# Order in which Collections appear



## PG4003 (Patricia) (Jan 30, 2010)

OK, I've created my Collections.  They appear on my screen in the order that I created them.  Is there any way to change which order they display in?


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

I don't have the update yet -- wahhhh! -- but I think I've read they can be sorted in 'most recently used' or another order.  Or, if you name them with an asterisk or similar symbol first -- like *Romance, *History, etc. -- then they'll always essentially stay in alphabetical order at the top of your home page if you order things alphabetically.

But I could be talking cluelessly here since I don't have it to play with yet....I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in....


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

If you sort by collection they will always appear in 'most recent order' and any books in at least one collection will no longer show on the home screen pages. Books not in a collection will show beneath the collections. If you want your collections in alphabetical order you must sort your home screen by title. However, this means that _all_ your individual books will also display on the home screen pages and will be mixed in with your collections, all in alphabetical order. To display your collections in alpha order _and_ at the top of the list, you will have to rename your collections with a symbol before the name. I use an asterisk i.e. *fiction or *not read or whatever. When this is done if you sort your home screen by title all your collections will come first, followed by all your books (whether also in a collection or not) but you can just ignore the pages after your collections. I also have a **currently reading collection - the two asterisks mean it will always come at the top and I can access the books I am currently reading very quickly - it's easy enough to move books in and out of collections.

This work around suits me, but you could adapt it if it's not quite right for you.


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## PG4003 (Patricia) (Jan 30, 2010)

Thanks Linjeakel, that makes sense.  This is great fun!  But I wouldn't have the update if Luvmy4brats hadn't posted the bin file, very generous of her to do that for us.

Patricia


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

If you sort your books by Author, all of your collections go to the end. I kind of like that because I rarely sort by Title. The only problem with that is there doesn't seem to be a method of how they show up in the list. They're not alphabetical, not by order in which they were created, not by most recent, and not by how many books are in the collection.

I also discovered that within a collection you can sort by Most Recent, Title or Author. With my tweaking the metadata with Calibre, I can get books to show up in the order I want them in (perfect for series)


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Heather,
I hope this has not been already discussed elsewhere......
But
Within the collection, how are the items sorted?


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Within a collection, you can sort them either by Title, Author, or Most Recent


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Thank you Heather.


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## frazzm737 (Jun 4, 2010)

I'm so glad to have seen this thread!  I'm still waiting for the update, but am thinking about categories and sorting.  I only have 8 books so far, so the job will not be to difficult.  I am so glad to have seen the *idea to keep categories organized.  Does anyone know if it will be possible to keep the archives organized?  That would help as I probably won't want to keep all the books I have read on the device.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

frazz, on Amazon, at least, you can sort your collection by date added/title/author. . . so there is some level of organization available. . . .you can also search which I find to be the quickest way to locate a specific book.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

frazzm737 said:


> I'm so glad to have seen this thread! I'm still waiting for the update, but am thinking about categories and sorting. I only have 8 books so far, so the job will not be to difficult. I am so glad to have seen the *idea to keep categories organized. Does anyone know if it will be possible to keep the archives organized? That would help as I probably won't want to keep all the books I have read on the device.


The archives are only sorted by Title or Author. BUT if you put a book into a collection on your Kindle and then delete it, the Kindle will remember what collection it was in when you put it back on your Kindle.

I wish they had come out with this when I only had 8 books. It would have been so much easier to categorize (I have over 500 now)


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## Shizu (Oct 27, 2008)

luvmy4brats said:


> Within a collection, you can sort them either by Title, Author, or Most Recent


Luv, I'm wondering this is sorted with Author right? So how is it that they are in order of the book? Thought it would or might be in random order.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Shizu said:


> Luv, I'm wondering this is sorted with Author right? So how is it that they are in order of the book? Thought it would or might be in random order.


