The Official Guide to Converting Kindle to PDF (3 Methods)

How to convert Kindle to PDF easily? When you purchase an eBook from Amazon books, you will find your non-Kindle eReader (Nook, Kobo Vox, Sony Reader etc.) cannot open it. Before we solve this problem, let's talk about eBook-formats briefly. As the eBook-leader in the world, Kindle books support AZW, KFX, AZW3, PRC, MOBI and TPZ formats. Nevertheless, other readers do not support these formats, but support PDF and EPUB. So if you intend to read Kindle books on other readers, you will have to convert Kindle AZW / TPZ / PRC / MOBI to PDF or EPUB.

First things first: Download Kindle books to computer/eReader

Before the kindle to pdf conversion, the first thing is to download purchased Kindle titles to the kindle eReader or to computer via Kindle desktop app. As I've introduced this point in this guide The Ultimate Guide to Download Kindle Books.

After the Kindle books are downloaded well, you can convert those files to PDF format as the steps below.

No.	kindle to pdf converter tools	free or paid	Cons
1	Calibre	free	need dedrm plugin intalled
2	Epubor Ultimate	Paid (with free trial)	paid software
3	kindle to pdf online, zamzar	free	kfx format no support

Method 1: Convert Kindle books to PDF with Calibre

Calibre is a super star in eBook software area, you can use it as a free Kindle to PDF converter. It allows you to convert the formats of your books to another one.

Calibre offers you several versions on different operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux and portable. We record the video on windows, but you can also convert Kindle to PDF on Mac with the same method. 

Step 1 Download Calibre and select a proper version for your PC. Here we select "Windows". Make sure your Kindle books have been copied or downloaded on your computer.

Step 2 Install and launch Calibre.

Step 3 Click “Add books” button to add your Kindle books, then they will be listed on the center zone of the screen.You can drag and drop your books here as well.

Step 4 Select the books that you prepare to convert. Also, you can click "Edit metadata" button to customize the cover images, title, authors and other metadata of your eBooks.

Step 5 Click "Convert books” button. The ebook converting window will pop. Select "PDF" as output format and click "OK". Calibre will start to convert books.

The status zone at the bottom of the right corner “jobs: 2" will show the progress of conversion.

Step 6 When the status turns to "Jobs: 0", the conversion is completed. Click the status zone to get the details of the conversion on the pop-up window.

Step 7 Go back to the main screen. If the books have been converted from Kindle to PDF successfully, the "Formats" will contain both the original one and the converted one.

Click "Click to open", you will get your PDF books on the pop-up window.

Now you have completed converting Kindle books to PDF. The whole Kindle to PDF conversion progress is free and convenient. 

Method 2: Convert Kindle to PDF with Epubor Ultimate (Mac and Windows)

If you feel that the above steps are still a bit complicated and you are not that satisfied with it, I would recommend the Epubor Ultimate for you. It combines the DRM removal and formats conversion perfectly. The most important is, you will get your Kindle books converted just with a simple click. It's a one-stop solution to convert Kindle (drm) books to PDF.

Step 1: Download and install epubor ultimate.

   

Step 2: Add Kindle books to remove DRM.

If your Kindle books are downloaded to your Kindle Oasis or Kindle Paperwhite, just connect your device to computer via USB, then run Epubor Ultimate software. It will detect all the books that saved in your device and list them at the left area. Drag and drop them to the right area of its main interface.

As the image shows above, books added, drm header removed. This step is easier than using calibre, right?

If your books are downladed to Fire tablet, or Kindle for Android, you want to convert kindle app books to PDF quickly, please use Kindle desktop to sync them and download them to your computer. Downloaded files will be saved in local "My Kindle Content" folder, please check.

Step 3: Convert drm free kindle to PDF

From the "Convert to.." selection please choose PDF as the target format, and then click the button again, the conversion will begin soon.

Method 3: Convert Kindle to PDF online (free)

There are some good kindle to pdf online converter that could help us:

Zamzar Kindle to PDF Converter

Convert.Files

If you are interested(especially for those people who have 2 or 3 books only that need to be processed), pleaese try this way.

FAQs about converting kindle books to PDF

FAQ 1: Convert Kindle to PDF Windows 8

Some customers leave comments to complain that, they can't find the downloaded Kindle books on their Windows 8 computer, which stopped them successfully converting a Kindle book to a PDF.

