Software for managing Kindle collections

[leoparf]

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

[Betsy the Quilter]

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]

Thanks Betsy!
I'll give it a try

[Betsy the Quilter]

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]

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]

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]

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

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

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]

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]

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]

That should be it...

[Ann in Arlington]

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]

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]

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]

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

Betsy

[mom2karen]

Any updates to your Kindlean experiences?

[Betsy the Quilter]

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]

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

[Betsy the Quilter]

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

Betsy