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Prepare Reflowable and Print Books with Kindle Create

When you import a book into Kindle Create in DOC OR DOCX format, your file is
converted to a "reflowable" eBook, which allows the reader to resize text and is available on
all Kindle devices and free Kindle reading applications. Kindle Create works with several
word processing applications (e.g., Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, Google Docs) that export
to the DOC(X) format.

Want to test Kindle Create on a sample file before using it on your own book? Check out our
tutorial.

After installation, you can launch Kindle Create by selecting Windows key > Amazon >
Kindle Create (Windows) or Launchpad > Kindle Create (Mac).
Contents
 Known limitations: tables, lists, and footnotes
 Create a new project from a DOC(X) file
 Edit your Kindle Create eBook
 Create a table of contents
 Choose a theme
 Add front matter
 Format the first page of each chapter
 Format other text
 Add back matter
 Edit text
 Add text
 Add or change images
o Add images
o Insert chapter start images
o Replace images
o Delete images
 Insert, edit, and remove hyperlinks
 Prepare your book for print

Known limitations: tables, lists, and footnotes

Tables, lists, and footnotes can't be edited in Kindle Create. If you need to edit them after
importing your document to Kindle Create, make the change in the source application (e.g.
MS Word), and then copy and paste the new content into Kindle Create.

Create a new project from a DOC(X) file

1. On the Kindle Create launch screen, click the Create New button. You can also
launch a new project by selecting File > New Project or using the shortcut CTRL + N
(CMD + N for Mac users). The Choose File dialog box is displayed. Click the
Reflowable option.

2. In the Document Language list, select the language of your book. (This does not
change the language of Kindle Create menus.)
Choose your book's language
3. Click the Choose File button, navigate to the DOC(X) file on your local hard drive,
select the file, and click Open. After you choose a file, Kindle Create begins
converting it to a Kindle eBook. Conversion optimizes font faces, line spacing,
margins, indents, and other typography features to improve reading on electronic
 devices. It also converts every page break in your DOC(X) file into a new section.
While your file is imported, Kindle Create displays rotating screens that tell you more
about Kindle Create. When conversion finishes, the Import Successful dialog box is
displayed. Click the Continue button.

Note: If you get an error message while importing the file, see troubleshooting tips.
4. The Automatic Chapter Titles dialog box is displayed. Click the Get Started button
and Kindle Create begins finding potential Chapter Title elements in your eBook.

5. The Suggested Chapter Titles dialog box displays a list of possible chapter titles.
Uncheck any items that are not chapter headings and then click Accept Selected. The
checked items will be part of the Kindle Interactive table of contents and appear in the
Body section of the Kindle Create project. From this dialog box, you can also click a
chapter heading to go to that section and apply formatting while keeping the
Suggested Chapter Titles dialog box open.

Choosing chapter titles

6. Choose File > Save Project to save your imported eBook. The Save Your Project
dialog box opens. Accept or change the file location and name, and then click Save.

Edit your Kindle Create eBook with the KCB file

When you click Save, Kindle Create stores your book's KCB file and other resources in the
folder you specify. We recommend saving and backing up the folder that contains the KCB
file and related files, which you need to update your book. You can resume a previously
saved project by choosing Open an Existing File and selecting the relevant KCB file. You
can also select the file from the Recents column or from File > Open Recent.

When you click Generate, Kindle Create produces a publishable file (KPF) that you can
submit to KDP. The KPF file is only used for publishing. The KCB file is for updates.

Create a table of contents

A table of contents (TOC) is important for a good eBook reading experience. It allows
readers to navigate between chapters easily.

Kindle Create detects possible chapter titles and displays them. After you revise and accept
the entries, they're used to create two types of TOCs, the TOC page and the Kindle
Interactive TOC.
Type Description Example
 Page at the
beginning of
your book with
links to each
chapter
 Also called an
HTML TOC
 Uses the same
information as
the Kindle
Interactive TOC
TOC page to create entries
 If preparing
print books,
Kindle Create
automatically
removes links
and adds page
numbers when
uploaded and
previewed in
KDP Print
Preview.
  Displayed in the
Kindle menu
and can be
accessed from
anywhere in the
Kindle book
Interactiv  Also called
e TOC NCX
 Automatically
included after
you revise and
accept the
chapter entries

To insert a TOC page:

1. Go to the Contents pane.
2. Click your first chapter.
3. Click the Insert button.
4. Choose Table of Contents. The list of detected chapter titles will appear.
5. Click OK to accept. Kindle Create will add the TOC page to your book.
The TOC page is automatically updated as you add or remove chapters of your book. When
you change your chapter titles, the TOC updates automatically to match the new text.