Yes, it's an Author sort. What appears to be random order when you sort by author is actually it sorting by published date. It sorts by newest to oldest (or should if the date is correct) I used Calibre to edit the Published dates to get them to show up in the order I want. I changed the dates so that Book 1 had the most recent published date and Book 30 had the earliest date. I've been able to do this with ALL of the different series I read and it makes it so much easier to find the book I need next.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> If you sort by collection they will always appear in 'most recent order' and any books in at least one collection will no longer show on the home screen pages. Books not in a collection will show beneath the collections. If you want your collections in alphabetical order you must sort your home screen by title. However, this means that _all_ your individual books will also display on the home screen pages and will be mixed in with your collections, all in alphabetical order. To display your collections in alpha order _and_ at the top of the list, you will have to rename your collections with a symbol before the name. I use an asterisk i.e. *fiction or *not read or whatever. When this is done if you sort your home screen by title all your collections will come first, followed by all your books (whether also in a collection or not) but you can just ignore the pages after your collections. I also have a **currently reading collection - the two asterisks mean it will always come at the top and I can access the books I am currently reading very quickly - it's easy enough to move books in and out of collections.
> 
> This work around suits me, but you could adapt it if it's not quite right for you.


Thanks! This will work for me. Author sort with collections is worthless. They just go all the way to the end in no particular order.

HOWEVER, Title sort is useful! I put {} around each of my collection names {Unread}, {Personal Documents} (mainly because I think it looks prettier than **) 

If I just want to use most recent, I switch to Collection sort.

Now I'm going to play with different symbols to see which one will force certain collections to the top { seems to go higher than *


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## PhillipA82 (Dec 20, 2009)

Nice, I was also wondering that.


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## Shizu (Oct 27, 2008)

luvmy4brats said:


> Yes, it's an Author sort. What appears to be random order when you sort by author is actually it sorting by published date. It sorts by newest to oldest (or should if the date is correct) I used Calibre to edit the Published dates to get them to show up in the order I want. I changed the dates so that Book 1 had the most recent published date and Book 30 had the earliest date. I've been able to do this with ALL of the different series I read and it makes it so much easier to find the book I need next.


Thanks luv. Now I have to edit metadata with more thought.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

luvmy4brats said:


> Thanks! This will work for me. Author sort with collections is worthless. They just go all the way to the end in no particular order.
> 
> HOWEVER, Title sort is useful! I put {} around each of my collection names {Unread}, {Personal Documents} (mainly because I think it looks prettier than **)
> 
> ...


You're right the { } symbols do look nicer! I think you can just put a double {{ to push it higher without using a different symbol. You'll have to publish a list when you've worked it all out!


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## PG4003 (Patricia) (Jan 30, 2010)

luvmy4brats said:


> HOWEVER, Title sort is useful! I put {} around each of my collection names {Unread}, {Personal Documents} (mainly because I think it looks prettier than **)


Thanks for that tip! I like the brackets better too.


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## frazzm737 (Jun 4, 2010)

I like the brackets, too!  I'll use them if I ever get the update.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

It's interesting that a { shows up before a *
All of the ASCII charts that I could find show that the { have a higher value
Here's a link for an example:
http://www.ddms.com/resources/help/reportsmenu/ascii_sort_order_chart.htm


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

What do you think shows up first? 

**Unread**

or ***Personal Documents***

or ** Quasi-Official Reading Game **

or * Samples *


Believe it or not it shows up in this order:

* Samples *
** Quasi-Official Reading Game **
***Personal Document***
**Unread**

I'm so confused.  I guess it matters if you put a space in between then symbol and the word.

and {{Currently Reading}} is at the very top.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

luvmy4brats said:


> What do you think shows up first?
> 
> **Unread**
> 
> ...


I think you're right - it's the space that's making the difference. It's treated as a symbol in it's own right and it come before a *. So a * and a space comes before a * and a * , whereas a * and a letter comes _after_ a * and a * alphabetically speaking.  wow, headache ....


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## k2reader (May 5, 2010)

I got the 2.5 update in May but haven't gotten 2.5.2 yet. 

Question re. periodicals:

I have a couple of magazines that I do not have a subscription for anymore but *do* wish to keep. As I understand it, periodicals will go into the Periodicals: Back Issues folder/collection/whatever as soon as a new issue comes out. But I don't have the option (at least with 2.5) to put an old periodical in a collection thereby getting it out of my "main space". Has this changed with 2.5.2?

Thanks!


