How to Use the Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader

If you like to read Kindle books but don't have your Kindle device on you, Amazon has you covered with the Kindle Cloud Reader. It's a website-based Kindle that allows you to read all your Kindle books from any computer.

Steps

1
Start up your computer. This reader works on a PC or Mac using most browsers - Chrome, Firefox or Edge, just not Internet Explorer.
2
Visit the Kindle Cloud Reader website at https://read.amazon.com. If you haven't done so already, log in. Each time you visit the website, you will be asked to log in and notified that you are "creating a new Kindle device" in your account until you deauthorize it.
- If you didn't log out the last time and haven't cleared your cache between then and now, it sometimes shows that you are creating a new authorization session when you log in again.
- Each browser will take its own authorization and create its own "send-to" address, but the process of use is the same once you log in.
- If you're using a public computer, remember to log out each time after your reading session is complete. Later, you can remove old computers if you visit your My Devices page, too.
3
Familiarize yourself with the interface of the Library (books) screen. Once you understand the layout, it's fairly easy to use.
- Towards the left, the top line bar contains buttons to see your notes and highlights (the backwards books with tiny pencil), to synchronize your account (to update the reader with your latest Amazon purchases), to view your options (gear), and to search for a book. Over to the right you'll also see a button you can use if you'd like to visit the Kindle Store on Amazon.
- The next line shows options to change how your books are shown to you (in Grid or List form, which books are shown (all of your books on the "Cloud," or just ones that have been "Downloaded" to the computer), and the size of the covers (if using Grid view).
4
Click the book you'd like to read. This will open up that book for reading.
- You can also download the book for reading when you are offline, if desired. Downloading books is easy, but before you do it, you must click "Download" on the Library page; then click "Get Started Now" when prompted to get your Kindle to allow more storage. Then go back to your Library by clicking the Cloud button again and right-click the books to download.
5
Turn the page when you need to. The page toggles aren't seen until you hover over them. They'll be visible on both sides of the screen around about a quarter of the way in and halfway down the page. They will look like ordinary triangular brackets (< and >). You can click them to turn pages.
6
Add highlights and notes as you a read. Much like a standard book, Amazon lets you "mark up" these books. Click and drag any passage from the page and a grey line will be formed around it. Under or near that, you will see a Highlight and Note button.
- Highlight will color the passages yellow (unlike regular Kindles, you'll only have access to Yellow highlights here)
- Note will give you an option to leave a note on that section; type your text in the "Type your note here" box and click "Save".
- In the Cloud Reader, passages can't extend onto multiple pages. However, if you have other Kindles available, you can later connect multiple passages across multiple pages by opening the first highlight and connecting the last word of the first one to the first line of the second one.
7
Remember your "Location" if needed, rather than your page. If you pick up the book on another Kindle device, the pages won't match up, so Amazon uses the term Location to designate sentence/phrase breaks. There are generally about a thousand or more Locations in an average book. A 200-page book could have upwards of 14k Locations.
8
Access the menu bar at the top of the screen. To get this menu bar, hover you mouse up to the book's title line onscreen at the top of the page. From there, you can click:
- Library - to exit back out to your Library.
- Menu (opened book) - to get to frequently found pages such as to see the book's cover, table of contents, beginning, a specific page (if page numbers were added by the publisher) or a Location.
- View settings (two As) - to set how the book will look, the page backs, and the size and style of the text onscreen.
- Bookmark - to add a bookmark at the current book's Location.
- Notes and Marks (book with a bookmark and pencil) - to see all your bookmarks, notes and highlights for this book, all together
- Synchronize (circular arrows) - to synchronize your reading progress between your Kindle devices.
- Search box - to search the book for certain phrases or words.
9
Use the scrubber bar at the bottom of the screen to navigate quickly. The scrubber bar will allow you to move thoroughly through pages quickly, but can sometimes be a pain; if you set your settings to auto-sync and you move to another part of the book then accidentally exit, this can make you lose your spot.
- The scrubber bar will show either your Location or page. It will also show you the percentage through the book you are at.
10
Exit out of the book. Click the "Library" button on the menu bar. This will save all your highlights, notes and markup you've made and synchronize them and your progress to the cloud.
11
Exit out of the Reader when you are ready to go. Locate the Manage gear on the bar and click it; then click the "Sign Out" choice from the drop-down list. Doing so will deauthorize the computer and will sign you out of your Amazon (Kindle) account.
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Question
How can I delete a book in the cloud reader?
Amy Wang
Community Answer
The cloud reader basically stores all the books you have, even if you've deleted it off your Kindle or phone, so to get rid of the book on the cloud reader, you'll have to delete the book completely. Go to Amazon, Manage Your Devices, and delete the book from there.
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Question
How can I find the book I was reading? It was about a girl who was searching for her father and things she remembered about her dead mother.
Community Answer
That doesn't narrow it down very much. If you can remember any of the characters' names, or important object or place names, you can try googling them.
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I can’t highlight text for a book in Amazon.reads. Why?
Lily
Community Answer
You should be able to: be sure that you are holding/pressing the text down long enough.
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