When you apply title elements (Chapter Title, Page Title, Book Title, Part Title), they’re used
to create a TOC entry. Sections marked with an orange dot aren’t included in the TOC:
If you want a section included in the TOC, apply a title element, usually Chapter Title.
 You can also change the order of chapters by dragging and dropping them.
 To merge a chapter, right-click on the chapter and choose Merge with previous
section or Merge with next section.
  To split a chapter, click the location in the chapter body where you want to split it.
Next, right-click and choose Split chapter here.

Choose a theme
Located next to the Save button, the Theme button lets you choose from pre-defined book
styles. These styles have been created by professional book designers and produce a well-
styled eBook that will be easy for your readers to enjoy. Select one of our themes to update
your eBook appearance. Any element that you have marked in your eBook is updated to the
style defined in the active theme. Modern theme is active by default. These themes cannot be
edited by the user.

Language note: If your DOC(X) file is in one of the supported Indic languages for eBooks
(Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, or Gujarati), Kindle Create only displays two themes:
Classic and Modern.

Add front matter

Kindle Create helps you add front matter pages such as title pages and dedication pages in a
few clicks. To add a front matter page, click on + sign next to Frontmatter and choose the
page you want to insert. Kindle Create allows you to insert the following types of pages:
Page type TOC entry Usage
Contains the book title, subtitle, author name
Title Page Title Page
and a publisher logo.
Includes information such as copyrights,
Copyright Copyright
editions, and publisher.
Where you write a short paragraph dedicating
Dedication Dedication your book to a person or people with
explanation why.
A quote that complements your book’s subject
Epigraph Epigraph
matter along with the quote attribution.
A Table of Contents that lists of the major
TOC page N/A sections of the book along with the
corresponding page number.
Piece of writing at the beginning of a book,
Foreword Foreword typically an introduction written by someone
else.
Introduction Introduction A section to add introductory text for readers.
 Typically used for nonfiction books.
Introduction to the book written by the author
Preface Preface that provides context for the book or current
edition.
Show a preceding event to your story that sets
Prologue Prologue
the scene. Typically used for fiction.
Title of the page will A blank page that can be used to generate any
Standard page
be used custom type of front matter content.

Format the first page of each chapter

In the Contents Pane, the first page of every converted section is displayed as a thumbnail.
Select a thumbnail and that section is displayed in the Edit Pane. After you have formatted
your front matter, apply the relevant formatting to the beginning of each chapter:
1. Confirm that all of your chapters were converted correctly. If there seem to be
chapters missing in the Contents Pane, they are probably embedded in a previous
chapter. Highlight the previous chapter and then scroll through the section in the Edit
Pane to locate the buried chapter heading and tag it with the Chapter Title element.

2. In the Properties Pane, on the Elements tab, use the options under Common
Elements to control the appearance of the first page of each chapter:
o Use Chapter Title to add a font face and size, make an entry in the Kindle
Interactive TOC, and add a page break so that the current chapter begins on a
new screen.
o Use Chapter Subtitle to decorate and position descriptive text about the
chapter below the chapter title.
o Use Chapter First Paragraph to remove any indent from the paragraph and
add a drop cap whose appearance is set by the active Theme.
 Adjusting the drop cap coverage: In the Properties Pane, on the
Formatting tab, the First Paragraph element applies a drop cap to
the first character of a paragraph. If your first character is punctuation,
such as a quotation mark, Kindle Create automatically extends the drop
cap coverage to include the punctuation and the first letter. For other
situations, you can use the Number of Characters control to extend
the drop cap, if needed.
Tip: Use Cascade formatting changes for elements for a quick way to modify theme
elements like chapter title, chapter subtitle, and more. With this setting turned on, changes to
an element (e.g. chapter title) in one section will automatically update other instances (e.g. all
other chapter titles) of the same element in the book so they look the same.