The downloaded kindle books will be saved in "My Kindle Content" folder. But if you failed to find them, you can check following path:

Details you can read how to remove Kindle DRM on Windows 8. After you succeeded to strip the drm, continue to follow this guide to convert your kindle books formats please.

FAQ 2: Convert Kindle AZW6 to PDF

After the conversion finished, when we open the PDF book, we will find that all the pages of some PDF books (which we converted from Kindle) are blank, but just with one cover image. Why?

It's likely that the original Kindle book you got from amazon store is an azw6 book. This format is only used in Amazon Japan.

Until now I haven't found a tool that could help us directly handle azw6 format Kindle books. The unique solution and easiest way is to sync these books via Kindle for PC/Mac and download them again to your computer, so that epubor or calibre could recognize them.

FAQ 3: Convert Kindle KFX to PDF

Since 2017 Amazon started widely using their new format, KFX, into their kindle books, after they upgraded the Kindle desktop version to version 1.19.

This format features at the new enhanced typesetting engine and new Bookerly font. Reading KFX on Kindle devices especailly on KPW3 is really nice and cool, but it's really a pain when we want to read them on non-Kindle devices.

To convert kindle kfx books to pdf, you need to use an older version of Kindle desktop app or an e-ink kindle device to help download old format kfx format, this is because the newest kfx format books can't be converted to other formats, no tools works for this issue.

FAQ 4: Convert Kindle to PDF A5 size

Thoug A4 is the default page size, but you know that there are some readers such as Sony DPT-CP1, will only supports A5 PDF. So, is it possible to change or reduce the PDF page size from A4 to A5? The anwser is Yes.

Open Calibre, add your A4 pdf books into the calibre, "Convert books". From the new window select the output as "PDF", and then from the left side area choose "PDF Output", set the "Paper size" as "a5", OK.

Waiting for the job finished. When it's completed, you can click to open the new page size PDF books with Calibre built-in viewer. If you think it's good, then try to transfer the A5 page size PDF book to your Sony digital reader please (may also need Digital Paper App to sync the files).

Please note: Not all of the PDF books will be displayed correctly or perfectly on your new device after being changed the size into A5. The PDF output quality is always being the century problems. So here I will recommend you preview the pdf file first before transferring them to your device.

FAQ 5: Kindle to PDF vertically

For those Kindle Japan users, they already were familiar with the vertical layout. But after converting Kindle to PDF, you will find that some books have been horizantal, and with badly layout. This is because some tools will help you rotate the PDF, which results in the vertical to horizontal and with bad display.

I would say that, there is nearly no tools works for convert books to vertical PDF. If yes, the layout is not as good as what you want. My personal suggestion is to convert kindle books to vertical ePub foramt. And you can use either Calibre or vertical supported version of Epubor Ultimate.

Solution 1 Convert Kindle to vertical ePub Calibre

Convert Kindle to ePub with Calibre, and select "Look&Feel" > "Styling".

Then copy the following css codes into the blank area please.

@charset "utf-8"; * { line-height: 150%; } .vertical,.vrtl { writing-mode: vertical-rl; -epub-writing-mode: vertical-rl; -webkit-writing-mode: vertical-rl; line-break: normal; -epub-line-break: normal; -webkit-line-break: normal; } p { margin: 0; } h2{ margin-left:3rem; margin-top:3rem; }

Then choose "EPUB" as the output format, convert.

You will find the epub books are vertical and displayed well.

Solution 2 Convert Kindle to vertical ePub with customized edition of Epubor Ultimate

If you think adding css manually is a little messy, you can download the custom edition of Epubor Ultimate which helps convert Kindle books (vertical or horizontal) to vertical ePub/Mobi/AZW3.

Epubor Ultimate for Windows Download Epubor Ultimate for Mac Download

This custom edition helps convert our Kindle books to vertical ePub, no matter your original Kindle books are vertical display or horizontal display.

Just add your Kindle books to its main interface to remove DRM, and then choose ePub as the output format. Please note that DON'T choose PDF as output though it supports this output format.

Open Adobe Digital Editions, and drag the converted EPUB books to ADE. You will find that the ePub is vertical display well.

That's all. Wish this guide will help resolve 99% of your problems when converting Kindle to PDF. If you found new questions, don't forget to leave your comments below.

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