Amazon Kindle offers a great library of eBooks that you can read on your Kindle device. But sometimes, the book you want isn’t available on the Kindle Store. Here’s how you can transfer any eBook to your Kindle using Calibre.
how to configure caliber on your computer
We will use caliber, the free and open source e-book management application. It is available on windows, mac and linux. The app is packed with pro-level features, but it’s also easy to use if you want to do something simple, like manage your eBook library or transfer eBooks between devices.
You are reading: How do you import kindle books into calibre?
The best thing about caliber is that it takes care of converting formats. You don’t need to worry about downloading files in MOBI format (which is Amazon Kindle’s default e-book format). even if you have open epub ebooks, caliber will convert the ebook for you before transferring it to your kindle (as long as you’re using a drm-free ebook).
related: what is a mobi file (and how do I open one)?
Go to the caliber website to download the application. once you’ve installed it, caliber’s welcome wizard will guide you through the setup process.
The first step is to choose a location for your caliber library. you can go with the default location or click the “change” button to choose a different folder. If you plan to manage your entire ebook library with caliber, we recommend that you use a dropbox folder or icloud drive to store your caliber library. once you have chosen your preferred location, click the “next” button.
on the next screen, choose your kindle model and then click the “next” button.
On the next screen, caliber will ask if you want to set up wireless email delivery for eBooks. If you have a kindle email address set up, enter the details and then click the “next” button. this is an optional step because we won’t be using the email method to transfer ebooks.
See Also: 5 Books on Bass Fishing You Should Read – Wired2Fish
You have now completed the caliber setup. click the “finish” button to start the caliber application.
Related: How to Backup Your Kindle Notes and Highlights
how to transfer books to kindle using caliber
Now that you’ve opened the caliber ebook manager application on your windows, mac or linux computer, it’s time to add your downloaded books. you can use ebooks in mobi and epub format.
To add eBooks to caliber, simply drag the eBook to the caliber window from wherever you have it saved on your computer.
within a second or two, caliber will import the eBook and fetch the related metadata, book details, and cover.
connect your kindle to your computer using a usb cable. once caliber recognizes your kindle, you will see a new “on device” column next to the book title column.
let’s now transfer the e-books to the memory of the kindle. select a book (or multiple books) and then right-click on the selected e-books. in the pop-up menu, click the “send to device” button and then select the “send to main memory” option.
If you have selected a mobile ebook, the transfer will complete in a second or two. if you have selected an epub ebook, caliber will ask if you want to convert the book before transferring it. here, click the “yes” button.
caliber will first convert the ebook and then transfer it. this will take a bit longer, depending on the size of the eBook.
you can click the “jobs” button in the bottom right corner to monitor the progress.
From here, you can see a history of all imports, conversions, and transfers across all your devices.
once you’ve transferred all the ebooks you want onto your kindle, it’s time to safely eject the device. you can do it directly from caliber.
From the top toolbar, click the dropdown icon next to the “device” button and select the “eject this device” option.
You can now disconnect your kindle device from your computer and start reading the book you transferred.
You can do so much more with Kindle outside of the Amazon ecosystem. For example, you can browse and back up all your highlights and notes from your Kindle device without using any third-party software.