# Software for managing Kindle collections



## leoparf (Jan 3, 2012)

Is there any software to manage Kindle collections on Windows PC?
Kindle for Desktop seams to work only with purchased books


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Most people who use something use Calibre (pronounced "caliber) to manage their libraries. You can get it here:
http://calibre-ebook.com/

You'll need the manage collections plug in, which you may find here:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118635

Betsy


----------



## leoparf (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks Betsy!
I'll give it a try


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I've not tried it with books not purchased from Amazon, though.  Perhaps someone will weigh in.  We have several hard core users.



And Welcome to KindleBoards!

Betsy


----------



## leoparf (Jan 3, 2012)

Caliber is a very powerful app, but it's quite complicated to setup and organize Kindle books. The guys from mobileread also advised me another free app - Kindlean, and I found it easier to use

Thanks anyway!


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks for mentioning Kindlean (available at http://kindlean.com). I'm testing it out now, it looks pretty good other than the typo on the opening page ("you" where it should say "your.")

It seems to have wiped out the existing collections on my K4... I'll play with it some more (easy enough to add the collections again). It did add a cover for a book I didn't have a cover for before.

Anyone else have experience with this app?

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Thanks for mentioning Kindlean (available at http://kindlean.com). I'm testing it out now, it looks pretty good other than the typo on the opening page ("you" where it should say "your.")
> 
> It seems to have wiped out the existing collections on my K4... I'll play with it some more (easy enough to add the collections again). It did add a cover for a book I didn't have a cover for before.
> 
> ...


I just downloaded it to play with. . .have always found calibre way more complicated than I need. . . .

eta: the controls I played with seem to work as advertised. . . .would like a bit more in the way of documentation as there were a couple of settings that it was not clear to me what they did. . . .and no help file.  It didn't remove my collections. . .but I didn't do much with it. . . .didn't really get to moving things around. . .I was looking for the help file. . I like that it shows the book covers and, in one display option, short blurbs as well. . . .


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

It's nice...I'm trying it again to see if it's user error as far as the collections.  I don't have much on my K4, have been using the KTouch more right now to test it out.

I also couldn't eject the Kindle...but again that might be user error.  Let me know.

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I clicked the button in the app to close it. . .I got the impression that meant changes I made to what was in which collection would be saved to kindle. . .I hadn't made any changes, though, so all that really happened is that the program closed.  After that I had to eject it the usual way with the option in the task bar.

It ONLY looks at what is ON the device. . .so you can't sort your archives this way.  I'll have to try it with a different Kindle and see if it treats the two as completely separate -- I'm thinking it will.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Found this FAQ page which does answer some of the basic questions. . .I'd like it better if it were at least linked from within the program.

http://kindlean.com/faq/


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I clicked the button in the app to close it. . .I got the impression that meant changes I made to what was in which collection would be saved to kindle. . .I hadn't made any changes, though, so all that really happened is that the program closed. After that I had to eject it the usual way with the option in the task bar.
> 
> It ONLY looks at what is ON the device. . .so you can't sort your archives this way. I'll have to try it with a different Kindle and see if it treats the two as completely separate -- I'm thinking it will.


From what I understand from reading the FAQ, you have to click on the button in the program that ejects the Kindle. Then restart the Kindle using Menu > Settings > Menu > Settings.

I have two problems so far; one is when I use the button inside the program to eject the Kindle, the Kindle doesn't show as ejected but it is no longer in the list of mounted devices in "My Computer" So I ended up shutting the computer down to eject the Kindle. Next time, I'll try closing the program.

Secondly, when I do the "Restart" it removes my collections. Of course, that might be because of the problem above.

Betsy


----------



## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I'd be interested to know how it deals with books which are in more than one collection - I never could get Calibre to work for that. For example, if I had a book that was in both 'unread' and 'historical' it would create three collections 'unread', 'historical' and 'unread historical'. With all the different combinations of my various collections I ended up with about a dozen times more of them than I should have had.  