3. To save your work, click File > Save Project.

Format other text

After you have formatted the first page of each chapter, you can use the Formatting tab of
the Properties pane to make any additional formatting changes. Amazon recommends
applying Elements before making individual formatting changes, since Elements update
positioning and formatting of paragraphs. Text changes that you might find useful on the
Formatting tab of the Properties pane include:
 Adding Separators, which are a decorative element that indicates a transition in the
text.
 Using Block Quote to highlight long quotes that you want to distinguish from your
narrative.
 Using Poem to improve the formatting and readability of poetry.
 Formatting special text for storytelling impact:
o Adjusting paragraph indents: You can tweak paragraph indents (both first line
and margins) using the Indents controls.
o Adjusting the spacing between paragraphs: In Kindle Create, Elements apply
to a single paragraph by default. You can apply the element to consecutive
paragraphs and then use the Spacing controls to reduce or eliminate the top or
bottom spacing to bring the adjacent paragraphs back together.
o Specifying a Font style. [Language note: If your DOC(X) file is in one of the
supported Indic languages (Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, or Gujarati),
the Font options are grayed out because they are unavailable.]

Note: If you specify a font to identify your special text in Kindle Create,
readers will not be able to change that font on Kindle devices and reading
applications, so this feature should be used sparingly.

Amazon encourages authors to use creative styles for headings, special

paragraphs, footnotes, tables of contents, etc., but the majority of body text
should be all defaults. The reason for this is that any styling on body text
overrides the user's preferred default reading settings and users report this as a
poor reading experience.
If you have made so many changes that you can't figure out how to recover, clicking the
Clear button returns your paragraph to plain body text so that you can start fresh.

Add back matter

Kindle Create allows you to easily add back matter pages like Epilogue, About the author,
and more in a few clicks. To add a back matter page, click on + sign next to Backmatter and
choose the page you want to insert. Kindle Create allows you to insert the following types of
pages:
Page type TOC entry Usage
Epilogue Epilogue Concluding section of your story
A closing statement or comment. For example,
Afterword Afterword
how the book came into being
Section to thank people or sources that helped
Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
create the book
Short blurb and image of the author, used for
About the author About the author
marketing purposes
Quotes and attributions in praise of work by
Praise for the author Praise for the author
the author
Add Amazon links to more books in a series
Books in this series Books in this series
so that readers can find them easily
 Add Amazon links to more by the author so
Books by author Books by author
that readers can find them easily
List of characters List of characters Page to display a list of characters in the book
Title of page will be A blank page that can be used to generate any
Standard page
used custom type of back matter content

Edit text
For eBooks imported from a DOC(X) file, you can edit the text in Kindle Create. The most
frequent reasons are to correct typos and spacing issues. Tables, footnotes, lists, and inline
images imported from your DOC(X) file cannot currently be edited in Kindle Create. Make
any changes needed in the source file and then re-import it.

Note: When formatting text, apply fonts to paragraphs only when you have to differentiate
them from the rest of the body text. Applying a font to all of the body text leads to a poor
experience for readers because they can't choose their preferred font on their device.

Add text
If you have a lot of text to update, you can copy the text from a DOC(X) file and paste it in
the Edit Pane. Pasted text takes on the formatting active at the cursor location in the Edit
Pane. Copy and paste commands are available from the Edit menu or by shortcut: CTRL + C
for Copy (CMD + C for Mac users), CTRL + V for Paste (CMD + V for Mac users).

Add or change images

Kindle Create provides support for inserting, resizing, and deleting images. You can edit the
size and alignment of your images with options based on professional book layouts. Kindle
Create requires images in the JPG format and recommends at least 100 pixels on the longest
side and 300 pixels per inch to ensure image clarity on Kindle HDX devices. Images inside a
paragraph (inline images) can't be edited, but you can delete those images in the source and
then insert them in Kindle Create. If you have issues, please contact us.
Add images
To add a JPG image to your eBook:
1. Right-click the location where you want to insert the JPG image and select Insert
Image from the pop-up menu. The Insert Image window appears. Choose the image
 you want to add and click Open.