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> If you sort by collection they will always appear in 'most recent order' and any books in at least one collection will no longer show on the home screen pages. Books not in a collection will show beneath the collections. If you want your collections in alphabetical order you must sort your home screen by title. However, this means that _all_ your individual books will also display on the home screen pages and will be mixed in with your collections, all in alphabetical order. To display your collections in alpha order _and_ at the top of the list, you will have to rename your collections with a symbol before the name. I use an asterisk i.e. *fiction or *not read or whatever. When this is done if you sort your home screen by title all your collections will come first, followed by all your books (whether also in a collection or not) but you can just ignore the pages after your collections. I also have a **currently reading collection - the two asterisks mean it will always come at the top and I can access the books I am currently reading very quickly - it's easy enough to move books in and out of collections.
> 
> This work around suits me, but you could adapt it if it's not quite right for you.


Thanks for the idea for the asterisks. Works like a charm!
patrisha


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

# sorts after * so I have used Linjaekels scheme of ** and * for the collections I want to appear first, and then # for names of the specific authorsof which I have many books; and also used luvmy4brats idea of changing the publication date which forces them into the correct order.  A collective effort that!  And congrats to luvmy4brats for nabbing the elusive bin file!


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

That's cool, about some characters sorting in different orders!  So I could use the lower-sorting # for stuff like Reference, Kindle (where I'll put the Kindle Guide, Feedbooks download guide, and other Kindle-related stuff), DNF (did not finish but don't want to delete just in case I want to give it another try), and others I won't need to get into often; * for all the ones I'll get into a lot; and { } for Priority Reads (the ones I want to get to soonest).

Or something like that, but that's a first rough idea.  Thanks to all who have been discovering these things while others of us are only still dreaming of the update!


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Steph H said:


> That's cool, about some characters sorting in different orders! So I could use the lower-sorting # for stuff like Reference, Kindle (where I'll put the Kindle Guide, Feedbooks download guide, and other Kindle-related stuff), DNF (did not finish but don't want to delete just in case I want to give it another try), and others I won't need to get into often; * for all the ones I'll get into a lot; and { } for Priority Reads (the ones I want to get to soonest).
> 
> Or something like that, but that's a first rough idea. Thanks to all who have been discovering these things while others of us are only still dreaming of the update!


It's good to have some ideas ready for when you get your update, but the cool thing about the collections feature is that there are no defaults, you create all your own and it's very easy to change your mind - you can add, delete or rename your collections as much as you want. So if you don't get it right first time, or after you've had a chance to use them you find that the way you've got them doesn't suit you, or someone else has had a better idea, you can change them again till you get it just right for you.

That's why I like that everyone keeps posting their own different ideas.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Yes, I do especially like that they can be renamed.  So even if I get a bunch of books in the 'right' collection, but decide on a better name for it, I don't have to re-do all the work to put the books in another collection. That would be annoying!

See, all you folks like me that don't have collections yet?  It's not that we're deprived...it's just that all the first group are being guinea pigs to work out the best ways of how it works so we can go in and set ours up easier when we get the update....yeah, that's it...


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## ValeriGail (Jan 21, 2010)

Oh I didn't think about using the different symbols to organize the list better!  I stayed up way to late last night creating my collections.... 30 of them!!!        I used the * and ** to sort them.. but basically just so my two favs would be at the top (Currently reading and western romance).  Now you've all got me really thinking about organizing the list a bit better with the other symbols.  And better names!  One of mine is named "Books I didn't finished, but want to give a second try"  LOL  Someone posted a "DNF" title and now I must go and use that! HAHA.  Oh and Kindle Reference.. I put all those under "educational" cause I couldn't think of where else they'd fit.  

Wonderful ideas in this tread!  Keep em' coming!


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

So I've been plating with different symbols and this is what I've tried, in order from highest sort to lowest sort:

/  -- This is for my "must be at the top no matter what (currently reading, samples, up next, personal documents)

(  -- These are my often used (reading game, favorites, books read in 2010)

[  -- for the rest of my "categories" (Reference, Free/cheap, Read, Un-read, Started - didn't finish and Utter Crap)

{  -- Genre collections

** -- Series collections

* -- author collections (at least I'm planning to, I haven't done any of these yet)

Since I discovered I could force the order, I'm using the symbols almost as sub categories.


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## mrscottishman (May 18, 2010)

Just stuck my head in, got called to babysitting duty.

Anyone like to make a 123 ABC guide to collections?

