just realized it's only for certain songs.  I've got Billy Joel's The Stranger on right now with the lyrics scrolling.  Very cool!  Sorry to bother you guys about this.  I think I'm leaning more and more towards the "Keep the HDX" side of the fence!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Re: mayday.  They don't see you, only what's on your tablet screen.  So unless you enable the camera and aim it at yourself you're safe in your pj's.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

docmama28 said:


> Thanks Betsy. My software is up to date, I just checked. What about the X-Ray for music? How does that work? I don't want to use mayday yet (still in my PJ's,  )


I would restart the device then. I can't say I've had any crashes in either Silk or FB. (And I do on my iPad.)

With X-Ray for music, I just started playing one of my albums and the X-Ray lyrics just started playing next to it.

I went to Music, picked an album, tapped on it, tapped on the first song and it started playing. Note that, like with books, not all albums or songs will have X-Ray for Music, especially early on. If you want to try it, pick something very mainstream, if you have anything. NOTE: If the lyrics are available, in the playlist for the album, it will have [+Lyrics] next to the song title. On one of my albums, some of the songs had lyrics, others did not.

I haven't found any system-wide settings to turn it on and off.

Betsy


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