I can just about use Calibre to do the basic stuff, like correcting titles and author names - something which really bugs me if it isn't right - but other than that, I find it very confusing. A more user friendly program would be great, so I await your verdicts!


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, seeing as how now I can't get it to deal with collections at all with my setup...  I can't recommend it just yet.



Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> From what I understand from reading the FAQ, you have to click on the button in the program that ejects the Kindle. Then restart the Kindle using Menu > Settings > Menu > Settings.
> 
> I have two problems so far; one is when I use the button inside the program to eject the Kindle, the Kindle doesn't show as ejected but it is no longer in the list of mounted devices in "My Computer" So I ended up shutting the computer down to eject the Kindle. Next time, I'll try closing the program.
> 
> ...


I saw the icon at the bottom of the screen as basically telling me to write any changes I'd made to the Kindle. I hadn't made any changes, so nothing happened. The program closed and the kindle was still shown as a drive connected to the computer (Win 7 home/64). I then used the 'safely remove hardware' and disconnected the Kindle. It worked exactly as it did before.

I understood the 'restart your kindle' directions as required if you had made changes so that they would 'take'. I didn't do that, as I hadn't made any changes and didn't feel like restarting (see, I didn't read the FAQ first, I was just operating by the seat of my pants.  ) . . . .but I've also not done anything else with the kindle since I played with the program so I just restarted now. . . and. . . . .all my collections are still there.

This is on the K4. . .now experimenting on the K3. . . .btw, the build number I d/l'd is 1.2.0.0

Edit: On my K3 I first d/l'd a couple more books so that I had some that were 'collected' and some that were not yet. I then connected up kindlean and moved some books around. When I clicked the 'disconnect' icon the message said to disconnect and perform a restart to have the changes take effect.

Well, as Betsy has reported, that doesn't work. Until I restarted, everything on the Kindle was just the way it had been before. After I restarted, my K3 showed NO collections at all -- just the books I had on the device -- maybe 2 dozen.

I then imported collections from another device and -- another bad thing -- even the books that had been previously collected did not go into the same place they'd been before. Now, it's possible that they're not associated with the collection from the other device, though I'm fairly certain at least a couple of them are. But the ONLY things that re-collected themselves were a couple of 'personal documents' that I'd sent.

So. . . .I am with Betsy. . .it's not quite ready for prime time -- interface is nice and classy, but it doesn't work right.  I'll watch for updates.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I've sent a question to support.

It does say that .Net4 is required, but it also says it will tell you if it needs to be installed.  

If anyone has used this program successfully, let us know.  Leoparf, let us know if it works for you.

Lovely interface, you can drag and drop books to multiple collections.  However, not ready for prime time.

When I get back home (at iHop breaking our fast) I'll try it on the Desktop system.

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> It does say that .Net4 is required, but it also says it will tell you if it needs to be installed.
> 
> Betsy


How would you check that?

I do have something called Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile as shown in the Programs Section of Control Panel. I was assuming that _was_ ".NET4"

I sent feedback to the 'support' link on the web page as well. . . .with encouragement!


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

That should be it...


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> That should be it...


I got a response. . .they want me to send them some files or something from the Kindle. . . haven't looked closely. . . I can't decide if I really care enough.

They did say that the behavior we both observed should not be happening.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes, I got a response, too.  They did fix the problem that I had with the device not ejecting properly.

And the typo on the first page.

Very promising that they respond quickly.  I'll probably pursue it if they ask for files.  It's a nice piece of software that I think our membership will like.

I did find something out in the course of reinstalling; the Free software will only manage 100 books.  To manage more than that, you need to pony up $19.95.  It seems to think, upon reinstall, that I have more than the 63 items that are on the Kindle.  I've let them know about that, too.

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I did find something out in the course of reinstalling; the Free software will only manage 100 books. To manage more than that, you need to pony up $19.95. It seems to think, upon reinstall, that I have more than the 63 items that are on the Kindle. I've let them know about that, too.


