Kindle Notepad App is $1. Rated 4.5 stars on 102 reviews. You can check out videos at the Kindle Notepad Video page.
Kindle Converter App is $1. You can check out videos at the Kindle Converter Video page. Please take a look at our Kindle Apps.
Kindle Notepad App is simple to use and fast and saves your notes as text files. It has – fast typing, 6 font sizes, 2 font options, search, and sorting.
Here are the main things that make it a solid, solid app -
- It’s a simple-to-use app, and it’s very easy to learn how to get the most from it. To back that up there are Kindle Notepad Help Videos and a detailed Kindle Notepad Help page. There are even documents you can download to your Kindle (PDF) or PC (Word) that walk you through how to use the App (these are on the detailed Help page, the 2nd link).
- The typing is impressively fast given its eInk.
- It uses text files. Move your notes from Kindle Notepad App to your PC or Mac. Move text files to the App. Please do see the video on how to move files – it’s a bit tough the first time. The folder you have to find is Kindle > .active-content-date > 8a5982e82ae68fb2012bc688405e0026 > Work > User. If your Kindle shows up as F: directory, the path will be – F:\.active-content-data\8a5982e82ae68fb2012bc688405e0026\work\user.
- It has 6 font size options and 2 font type options. Use Serif or Sans Serif. There are no super-size fonts – However, there is a wide range of fonts. Also, every single thing changes in size – font in buttons, help pages, titles, everything.
- There are good search options. You can search on the main page itself or you can go to the ‘Search Notes’ page to search by title or search by text (body of the note). Note that the search results update automatically after you type – to remove the results please delete your search term as there is no clear button.
It’s well worth $1 and there’s a pretty high chance you’ll like/love it. You can get Kindle Notepad App for $1 at Amazon.
The list of benefits goes on – There are lots of shortcuts so you can do things quickly and easily, there is in-built backup and restore, there are progress bars for the note and for the notes list, you can sort by date/time or alphabetically, there is a character count for your notes.
If you like the app (or even if you don’t) please do leave a review at Amazon – it helps other Kindle owners know the pros and cons and it’s great feedback for us. Comments on this blog are greatly appreciated but other kindle owners can’t see them.
Please Note: Apps are currently not available outside the US. They will be at some later point of time. Apps don’t work on Kindle 1.
Things the Kindle Notepad App is Not
Since ‘Notepad’ can be interpreted in so many ways, it’s worth spelling out what this app isn’t.
It’s not a Word Processor – there’s no spell check and no copy/paste.
It’s not Free – We’ve priced it at $1 to ensure as many Kindle owners can get it as possible. However, it’s not free since it wasn’t free to make.
It’s not an ebook reader – You won’t be able to open up really big text files. It’s a notepad and it’s meant for notes and not for writing books or reading books.
It’s not magic.
It doesn’t put form over function. Example 1: Between making the typing really fast and making the fonts anti-aliased, we chose the former. Example 2: Between making the app fast and responsive and adding animations and elaborate backgrounds, we chose the former.
Kindle Notepad App is a V1 product
Please keep in mind that this is the first time actual Kindle owners get to play with it. Since Nostradamus quit our team it’s been difficult for us to predict with 100% precision what Kindle owners want – so it’d be much appreciated if you gave us feedback on what to improve rather than cursed us for making a terrible app.
Also, the feedback may or may not be doable. We’ll definitely consider it and prioritize it – However, some things are just not possible and some are not allowed by the terms of the Kindle App Store (such as turning notepad into a free phone call app).
Credits and Credit for Good Feature Suggestions
Sergii Viaznikov – Developer + Design Aspects. It takes an incredible amount of work to achieve the typing speed the app has and to be able to have 6 font sizes where every single element changes size and fits. If you like these, or any other features, nearly all the credit goes to Sergii.
Maurine – Beta Tester, Quality. Maurine suggested a lot of good things like Timestamps, Character Count, Sorting options, adding all the Help documents, allowing both Save and Save + Exit, etc. She’s also a BIG part of the app getting approved and meeting Amazon’s quality bar.
Sergey S. – Design. We needed a minimalistic design that still conveyed ‘Notepad’, and Sergey S. gave us something that fit perfectly.
Amazon – Lots of good suggestions such as adding the option to save a backup copy if you press Home accidentally (Unsaved_1 if no title, As NewNote if Title = NewNote, As Unsaved_Note_1 if Note was being edited). Also, option to rename files on all pages, lots of work on making it easier for users, and quite a few other improvements. A lot of the things you won’t notice (errors, hard to use interfaces) are thanks to Amazon’s input.
