Originally posted April 27, 2010 by Cindy O'Neal
Personal Files On The Kindle
Oh yes. The Kindle is a great way to carry around any kind of file you deem special.
I have a special file (probably should name it something other than passwords and reg info) which I have been updating and adding to for years. Each page has its own title with information related to that title on it. Over the years it has collected registration information (for easy copying and pasting) of various software applications I have purchased, as well as password information for websites and other things I need passwords for. Anything I need to remember goes on that file.
Contacts is another file I use regularly. It has just what you would think, a long list of names and addresses, with phone numbers and any other information necessary for that person or business. These are listed alphabetically. What is really neat on the Kindle is how fast it can search for any bit of text, and names are a piece of cake.
Recipes: Probably my favorite personal file used on the Kindle. These are my favorite, tried and true, with personal notes. If I am in the kitchen, my Kindle is handy. This little goodie even has a clickable table of contents. How is for a future post, but it is doable.
Creating Your Personal files:You can use any word processor. The best thing to do is plan how you want your document to look. Keep it as simple as possible, with a list type look. You don't need to prepare your document with any fancy formatting. A plain text file would be fine. Your Kindle could care less, and is only going to search through the text anyhow. Your documents can be as long as you need them to be. Your contact list may be much longer than mine. You can organize your things alphabetically, but honestly, that doesn't matter either if you plan to use the Kindle's search function. If you want to page forward or back, then consider alphabetizing your list.
If you want to keep larger lists, and need something a little fancier, you might want to try my favorite personal information manager, AZZ Cardfile. It has been around for years, is certainly one of my comfort programs and something I depend on. I have used it daily since Windows 95, certainly longer than I have owned my Kindle. Anything I want to keep track of or organize is done with AZZ Cardfile. It is ridiculously easy to use. You can even try it out for free to see if it is something you can depend on too. The history behind it is really interesting. It was originally designed as a replacement for a free utility that used to be included as part of the Windows operating system called Cardfile. Windows Cardfile was simplicity in itself and a lot of people loved it. This Personal Information Manager was ditched by Windows after Windows 95. Folks continued to use it, but really had to jump through hoops to get a copy of it. I lost track of it several years ago. AZZ Cardfile helped ease the pain of that loss with a more robust, permanent solution.
Each of the personal files I use on my Kindle (files I created myself) begin as an AZZ file. It is just easier to organize with it. The "cards" are automatically alphabetized. All I have to do is enter the information. To edit an existing card, just click on the card name in the left panel and the information will appear in the right panel. Since my passwords, recipes and contact files are always changing or being added to, being able to quickly create a new .rtf file is a definite plus.
About the only thing AZZ won't work on is a Mac, and that's a shame. I haven't found anything even close for my Mac.
Use AZZ Cardfile (azzcardfile.com)to create the personal information files, then export as a .rtf (rich text format) file so mobipocket reader can neatly convert them to send over to the kindle when you connect it with the USB cable. Each listing will have its own "card," and when you export your file, you will basically be making a copy in a different format, in this case, .rtf format. One of the options when you export your file is to have each card be a separate "page," so you can see, this is perfect for the Kindle. Once you have your .rtf file created, you are ready to convert it with one of my recent favorites, Mobipocket Reader.
So now you can add your personal files to the library you can carry in your hand. AND you have another (really good) reason to keep it on your person at all times.
Tomorrow
The FREE Mobipocket Reader Software and how to use it to convert files for your Kindle
