Getting Started with Kindle Create

Getting Started with Kindle Create

Use

Kindle Create

(PC or Mac) to turn your completed manuscript, of any trim size, into a beautiful book. You can make three types of books with Kindle Create: reflowable, interactive print replica, and comics with Guided View.

Learn more about the book formats available in Kindle Create

.

Contents

Download Kindle Create

Requirements and supported features

Install Kindle Create

Get started with the Kindle Create tutorial

Choose your book type

Having trouble importing a file?

Having trouble exporting a file?

Pre-release features (beta)

Update books prepared with Kindle Create

Download Kindle Create

Download

(Windows 8 or later)

Download

(macOS 10.13 or later)

Requirements and supported features

System requirements

RAM - 8 GB recommended, 4 GB minimum

Processor - 1.2 GHz minimum, 2 GHz recommended

Windows 8.1 (64-bit) or later for PC (64-bit) running on Intel or AMD CPUs

macOS 10.13 (64-bit) or later for Mac

Supported languages

Kindle Create user interface is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

The tool supports eBooks written in Dutch, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Malayalam, Marathi, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tamil. Print books are not available in Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, or Tamil.

Supported features

This chart summarizes what Kindle Create does well and what we're working on to make the tool even better. Learn more about

book types

and

pre-release features

.

Book type

Supported

Unsupported

Pre-release (beta)

All

Built-in previewer that shows reading experience on tablets, phones, and E-readers

Publishing outside of Kindle

Cover formatting

Reflowable books

Four high-quality themes to customize your book's look and feel

Image features like bleed, chapter start, and full-page images

Automatic detection of chapters and simple table of contents creation

Insert, edit or delete hyperlinks

Typesetting for your book so it reads well on tablets, phones, or E-readers

Editing of tables, lists, footnotes, and certain paragraphs with complex formatting

Image captions

Insertion of images with bleed to eBooks based on a DOC(X) file

Preparation of a text-heavy eBook and paperback with the same manuscript file

Print Replica eBooks

Option to add

interactive content

, such as audio, video, images, and hyperlinks

Comic eBooks

Preparation of graphic books with Guided View panels from a PDF or multiple JPEG files

Automatic panel and mask color detection

Build a Table of Contents

Add, delete, reorganize, and replace pages

Set pages as facing pages so that readers can see them side by side when reading on landscape orientation on enabled devices

Install Kindle Create

Video: Installing Kindle Create on Windows

Windows

MacOS

Click the

Download Now

button. A confirmation box appears. Click

Save File

.

You will be prompted to save the installer to your

Downloads

folder, but you can change the location. Click

Save

.

Open your

Downloads

folder (or the location you saved the installer to) and double-click the installer file. The installation wizard opens. Review the License Agreement and click

I Agree

.

You will be prompted to install Kindle Create in a default location, but you can change the location. Click

Install

.

You will receive a success message when installation is complete. The

Run Kindle Create

box is checked by default, but you can change this. Click

Finish

.

Click the

Download Now

button. Download begins. Click the

Show Downloads

button.

Double-click the installer file. The installation wizard opens. Click

Continue

.

Review the License Agreement, click

Continue

, and then click

Agree

.

You will be prompted to install Kindle Create in a default location, but you can change the location. Click

Continue

and then click

Install

.

You will receive a success message when installation is complete. Click

Close

.

After installation, you can launch Kindle Create by selecting

Windows key > Amazon > Kindle Create

(Windows) or

Launchpad > Kindle Create

(Mac).

Get started with the Kindle Create tutorial

Test out Kindle Create on a sample file. See what you can do with the tool and how to use it to prepare your own eBooks.

Go to the tutorial

.

Choose your book type

This chart describes the book formats available in Kindle Create. Only one format can be used for each Kindle book.

