Converting content to your Kindle

As a service to my readers, I have compiled a conversion guide that will help you in converting your documents to Mobi, a format readable by the Kindle. To get started, look for the format you wish to convert from (highlighted in bold) and follow one of the conversion options underneath. You will find links to the tools you need under Conversion Tools.

How to convert from…

CHM (Microsoft Compiled HTML Help)

Use AutoKindle to convert straight to Mobi.

Use CHM Decoder or ABC Amber CHM Converter to convert to HTML and then follow my HTML instructions.

Use ABC Amber CHM Converter to convert to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

HTML

Use Calibre, Mobipocket Creator, or AutoKindle to convert straight to Mobi.

Use PDFCreator to print to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

PDF

Use Calibre, PDFRead, Mobipocket Creator, or AutoKindle to convert straight to Mobi.

MS Word

Use Mobipocket Creator to convert straight to Mobi.

Use PDFCreator to print to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

Text

Use Calibre, Mobipocket Creator to convert straight to Mobi.

Use PDFCreator to print to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

LIT (Microsoft Reader)

Use Calibre or AutoKindle to convert straight to Mobi.

DJVU and CBZ

Use Mobipocket Creator to convert straight to Mobi.

CBR

Use Calibre or Mobipocket Creator to convert straight to Mobi.

PDB and PRC (Palm)

Use AutoKindle to convert straight to Mobi.

Use ABC Amber Palm Converter to convert to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

EPUB, ODT, CMZ, RTF

Use Calibre to convert straight to Mobi.

Use PDFCreator to print to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

For all other formats

Try to use PDFCreator to print to PDF and then follow my PDF instructions.

 

Conversion Tools

Calibre (freeware) is the mother of one-stop solutions for your eBook needs, and I quote from their website : “Calibre is meant to be a complete e-library solution and thus includes library management, format conversion, news feeds to ebook conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an integrated e-book viewer.” Calibre can convert from Mobi, LIT, EPUB, ODT, HTML, CBR, CMZ, RTF, TXT, PDF and LRS to EPUB, LRF, or Mobi. Give it a try!

PDFRead (freeware) by Ashish Kulkarni (with its latest incarnation due to Nick Rapallo) is an excellent tool  for converting PDF and DJVU documents, Comic Books (CBR, CBZ), and even a directory of images to several eBook formats such as IMP, RB, OEB, HTML, LRF and Mobi. It is very powerful in that it supports a variety of pre and post processing functions such as trimming borders, auto-deskewing, etc… This is also very much a specialized tool for those who want an *exact* copy from their PDF or for content that contains lots of images, complex layouts  or non-textual content; however, this comes at a price. PDFRead essentially takes photo “snapshots” of each page in the PDF, so what you see in your eBook reader will be basically an exact copy, but you lose text-search and dictionary look-up capabilities since every page is an image and not actual text. For those that want the ultimate in faithful conversions and don’t care about the pages being images, or if you have content that needs to be touched up and fixed, this tool is highly recommended; I personally use this tool a lot.

Mobipocket Creator (freeware) by Mobipocket.com is an excellent tool for converting HTML, MS Word, PDF and Text documents to Mobi. It’s very intuitive and easy to use, just make sure that when you install you choose the Publisher Edition option. One thing to be aware of, however, is that Mobipocket creator is geared more towards textual content, so if you’ve got lots of images, complex layouts or non-textual content, you should try PDFRead instead.

CHM Decoder (freeware) by GridinSoft is an excellent tool for converting CHM files to HTML. It’s very intuitive and easy to use; highly recommended. 

ABC Amber CHM Converter (30-day trial) by Process Text Group is a tool that can convert  from CHM to PDF or HTML. If you need to convert from CHM to HTML then it would probably make more sense to use the free CHM Decoder instead. On the other hand, if you want to convert from CHM to PDF then this should work for you though I’ve never tried it myself.

ABC Amber Palm Converter (freeware) by Process Text Group can convert your Palm (PDB and PRC) files to PDF and several other formats.

AutoKindle (freeware) is a tool hosted on SourceForge.NET for converting  CHM, Palm (PDB and PRC), PDF, Lit, and HTML files to Mobi.

PDFCreator is a tool hosted on SourceForge.NET that allows you to create a PDF from any program with printing capabilities; if you can print it, you can create a PDF. This includes your word-processor, spread-sheet, accounting program, you name it. Once installed, PDFCreator acts as a printer, but instead of printing your content it creates a PDF file for you. Highly recommended for those who have no other recourse.