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How to Get Really Big eBook and PDF Files into the Kindle App for iOS

14776685031_8d7d44fc59_hThe Kindle app for iOS presents a special problem for Kindle users want to load and read DRM-free ebooks larger than 50MB in size

While it is easy to load ebooks of any size into the Kindle apps for Windows 7, OSX, or Android, Kindle for iOS is crippled by a file system originally developed for a feature phone (the original iPhone). Loading files into iOS apps is difficult to impossible, and you can’t use Amazon’s "send to Kindle" email feature (it has a size limit of 50MB).

Luckily there is a workaround. Len Epps of Leanpub figured out the trick earlier this week, and it turns out it’s pretty simple.

What Len discovered was that you can upload a large Mobi file to Dropbox and then use the Dropbox iOS app to download it and open it in the Kindle app for iOS. Dropbox makes you jump through a few hoops, but once you’re done you will have the ebook in your Kindle app.

That’s a great trick, and it gets better.

Len proved that this worked in Dropbox, so I took the idea a step further and used the same trick in iCloud and Google Drive.

I have not tested all of the free cloud storage services, so I can’t tell you if this will work in OneDrive, Copy.com, or Box. But I do know that I have used this trick to download both Kindle and PDF ebooks from Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, and from websites.

Yes, I emailed myself a link to the Humble Bundle download page, opened that link in Safari, and then downloaded 100MB and 200MB PDFs and opened them in the Kindle app.

The steps involved on this trick differed between the various apps, obviously, so here’s how to pull it off in iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox.

 

Google Drive

Update: I’m told the instructions for Google Drive no longer work.

  1. Open the file in Google Drive on your iDevice, and then open the three-dot menu in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
  2. Select the "Send a copy" option, and then select "Open in".

You’ll have to wait a few seconds for the next menu to appear, but once it pops up you will see a menu with a bunch of "Copy to" options, including "Copy to Kindle" (other options will include ebook and office apps on your iDevice).

Select the Kindle option, and the ebook will open in the Kindle app for iOS.

If you close the ebook, you can find it again inside the Kindle app simply by selecting the "Device" option in the All Items menu.

Dropbox

  1.  Open Dropbox  on your iDevice, and select the options menu for the file you want to copy to the Kindle app.
  2. Select the "Send link" option.
  3. Select the "Open in" option.

Select the Kindle option sharing menu, and the ebook will open in the Kindle app for iOS.

If you close the ebook, you can find it again inside the Kindle app simply by selecting the "Device" option in the All Items menu.

iCloud

  1. Open iCloud Drive on your iDevice.
  2. Press and hold the file, and then select "more" from the menu bar.
  3. Select "Share Item".

Select the Kindle option from the menu that pops up, and the ebook will open in the Kindle app for iOS.

If you close the ebook, you can find it again inside the Kindle app simply by selecting the "Device" option in the All Items menu.

O O O

That’s a neat trick, isn’t it? If you have a better way of doing this, please let us all know in the comments below.

image by Alexandre Dulaunoy

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Comments


Kevin January 30, 2016 um 9:24 am

I' d be interested to see how a MOBI renders when sideloaded this way. I’ve seen some bad results with MOBI sideloading, remedied by creating an .azw (or is it .azk?) with kindle previewer.

Nate Hoffelder January 30, 2016 um 9:57 am

I was copying Len’s usage, but in my case I would only use an AZW file.

When I write Mobi, I mean it as a general term.


How To Backup Digital Files – Fighting Share January 30, 2016 um 9:38 am

[…] How to Get Really Big eBook and PDF Files into the Kindle App for iOS – Open Dropbox on your iDevice, and select the options menu for the file you want to copy to the Kindle app … Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader: "I’ve been into reading ebooks since forever, but … […]


Download Free Ebooks Pdf Format Novels – Information February 6, 2016 um 1:15 pm

[…] How to Get Really Big eBook and PDF Files into the Kindle App for iOS – What Len discovered was that you can upload a large Mobi file … the free cloud storage services, so I can’t tell you if this will work in OneDrive, Copy.com, or Box. But I do know that I have used this trick to download … […]


bitkahuna November 23, 2016 um 11:20 pm

awesome, thank you! just transferred the giant pdf for my camera manual to kindle app on my ipad from google drive.


allen August 2, 2019 um 10:00 am

Nate: thanks a million for putting this information on the web – it really is what the www was designed for – desseminating knowledge, much of which you wouldn’t find in any books! Brilliant.


Pia A.P. Mogollón August 21, 2021 um 5:21 pm

It is not easy to open the files on an android device. I’ve downloaded several kindle copies from project gutenberg and I cannot figure out how to get them onto my kindle reader and so far the google search has not returned any answers for me. Anybody have any pointers?


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