If your book is

Use this type of source file

To build this type of eBook

Detailed instructions here

Text-heavy book, such as a novel, essay, or memoir

DOC or DOCX

Your DOC(x) file is converted into a "reflowable" eBook. Reflowable eBooks allow the reader to resize text and are available on all Kindle devices and free Kindle reading applications. You can also submit it as a print book and select the trim size on KDP. You can use Kindle Create to:

Format your text with styles and themes

Build a table of contents

Add or edit text

Add, delete, resize, and/or align images

Edit your eBook at a later date

Preview your eBook and create a file to publish to KDP

Publish on KDP as a print book of any trim size (print preview with headers and page numbering is available after uploading on KDP)

Prepare Reflowable Books with Kindle Create

Book with lots of images and complex formatting, such as a textbook, travel book, or cookbook

PDF

Your PDF is converted into a Print Replica eBook. Print Replica eBooks maintain the look of their print editions and offer many of the advantages of standard Kindle eBooks, but they do not allow the reader to resize text and are only

Fire Tablets

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9''

Kindle Fire HDX

Kindle Fire HD(2nd Generation)

Fire HDX 8.9 Tablet

Fire HD 7 Tablet

Fire HD 6 Tablet

Kindle Fire HD 8.9"

Kindle Fire HD(1st Generation)

Kindle Fire(2nd Generation)

Kindle Fire(1st Generation)

Fire HD 10

Fire HD 8

Fire

Free Kindle Reading Apps

Kindle for Android Phones

Kindle for Android Tablets

Kindle for iPhone

Kindle for iPod Touch

Kindle for iPad

Kindle for Mac

Kindle for PC

available on certain devices.

You can use Kindle Create to:

Build a table of contents

Add

interactive content

, such as audio, video, images, and hyperlinks

Edit your eBook at a later date

Preview your eBook and create a file to publish to KDP

Prepare Print Replica Books with Kindle Create

Comic or graphic novel of low complexity

PDF

Your PDF is converted into a comic eBook. Comic eBooks include Guided View, which animates panel-to-panel movement with each swipe to give a clear indication of how the story progresses across each page.You can use Kindle Create to:

Add Guided View panels

Build a Table of Contents

Add, delete, reorganize and replace pages

Set pages as facing pages so they appear side-by-side when reading in landscape orientation on enabled devices

Edit your eBook at a later date

Preview your eBook and create a file to publish to KDP

Prepare Comic eBooks with Kindle Create

Having trouble importing a file?

When you import a file into Kindle Create, you may see error messages that stop you before you start editing. Use the troubleshooting tips below.

Error message

Troubleshooting steps

Invalid source file

If you have a different version of the file that you can open, try importing that version. If you can open the file but Kindle Create cannot, please

contact us

.

Password-protected file

Make sure the file doesn't require a password to open it. In the editing software (e.g., Microsoft Word) you used to open the file, remove the password requirement from the file.

Empty file

The file you're trying to upload doesn't appear to have any content in it. Make sure you're uploading the complete version of your manuscript that's ready to prepare for publishing.

Corrupt file

Something happened to the file that makes it impossible for Kindle Create (and maybe other programs) to open it. Here is what we recommend so you can import your file:

Open your file in Microsoft Word.

Click the

File

tab.

Click

Save As

.

Choose a file location.

In the File name box, enter a new name for the file.

In the Save as type list, click the file format and Word 97-2003 (*.doc).

Save your file import it into Kindle Create.

If you still see an error message after following the troubleshooting above, please

contact us

.

Unsupported file format

The file you're attempting to open is not in a format Kindle Create supports. If you open your file in Microsoft Word and Adobe software, among others, you can save it in one of the formats that Kindle Create supports: DOC, DOCX, PDF.

Generic error

Refer to the information below for troubleshooting generic error messages.

When importing the file, Kindle Create had an error it couldn't solve. Try importing the file one more time or saving a different version and importing it again. If that doesn't work, contact us.

You might be importing your file from an external source such as a pen drive, an external hard disk, or a cloud drive. Here is what we recommend so you can import your file:

Download the file to your desktop.

If needed, rename the file so you can easily locate it.

Import the file from your desktop to Kindle Create.