I am trying to read through this thread as I am in and out for work and I am confused.  If anyone else is maybe it would be worth starting a "Collections for Dummies" subthread in this thread.

I see how to create a collection, but how do you rename a collection?  How do collections sort, I sorta missed that.  How do books sort in a collection?  How do you force it? Do you do it all in calibre?

Since y'all were working it out as you go it is a little hard to follow.

inquiring minds want to know,
Scott


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

This page at Kindle Support should help: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_k2land_more?nodeId=200375840


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

This might help:

Sorting Content and Using Collections

*but how do you rename a collection?* _ Move your cursor to the collection you want to rename. Push the 5-way to the right. Select Rename Collection_

*How do collections sort, I sorta missed that. How do books sort in a collection?* _At the top of the screen you can choose to sort Most Recent, Title, Author or Collections. Within a Collection, you can choose to sort by Most Recent, Title, or Author_

*How do you force it? Do you do it all in calibre?*_ It will either sort by most recent (in Most Recent and Collections) or alphabetically (Title) (sorting by author does nothing with collections, they all go to the end in no particular order) To force a particular sort order (you want Currently Reading at the top when you sort alphabetically, put a symbol in front of the Collection name {Currently Reading}

In this screenshot, you can see that I'm sorting by title (Upper Right corner) and they *should* all sort alphabetically, but because of the different symbols I've used, I can force what order they show up in. This is all done on the Kindle, no Calibre needed.
_









And yes, I decided to creatively name my collections.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

*Very*_ creatively name them, indeed! (Mom's Crap must be further down the list... )_


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Steph H said:


> *Very*_ creatively name them, indeed! (Mom's Crap must be further down the list... )
> _


_

Yes, luvmy4brats, I'm still waiting to find out what you're going to call your "Mom's Crap" collection, bearing in mind she'll be able to see it (I presume). _


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## mrscottishman (May 18, 2010)

Thanks!  I have an idea now and will check the link next. I am hoping my wife will drive at least part of the 2 1/2 hour trip in the morning and I can play with it.  So far I have this one big collection: "Books on my Kindle"  

I like that "tales from the usb"  

I am thinking of a category: "Books I loaded to impress others"

and

"Books Guaranteed to Put You to Sleep"

then

"Books I wish I had written"

and 

"Books I wish no one had written"

Scott


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## frazzm737 (Jun 4, 2010)

First, I want to thank LuvMy4Brats--the links and information you added to posts on the Amazon forum enabled me to do the upgrade manually.  It scared me to try it, but the instructions were so clear that even I had no trouble (trouble is my middle name.)  I have organized by Collections which I have named:

{Currently Reading}
{Fiction}
{Humor}
{Mystery}
{Travel and Adventure}
{Unread}

Each collection is then sorted by Author...

I have found that the Collections do not remain in alphabetical order if you add another category.  The latest always goes to the top of the list.  So in order to add Humor, I had to delete top 2 categories, add Humor and then recreate the top categories.  I want Current to always appear at the top and the others in alphabetical order.
So all is well until I must add another category.  It is nice to have it all on one page.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

frazzm737 said:


> First, I want to thank LuvMy4Brats--the links and information you added to posts on the Amazon forum enabled me to do the upgrade manually. It scared me to try it, but the instructions were so clear that even I had no trouble (trouble is my middle name.) I have organized by Collections which I have named:
> 
> {Currently Reading}
> {Fiction}
> ...


If you sort your Home Page by Title, instead of Collections, your collections will be in alphabetical order (the only downside is that all of your books will be listed afterwards) If you do {{Currently Reading}} with 2{{ Then it will stay at the top.

Collections sort by most recent first, so as soon as you open another collection it will move to the top. The only way around this now is to use the symbols and sort by Title.

I can't take credit for the creative collection names. There was a thread over on the Amazon boards that I borrowed from. Scott, I have one that is called {Books that make me look smart}

I combined "Mom's Crap" with "Utter Crap" because any way you look at it, crap is crap and only needs one collection


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## mrscottishman (May 18, 2010)

Don't tell on me but I snatched the content on the amazon link and made it a kindle file.

They should have made it available for download, it looks like the guide I need.

Books that make me look smart?  I wonder if there have been any of those written in my case?

