A Kindle is a portable electronic device that Amazon provides, which allows users to read and access e-books when away from a computer. Kindles provide readers with a means of storing and reading thousands of books anywhere they go by organizing them as AZW files that can be displayed on the Kindle screen and accessed via keys on the front of the Kindle.

What is AZW?

The AZW file format is the Amazon Kindle’s official format and is used to allow the Kindle to read, store, and access e-books. The AZW file format also allows readers to change an e-book’s font style and size, modify content, and re-size an entire document to fit the Kindle screen’s dimensions. Because the Kindle is only designed to support AZW and .Mobi file formats, users must convert all PDF documents to either of these formats before the Kindle can read them.

How to Convert PDF to AZW

Users can convert PDF documents to the AZW file format with a program known as a “document file converter.” While users cannot use any document file converter to convert PDF files to AZW, there are a wide variety of document file converters that support either AZW or .Mobi file formats such as Mobi Pocket Creator and Calibre, as well as the browser based document file converter, ConvertFiles.com.

How to Transfer Files to Kindle

Once the user has converted a PDF document to AZW or .Mobi, he/she can transfer it to his/her Kindle by connecting the Kindle to the computer that the file is stored on by opening the Start Menu, clicking Computer/My Computer, and opening the Kindle device folder. From there, the user can drag the file into the appropriate folder, disconnect the Kindle from the computer, and verify that the file is on the Kindle. If the user finds the file, he/she is finished. If the user does not find the file, he/she either did not convert the file properly or did not place the file into the correct folder. If so, he/she will need to repeat the previous steps.