Well that makes me much less interested. I don't actually NEED an organizing program, and I definitely have way more than 100 books even if none of my kindles have that many on them right now. I'm certainly not interested in paying nearly $20. . . . .I mean, on the Kindle for PC I can already put things in collections and then import those collections to individual devices. . .no, the interface isn't quite as slick, but it has the advantage of being free. 

OTOH, I suppose if it absolutely positively worked 100% of the time exactly as expected, I might _consider_ it.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah, and there's nothing about it on their website...

Betsy


----------



## mom2karen (Aug 15, 2009)

Any updates to your Kindlean experiences?


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I couldn't get it to work, and then I went out of town and haven't worked with it lately...I should poke around with it some more...

Betsy


----------



## mom2karen (Aug 15, 2009)

Thanks.  I was hoping they had updated the program and fixed the bugs you had found.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

They might have....when I get caught up, I'll revisit it.  If someone else does, please post here!

Betsy


----------



## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

I have not tried Kindlean so I can't speak to that app.  I do however, use Calibre to manage my Collections through the use of plug-ins.  I badly needed a way to organize my Collections as I am almost at 10,000 books.  Once I purchase my books from either Amazon or other sources, I import them into Calibre.  I have created a custom column that shows Author - Series (if one exists) and by using the plug-ins, once I place the books on my Kindle, the Kindle Collection plug-in does the work organizing them on the Kindle based on the custom column.

I agree that Calibre is not an intutitive tool and does take some time to get it set up based on your needs, but once there, it has been an invaluable tool for me.  I also have relied greatly on many of the "experts" on MobileRead to help me answer questions.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I use Calibre, and it's a great tool, but it is very intimidating.  Kindlean seemed to be a nicely designed app and have less of a learning curve...if they can get it working right.

Betsy


----------



## nathanieltimothy (Mar 9, 2012)

i couldn't get it to work, and then I went out of town and haven't worked with it lately...


----------



## mom2karen (Aug 15, 2009)

I went ahead and got the trial version of Kindlean and am trying it out with my new K4 (K2 is on the way to Square Trade to see if a new battery solves my problems with it).  I put 16 books and 4 apps on the kindle and hooked it up to Kindlean.  I like the way the books are displayed, but was disappointed that the genre isn't listed.  Only about 1/3 of the books had written summaries, but that is 1/3 more than K4PC.  The apps don't show up at all.  Creating categories was easy, and moving books into them was a snap.  There is an option to see what books aren't in a category which is very useful.  I also used the "add a book" to move a PDF file from my desktop to K4 and that worked perfectly.  

When I was done I clicked the eject option and it ejected my kindle from the computer and closed the program.  I double checked that K4 was ejected (because the "eject from computer to continue reading" message didn't go away) and it was.  I did a reset and the categories showed up on K4 with all the books still showing.  I sorted by category and everything except the apps popped into place.  

I thought I had placed a book in two categories but it is only showing up in one.  I need to try that again and see if it was user error or not feasible with this program.  I also want to add more books on K4 and move them into categories there and see if Kindlean will register them there next time I hook up.  I also need to figure out if there is a way to sort books by multiple categories (fiction and kid friendly).

They need a manual with more directions, but it has potential.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

It sounds like they've made progress...the last time I tried it, everytime I wrote the categories to my K4, it removed all the categories that were there and didn't write any to the device.

Betsy


----------



## mom2karen (Aug 15, 2009)

From the info in the forums they did an update in March.  

I didn't have any categories on the K4 when I did this.  I added a category manually to the K4 after the Kindlean sync and will see what happens next time I hook it up.  I'd like to see the category transfer over and my apps stay in the category after I exit Kindlean.  I'm also moving some books around to see if they stay where I put them, or revert back to the old Kindlean settings.  I probably won't hook it back up for a while, but I'll report back when I do.


----------

