How to read PDFs on Kindle

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If you like reading, you must have asked yourself how to read PDFs on Kindle. Well, let me tell you, it's surprisingly easy. This is what you will need:

Amazon Kindle
Micro-USB Cable
A computer
A PDF file
A few minutes of your time

First, the disclaimer: NEVER, EVER download books illegally. Not only it is dishonest and deeply immoral because like anyone, authors deserve to be paid for their effort. It is immoral to deprive someone of the income they have rightfully earned. Even if you can live with being an immoral person, downloading books illegally is PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Why risk it? Knowledge and ideas you get from books are priceless. You should not be eager to save a few Euros/Dollars/Pounds and risk punishment.

Only use files you have obtained legally. There are even online repositories of free books, like for example Project Gutenberg. Note that you still should check if a book is available in your country for free, because Project Gutenberg deals with U.S. Copyright Law. I am a software developer by profession, so I will use a book I got for free from the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

So, let's get into it. There are two methods to do it:

Method 1: USB

1. Connect the Kindle using a USB cable to your Computer

Kindle will let you know that it's in the USB drive mode. That is good. It means it's ready to be used to transfer files to. If you don't get this notification, check the cable if you connected everything successfully. The little orange light should be on.

2. Open Windows Explorer where you will see "Kindle" as another drive. Open it and go to "documents". Simply drag your PDF file there.

3. As Kindle suggested, Eject it, as you would any USB stick.

4. Enjoy.

Method 2: E-mail

Now, when we went through all of this, there is even an EASIER way: Email! You can just e-mail a document to your Kindle E-mail as an attachment and it will be sent to your Kindle.

This is extraordinarily easy to do.

1. Login into your Amazon account

2. Go to "Manage your content and Devices"

3. Switch to the Devices tab. You will see your Kindle there. Click on the three dots to display its mail address.

4. Use the E-mail address you use to login to Amazon to send files as an attachment to your Kindle E-mail address. You can also use other e-mail addresses if you approve them, per instructions on Amazon's site.

Have fun!

That being said, most of the time it's not so much fun reading PDFs on Kindle. It is likely that you'll be disappointed unless the PDF is not complex and doesn't contain tables or such. None of the goodies of reading real Kindle e-books is there, like changing the font size. You can zoom in and out using pinch, but that is it. Still, it's nice to have this possibility. Also, what you can do for PDFs, you can do for other formats:

Supported File Types:
Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
RTF (.RTF)
JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW)
GIF (.GIF)
PNG (.PNG)
BMP (.BMP)