Me – Program Management.
Thanks for reading thus far. Hope you like Kindle Notepad – it’s the most exciting app since that App that let you do Harry Potter spells on your iPhone.
Filed under: kindle app review Tagged: | amazon kindle apps
I went to the Amazon page to have a look at the app and probably buy it and it says “Pricing information not available.” Why is this ??
It also says that it is currently not available to download.
dino809, Kindle Apps are only available in the US at the moment. Amazon has said it’ll expand apps to other countries sometime in the future. Hopefully. it’ll be soon.
Purchased – downloaded and ready to go. I think I am really going to like this. Thanks Switch. I am a tad disappointed that we can’t hack it into a free phone call app LOL Really enjoy your blogs/newsletter/? – it’s a must read everyday.
thanks Kitty. We do have a prototype app that turns the Kindle into a toaster. We just can’t figure out how to turn it back.
Hi, I have the app on my wishlist, as I only have my iPhone w me right now and cannot send it to my Kindle via the phone. As soon as I can get to my Kindle I’ll be downloading it. Thank everyone from me for their hard work on this and thank you for your blog– I do read it faithfully.
thanks Gayle.
Hi! It looks nice, but I can´t buy it. Is it restricted only to US adresses? (Says: Pricing not available)
Martin, this is restricted to US only at the moment. Sorry for the confusion – I’ll add a note.
By pricing this at $1 you’re certainly putting your money where your mouth is! I.e., you’re backing up your recent arguments that authors are wiser to price their books at $1 than $3. Did you consider a higher price, like $2? Is there a royalty rate break for apps at $3, the way there is with books?
It’s 70% at all prices. There are however bandwidth costs and a few other, smaller costs.
There’s actually a huge difference between pricing it at $1 and at $3 in terms of profit. Perhaps 50 cents versus $1.75.
We really do think this app is worth $5. However, we want to -
1) Maximize value we provide and not leave out people because $3 or $5 is too much to risk on an unknown app.
2) Reach as many Kindle owners as possible.
Yay. This app will double the utility of my Kindle. Seconds into the Introduction Video, I hopped straight to Amazon and Clicked. I’m eagerly mapping out all the notes I’ve always wished I could make. Contacts. Notes on books read. Reminders. Important facts. Thanks so much.
Randy
you’re welcome Randy. We’d be happy if we could increase the utility of the Kindle even 10% (though we’re secretly hoping with this app and our forthcoming apps we can double it
).
I’m trying to load a .txt file from my Mac to the Kindle. The Kindle is mounted USB. I’m not seeing the .active-content-data folder–only audible, documents, music, and system folders show. Any suggestions?
Randy
Randy, on the Mac any directory starting with . gets treated as a hidden file.
This post on displaying hidden files – http://www.mactricksandtips.com/2008/04/show-hidden-files.html
should help.
Thanks, switch. From that page, I followed the “Application Method”, and I downloaded Houdini, which is a free app. I was concerned that I was suddenly going to be showered with hidden files, but Houdini allowed me to make only the .active-contents-data folder visible. A good solution.
Thanks. Randy
Thanks, switch. From that page, I followed the “Application Method”, and I downloaded Houdini, which is a free app. I was concerned that I was suddenly going to be showered with hidden files, but Houdini allowed me to make only the .active-content-data folder visible. A good solution.
Thanks. Randy
Sent the new app to all three kindles in our group!!
And suggesting the app to all my friends
Always read your blog.
Thanks Betty – let me know how you like it.
I have two questions that I couldn’t find answers to.
#1.
Is there any way to put this on the first page of my home menu, instead of it being buried among the N’s?
#2
Where can I find out how to type on my Kindle 2? I have no idea even which is the Enter key.
Thanks.
Hilary, one option to get it on Page 1 is to create a Folder titled 7 Dragons and put the Notepad app in it. Then when you order by Collections (scroll to the very top of the Home Page (above the boosk, to the top bar line) and press right and choose ‘Collection’) the ’7 Dragons’ collection will show up on first page amongst the first few Collections.
I’ll investigate and see if there are other ways.
#2. To type on your Kindle 2.
Well the <-| looking key is the enter key. The one that looks like a sign to go left and is the last key in the 2nd row from the bottom.
The Up Arrow key (first key in the bottom most row) is the Shift key – for capitals.
Aa – Is the font change key.
SYM – is the symbol key. This brings up special characters.
Alt – Is the Alt key used for shortcuts.