Seriously I am doing Audio Books, Bibles and Reference, Business, Photos, Sample Books, Works In Process and I have to figure out what to call my spooky and mystery books.  Spooky and Mystery?

Scott


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

mrscottishman said:


> Thanks! I have an idea now and will check the link next. I am hoping my wife will drive at least part of the 2 1/2 hour trip in the morning and I can play with it. So far I have this one big collection: "Books on my Kindle"
> 
> I like that "tales from the usb"
> 
> ...


I have a collection called Yuck!

Patrisha


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## mrscottishman (May 18, 2010)

patrisha #150 said:


> I have a collection called Yuck!
> 
> Patrisha


Funny!

Scott


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

I have a collection called "Only if desperate" - but I have so many books on my kindle I think I will get to that category in my grave.

I was in Indonesia on holiday and am very thankful the kindle disnt show the cover of the trashy Jackie Collins book I am reading!!


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## Patricia (Dec 30, 2008)

I apparently am a visual/hands on person....because I'm going to have no idea of what you're talking about until I get the update.  It's almost a different language to me.


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## frazzm737 (Jun 4, 2010)

As Luv has said in Collections view the most recent collection opened always moves to the top of the list  I tried in vain, but I couldn't change that.  So instead I capitalized my CURRENTLY READING category so that it is easily noticed.  It will probably appear at the top most of the time as that will be the most used Collection.  It may take some time and experimentation for each of us to arrive at the Collection  scheme that works best for our needs.  I will try to keep my list short so that all will take up only one page.


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Or adopt the { ** * #  technique when naming collections, and sort by title, not collections and those things with a { will appear first, then **, then * and then #    The books will follow after that but the order will always be the same then.


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## vrc84 (Feb 18, 2009)

I numbered my collections. I created exactly 10 collections so that they were the only thing to show on the first page (kudos to my sister for the idea). I then numbered them: 

01 - Reading Now
02 - Urban Fantasy
03 - Paranormal Romance
    and so on until
10 - Reference

This way I'm able to control the order my collection appear and it's a pretty obvious method, although some of the symbols others are using look a bit more creative.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

vrc84 said:


> I numbered my collections. I created exactly 10 collections so that they were the only thing to show on the first page (kudos to my sister for the idea). I then numbered them:
> 
> 01 - Reading Now
> 02 - Urban Fantasy
> ...


This will only work if you sort by title. When you sort by collection it will show the most recently opened collection first which will put your numbers out of order


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Beat me to it Luv!  I think the number system for collections is way to confusing for people who also have series as well, I prefer the { thingies myself!

Luvmy4brats, I am getting a little cross on your behalf at some of the posters in the Amazon forum - talk about trying to confuse the issues; and then that poster on mobileread who created an entirely new thread based on your thread!  Some people....


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Pushka said:


> Beat me to it Luv! I think the number system for collections is way to confusing for people who also have series as well, I prefer the { thingies myself!
> 
> Luvmy4brats, I am getting a little cross on your behalf at some of the posters in the Amazon forum - talk about trying to confuse the issues; and then that poster on mobileread who created an entirely new thread based on your thread! Some people....


Makes me love KindleBoards all the more. Thanks for your support!


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## izzy (Jun 12, 2010)

Ya'll have me getting creative on some of my namings now. I used the tales from the usb one i loved that. I've got Tales of youth for my young adult books and bite me dracula for all my vampire books.


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## Whidbeyislandgirl (Apr 19, 2009)

Stupid question, but I can't figure out how to capitalize my collection titles. I see in your examples it is possible, but I'm missing something! 

Teach me Yoda....


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## lovesangelrn (Dec 28, 2009)

Whidbeyislandgirl said:


> Stupid question, but I can't figure out how to capitalize my collection titles. I see in your examples it is possible, but I'm missing something!
> 
> Teach me Yoda....


Use the little up arrow on the bottom left of the keyboard to make capital letters


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## Whidbeyislandgirl (Apr 19, 2009)

lovesangelrn said:


> Use the little up arrow on the bottom left of the keyboard to make capital letters


Huh. Will you look at that.... That's what that little arrow is for! All the time I spend staring at my Kindle, I've never had need to capitalize anything until now. I've never touched that button!

Thanks much lovesangelrn! You made my OCD self very satisfied.


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