If you still see an error message after following the troubleshooting above, please

contact us

.

When importing the file, Kindle Create had an error it couldn't solve. Try importing the file one more time or saving a different version and importing it again. If that doesn't work, contact us.

If you file contains special characters on the name you will receive this message. To resolve this issue please rename the file without special characters.Special characters can be quotes, exclamation marks, pound symbols, percent symbols, asterisk, parenthesis, brackets, questions marks, and more.

When importing the file, Kindle Create had an error it couldn't solve. Try importing the file one more time or saving a different version and importing it again. If that doesn't work, contact us.

You might be using styles. Styles in Microsoft Word are the ones used as "Heading 1,” "Heading 2,” "Heading 3," instead of "Normal." Here is what we recommend so you can import your file:

On your file, go to the page where you applied the styles. From the Home tab, under Styles, select

Normal

.

Then go to the Insert tab, and under the Text section, select

Drop Cap

.

From the dropdown menu, select

Drop Cap Options

.

Click

Dropped

, choose your font, lines to drop, and the distance from the text.

Click

Ok

.

Save your file and try again to import it into Kindle Create.

If you still see an error message after following the troubleshooting above, please

contact us

.

When importing the file, Kindle Create had an error it couldn't solve. Try importing the file one more time or saving a different version and importing it again. If that doesn't work, contact us.

Your file might have a table embedded on it. Tables, lists, and footnotes cannot be edited in Kindle Create.Here is what we recommend so you can import your file:

Open your file in Microsoft Word.

Press F5 on your keyboard. A dialog box will open, from the Go to tab select

Table

. Click

Previous

or

Next

, appropriately.

If you see a symbol with four arrows, this means that a table is on your document.

Now, you need to replace the table with a text box. So first, right click on the four arrow symbol and click on

Delete Table

. Then go to the Insert tab and click on

Text box

.

Save your file and import it into Kindle Create.

If you still see an error message after following the troubleshooting above, please

contact us

.

If you try to download the tool and your computer flags it as harmful, check your anti-virus software or firewall settings. You may need to add kdp.amazon.com to your list of trusted sites. Or, if your web browser displays a security warning, set it to allow downloads from kdp.amazon.com. Make sure your anti-virus and spyware software are up to date.

Note:

All KDP tools and software downloads go through a review process that includes virus and spyware scanning. If your download is flagged as harmful, you may need to contact your anti-virus software publisher to report the issue. In this case, we would also appreciate more information about where you saw this message so we can investigate.

Contact us

and tell us the operating system and anti-virus software you're using.

Having trouble exporting a file?

When you export a file from Kindle Create, you may see error messages that will not allow you to save your file. Use the troubleshooting tips below.

Create a new folder on your desktop, you can name this folder "Book" for example.

Open the KCB file in Kindle Create, and from the File tab click on

Save Project As

and save the book with a different file name, for example "Booktest" into the folder created in step 1.

Now click the

Generate

button and again change the file name to “Booktest" and save it into the folder created in step 1.

Pre-release features (beta)

With Early Access, you can choose to try pre-release (beta) features and provide feedback. Our current pre-release features are:

Preparing eBooks in Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, or Gujarati)

To try pre-release features, select

Help > Settings > Early Access

(Windows) or

Kindle Create > Preferences > Early Access

(Mac) and then check the

Enable Beta Features

box. Kindle Create restarts to complete the process.To contact us about your experience with this beta, select

Help > Provide Feedback

.

Update books prepared with Kindle Create

When you save your project, Kindle Create stores a work file (in KCB format) and other resources in the folder you choose. We recommend saving and backing up this folder (including the KCB file), which you need to update to your book.To update your book, open Kindle Create and click

Open an Existing File

and choose the relevant KCB file. You can also select the file from the

Recents

column or from

File > Open Recent

.When you click

Generate

, Kindle Create produces a publishable file (KPF) you can submit to KDP. The KPF file is only used for publishing. The KCB file is used for updates.

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