The long bar at the bottom (center of bottom row) is the space bar for spaces.
Excellent app. While you guys are building apps, could you build an RSS reader app? Man, I’d love that. I currently use Google Reader in the browser, but it forces me to log in quite often and, in general, is a nuisance.
Jon, we had a prototype but RSS readers fall under the ‘generic reader’ category and aren’t allowed. If that changes at a later point of time we might continue work on our prototype.
Hi, This looks like a brilliant app. Unfortunately, it seems only to be available in the US on amazon.com and not in the UK on http://www.amazon.co.uk
Is there any other way to buy it?
Lina, unfortunately, there isn’t.
Amazon is going to expand apps to other countries at some later point of time.
Thank you. I am typing away now.
Hilary
Does this app work on all Kindle Versions or only the most recent release modle?
Trish, it works on every Kindle except Kindle 1.
It also doesn’t work outside the US yet, i.e. your home country has to be US.
Covered it on the Keetsa (green) site. Looks great.
Cheers,
Missy
A while back I asked for some useful non-game apps and this certainly seems to fit the bill. I think $1 is a very fair price for the app and to help support this website.
Switch, you should follow up in a few days with a list of links to the reviews the app has received on other blogs/sites (including the Amazon-site reviews).
After another half-dozen reviews come in you could update the list with the new entries. After people read the reviews they’ll rush out to buy a dozen!
Probably. Perhaps I’ll do that.
I’m having trouble with getting a note written on my computer in plain text to show up in the Kindle app.
Typed note in Word. Saved as plain text. Connected Kindle. Copied to the User folder in appropriate app. When the Kindle is still plugged into the computer, I can see and read the file in the drive. Disconnect Kindle. The note appears in the app. Open it. Only the 1st line and a half (67 characters) appears. Repeated 3 times. Same result.
Is there a bug? Is it me?
Tania, the Kindle’s KDK (the framework in which apps work) does not support certain encodings. So what is probably happening is that at the place where the note is getting cut (at 67th or 68th character) there is a character that is not supported in the encoding the KDK supports.
The note you wrote is probably using UTF-8 and using some characters that only UTF-8 supports and our Notepad app does not support.
You could remove that character and retry. What happens when you copy-paste that note into Notepad and then save it?
Also, please try saving it as a text file in Notepad with encoding as ANSI. That might work. Could you copy-paste the note in a comment so I can explore more?
Thx. Will play around with it later and let you know what happens.
I do really like the app, but figured it was faster to type on the computer than the Kindle.
Are you using any accented letters or any symbols other than the ones available on the Kindle?
Perhaps if you use Notepad it would work better. Word should work too if you use ANSI format.
THANK YOU! It was as simple as removing a hyphen.
I’ll just do my notes from Notepad from now on.
Tania, really glad to know it got sorted out.
Great app! But now you need to redesign the Kindle keyboard to make it useful for typing…
KindleLover, this might be the best comment ever on Notepad. It’s totally outside our control. We’re just glad there is a physical keyboard. For the moment we are trying to take in all the feedback and see what we can add in V1.1 to make things better and easier.
It would be nice if Amazon made the keys on the next Kindle bigger and added back the row of number keys.
Hi switch, yes, I know you have no control over the Kindle design, I was just hinting the need for a better keyboard on the Kindles to take full advantage of your new app. Maybe with a touch screen, in the next generation of Kindles, this issue will be solved to some degree.
GREAT APP. When I went to Ravelry to see if it was mentioned in the Kindle group I was surprised it had not yet been mentioned. I posted and within 24 hours at least a dozen more have loaded it and love it. A couple of our non-US members are waiting for it to be available in the future. The videos are also helpful to both users and potential buyers. Would love it if I could view my Kindle Notepad app entries on my Android phone but that might be a bit much.
Elizabeth, I’m not sure how we could let Notepad entries be shown on Android. It’s now on our list of ideas to consider but it might be too much work and for the moment I’d say there’s very little probability of it getting done.
Oh, and thanks a lot for spreading the word. We need all the help we can get.
Just thought you might like to know that I did a blog post on your app release. I’m glad to see someone working on useful productivity apps.
http://www.davidderrico.com/notepad-app-for-kindle/
David, thanks a lot for the mention. I think you’ll like the future apps we have planned.
I love the Notepad app for my Kindle! I used it for grocery shopping the other day and it worked like a charm. As I added an item to my cart, I “crossed it off” the list by adding to periods to the front of the item name. I didn’t want to simply delete the item because (1) that would take longer and (2) I can reuse the same list, adding more to it and removing the periods from the items I need to buy again.
