# Email attachments question?



## traceyreads (Dec 18, 2008)

I have never done this before, but if you email attachments to your Kindle, does Amazon automatically convert them to the Kindle format? And how long does this usually take?

Thanks everyone!


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes, it will do it automatically, depending on the format.... PDF, TXT, RTF are some formats that can be converted. Not every file format can be converted, and complex PDFs often fail.

Generally, it should only take a minute or so to appear on your Kindle via WhisperNet. I would imagine that very long files may take a little longer to convert.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

traceyreads said:


> I have never done this before, but if you email attachments to your Kindle, does Amazon automatically convert them to the Kindle format? And how long does this usually take?
> 
> Thanks everyone!


Yes they convert -- if it's one of the approved file types: .doc, .txt, .rtf (I think). .pdf is experimental and may not convert well depending on what it is.

And it usually only takes a minute or two. I do it all the time. Be sure the e-mail address you're sending from is on your 'approved' list and be sure you know the e-mail address for your Kindle.

There are several threads on this topic, as well as other ways to convert a file, elsewhere in this Forum. Check 'em out!

Ann


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## Lotus (Oct 31, 2008)

Also, if you use the free delivery, it will send an attachment back to you at your registered Amazon e-mail (the one where you receive Amazon notifications). That's pretty fast, too.


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## traceyreads (Dec 18, 2008)

Oops sorry for posting in the wrong discussion.   Thank you all for the information, I did not realize that I had to add approved email addresses.  I just added the one that I used, and hopefully will see the documents soon.  Although it has been about 10 minutes, nothing yet.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's a post I made yesterday, please make sure your Amazon account is set up properly for the email address you are using to send the file, as well as the correct email address for the Kindle:

Email a file to your Kindle


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## Glynnis (Nov 25, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Here's a post I made yesterday, ...
> Email a file to your Kindle


Thanks - this is really helpful ... can you or anyone chime in on how this works for those of us who don't have Whispernet access (i.e., need to have the document sent to our computer email address).

Glynnis


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Glynnis said:


> Thanks - this is really helpful ... can you or anyone chime in on how this works for those of us who don't have Whispernet access (i.e., need to have the document sent to our computer email address).


Without WhisperNet access, I would use a separate program to convert the file to a .AZW (Kindle) file. The program I recommend is called *Stanza*, which has desktop versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is free, and very easy to use. Download from:

Lexcycle Stanza

After conversion, hook your Kindle to your PC via USB, and drag the .AZW file to the *documents* folder (_very important!_) on the Kindle. Then eject the Kindle from your PC before removing the USB cable.


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## Lotus (Oct 31, 2008)

If you don't have Whispernet, you could send to the [username]@free.kindle.com and Amazon will return the file as an attachment to your registered e-mail address. Then, you can save the attachment and transfer it to your Kindle using the USB cable.


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## Glynnis (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks so much for both replies on attachments without Whispernet. I've been struggling trying to read a free book (txt format) - the formatting/ returns can be so distracting. I'm going to try both ways and will let you know how it works! 

Glynnis


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## Glynnis (Nov 25, 2008)

I tried both sending a large, zipped text file (George Eliot's "Daniel Deronda") to my free.kindle.com email address and downloading/converting the same file using the free Stanza software.

The emailed copy was returned in under 2 minutes, under 30 seconds to download the file to my computer (using Verizon EvDO wireless modem) and drag it to my Kindle's SD card. The document looked great (except for areas of the original that have been centered - they're still kind of strange) ... the main body is nicely justified with no strange line breaks like I had in the text format from Project Gutenburg.

The Stanza software is fast and easy to download. Once it was installed, it took about 10 seconds to open the 1.7 mb text file, less than a minute to make the conversion to an AZW and another half a minute put it copy it to my hard drive (use "Export Book" to select the format) and drag it to my Kindle's card. It looked identical to the copy I'd received by email and, uncompressed, was the exact same size. I didn't try directly copying this to my SD card, skipping putting a copy of the converted AZW file on my computer, but that would cut off some time from the process.

I'd say the quality of the conversions are identical. I'm always leery about installing new software (my system seems to catch every bug-glich-hangup), but using dial-up to download big files is no fun and, even with our Verizon wireless data plan, I'm trying to watch my MBs these days. Based on using a large text file, both are good solutions to converting documents for Kindle.

Thanks for the help!

Glynnis


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## Glynnis (Nov 25, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> ... *Stanza*, which has desktop versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is free, and very easy to use. Download from:
> 
> Lexcycle Stanza
> 
> After conversion, hook your Kindle to your PC via USB, and drag the .AZW file to the *documents* folder (_very important!_) on the Kindle. Then eject the Kindle from your PC before removing the USB cable.


Verena:
Can you tell me how to get Stanza (or is it Kindle) to save the exported AZW file with the correct file name to it? My Word document had good file name, I see that as the file name for the copy of the converted AZW file that I saved to my computer, the name is still there when I drag it to my Kindle, but it comes up in my Kindle's contents directory (Home) as "Uknown". I tried this with a copy of other Word documents and they all show up in Kindle under the Uknown title ... any suggestions of how to keep the file names from the original documents when I put it on my Kindle?

Glynnis


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

You can change the document title in Stanza. In the Mac version, you would change it under View -> Book Info. Then export the file again, and put on your Kindle.


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