2. Your image is added and the Image Properties are displayed in the Properties Pane:
1. Alt Text: Add a description of the image in Alt Text for visually-impaired
users. If the image is purely decorative and does not add meaning, you can
check the box to exclude it from the screen reader.
 2. Size: Select one of the display size options for your image. There are multiple
options ranging from Small (33%) to Full (100%).
3. Position: Choose the position and text wrapping options for this image. (This
option is not displayed for Large and Full images, which are automatically
centered.)
4. Bleed: Extending images to the edge of the page or screen is called "bleed";
select whether your full-size image should do this. You can experiment with
both options to see what feels right for your book. (This pre-release option is
only displayed if the image size is Full; see Note above):
 By default, the image position is set to Place within margin.
 If you want the image to extend past the left and right margins, choose
Place to edge.

Note: At this time, choosing Place to edge means that customers can
only read your book in portrait mode, which could frustrate some
customers. We're working to fix this. When this issue is fixed, your
book will automatically support reading in portrait and landscape.
Insert chapter start images
Chapter start images allow you to add an image to the top of the first page of your chapter
that extends to the top, left, and right edges of the page. To insert a chapter start image:
1. Select a chapter by clicking on the chapter in the panel on the left.
2. Click the insert button on the top bar and select Chapter Start Image. A pop-up will
open.
3. From the pop-up, select your image, select the height of the image (25% of the page
or 33% of the page), and choose how it would look on various screens and
orientations by specifying the focus points of the image. You can also insert the alt-
text for your image on this screen.
Replace images
To replace an image, right-click the image and select Replace Image from the pop-up menu.
If you need to change the Image Properties, see Adding Images for details on Alt Text,
Size, and Position.
Delete images
To delete an image, right-click the image and choose Delete Image from the pop-up menu.

Insert, edit, and remove external hyperlinks

With Kindle Create, you can insert hyperlinks to webpages into your eBook. External links
should enhance the reader experience. See our guidelines for links.

To insert a hyperlink:
1. Highlight the text you want to hyperlink.
2. Right-click. A pop-up menu will appear.
3. Click Insert Hyperlink. A dialog box will appear.
4. Enter the address of the webpage you want to link to.
5. Click Insert Hyperlink. You can also insert hyperlinks by clicking the Insert button
above the Contents panel in Kindle Create.
To edit a hyperlink:
1. Highlight the hyperlink text.
2. Right-click. A pop-up menu will appear.
3. Click Edit Hyperlink. A dialog box will appear.
 4. Edit the display text or the address of the linked webpage.
5. Click Insert Hyperlink.
Note: You can change the hyperlinked text's size. You can also make the text bold, italicized,
or underlined. Text color can't be changed.

To remove a hyperlink:
1. Highlight the hyperlink text.
2. Right-click. A pop-up menu will appear.
3. Click Remove Hyperlink.

Prepare your book for print

Kindle Create helps you prepare your book for both digital and print publishing with the
same project file. It will automatically resize the content and margins for any trim size you
choose.

To help in print preparation, Kindle Create also offers the following:

 Page numbering: By default, Kindle Create assigns the first page of your body
section to be page 1, with front matter pages getting roman numbering. If you have a
TOC page in your book, it will be created with the page numbers next to the chapters
in the print version.
 Headers and footers: Click the Print Settings button in the top-right corner of Kindle
Create. This opens a window with several options to change the alignment and
position of the author name, book title, and page numbers. Headers and footers are not
available for eBooks, only for paperbacks. The previewer may show a header for
eBooks, which is usually generated from the metadata in the imported file, however,
the final eBook will show a header based on the book title metadata.
 Page spreads: Kindle Create automatically calculates the right spread for your pages.
Pages like title and chapter pages automatically print on the right side.
 Widows and orphans: Kindle Create automatically optimizes your book to minimize
widowed and orphaned paragraphs in your book. Widows and orphans are lines at the
beginning or end of a paragraph which are left dangling at the top or bottom of a page
or column, separated from the rest of the paragraph.