The time stamp on the Notes is a great idea. I appreciate having that.
A feature that I would like to see added is the ability to sort the contents of a note. Currently, we can only sort the notes themselves. Ability to sort note contents would be very useful for notes that contain a list.
It would also be cool if Notepad notes could be posted to Facebook directly from Kindle.
Bev P – we’ll investigate sorting contents of a note. Do you mean each individual line of a note would be sorted alphabeticall? Could you please describe what you are looking for in detail. We’ll try to see if it’s possible – at this point of time, don’t know.
Posting notes to Facebook is difficult as there are data charges and API to post on Facebook isn’t available to apps.
Hi switch11. Yes, I was thinking of sorting individual lines alphabetically, where you’d have a list of items (like a shopping list) or names/titles (like a contacts list).
If the items in the list were more than a couple of words each (such as a list of sentences), then maybe two carriage returns (newline, end-of-line, linefeed, whatever: two presses of the Enter key) could be the signal for a new item. You could limit the number of characters used in sorting, such as only the first 15 characters following two newlines.
But that might be pushing it. Just a List Sort feature (single lines of a note) would be nice.
A potential problem I see is that someone could sort a note that they didn’t really want sorted (such as a paragraph of text), essentially destroying their note. You’d need a way to prevent that, such as a popup “Are you sure you want to sort each line of this note?” or a simple one level Undo. Or possibly have Notes and Lists as two different “kinds” of notes and the sort option is available only for Lists.
Hope all this makes some kind of sense!
Yes, it makes perfect sense. Thanks for the clarifications, Bev.
We definitely don’t want to go with two different kinds of notes. That just introduces all sorts of problems.
On my end I was thinking either a simple ‘Sort By Line’ option OR a Sort by Line option with an Undo. We’ll have to see what’s possible (the Sort by Line should, in theory, be straightforward). Please do keep in mind that this will probably not be in the first update – probably in a later update. The ‘warning message’ you mention is a good idea.
Congratulations! Notepad is at #1 in the Kindle Store! So far, I’ve really enjoyed FlipIt and now Notepad. Thanks for creating useful and affordable apps for the Kindle. I’m liking my Kindle more and more each day.
Thanks Tracey. Hopefully you’ll like our future apps too. We’re hard at work on more Kindle Apps.
Great app. I know you have gotten a lot of suggestions on improvements to consider. Each of those likely would be beneficial to some people.
What everybody needed, though, was just a simple note app like you have already provided. Please don’t “improve” the utility out of the app!
thanks for the comment Dictum.
This is indeed our biggest challenge. Some requests (such as making Shift persistent, Adding Go to End of Document, etc.) are pretty non-obtrusive. However, there are some where we have to make a call on whether or not they take away from the simplicity of the app.
We’ll try to make sure we don’t improve the utility and simplicity out of the app.
At the same time, don’t be afraid to make improvements or expand functionality. If the Kindle developers listened to the purists who said “we don’t need active content, we just want to read books… that’s what an ereader is for” then there would be no Notepad at all.
Yes, of course. Bev, we already have a list of things we’re planning on doing. Just have to finish rounding up feedback.
Having the number keys called out at the bottom of the page is pretty unnecessary for anyone who has ever entered numbers on the K3.
Perhaps. There is an option in the Menu titled – Hide Number Legend – which hides that strip showing the number shortcuts.
I just hit the size limit (made a list of my DVDs so while I’m out I don’t buy a duplicate)
Is it in the plans to increase or eliminate the size limit? Or is that a Kindle limit not a Notepad limit?
It’s a Notepad limit and there are, at the moment, no plans to increase or eliminate the size limit. Eliminate is unlikely. Increase will have to just test and see if it’s possible. It’s not in the upgrade that’s submitted so no idea if/when an increase in size limit would happen.
I can’t wait for this to be available in the UK! I currently use Notes on my Blackberry but my eyesight is poor, so this will be way more useful for me! Thank you
Got Notepad. Used Notepad. Love Notepad!
The most useful thing available for the Kindle other than, of course, books.
The only problem I have is the shortcut for save+exit is ALt-X. Very logical, but the X key is right above the ALT key and my big fingers and the tiny keyboard make it hard to press them at the same time. LOL!
Kenette, ALT is persistent. So you can press Alt and then let go and press X and it will work.
Note: Shift is not persistent – however, in V1.1 upgrade (which is submitted) Shift is persistent. Plus other improvements.