Some articles on websites are really long. That’s a good thing, but it can make them awkward to read. What if you could turn them into ebooks and read them on your Kindle or phone with Kindle app?
A long time ago I looked at the Readability extension for Google Chrome and this is a great way to strip out the distracting elements from a web page leaving just the content. It makes articles on web pages easy to read.
The extension still works and it is better than ever. It strips out superfluous web junk and not only displays it on the screen, it can send it to your Kindle account at Amazon and this enables it to be read like an ebook on your Kindle or any phone, tablet or computer with the Kindle app.
It is a brilliant feature that you should be using whenever you find great content on the web. You can build up a library of great documents that you can read at any time and which you will never lose.
1 Get the Readability extension
Go to the Chrome Web Store using Google Chrome and install the Readability extension.
2 Clean up web pages
Go to a website and find an article you want to read.
Click the Readability button in the toolbar and click Read Now.
The page is refreshed with a cleaner, simpler, more readable display. Take a look at this page before and after using readability:
This is a great feature and web pages are cleaner, simpler and more readable, but it is not the only feature.
3 Sign in to Amazon
Go to the Amazon website and sign in to your account.
Go to the Your Account page and scroll down until you come to the Digital Content section.
Click Manage Your Content and Devices.
4 Amazon settings
Select the Settings tab and scroll down the page.
In the Personal Document Archiving section, make sure Archiving is Enabled.
Below is a list of email addresses that are allowed to send documents to your Kindle device or phone app. Add kindle @ readability .com
5 Get your email
Just above this on the Settings page is Send-to-Kindle E-mail Settings. Every time you buy a Kindle, buy a phone or tablet and install the app, you get an email address like these. You might have several.
If an email is sent from an address on the approved list (step 4 above) with an attached document, to any of these email addresses, they appear on your Kindle device or phone/tablet app.
It does not matter which device or email address is used because they all sync sooner or later, so the document can be read on any of them.
6 Send from readability
Return to browsing the web. Now suppose you see a great article on a website and you want to save it for later and read it on your Kindle device/phone/tablet. Click the Readability button and select Send to Kindle.
The first time you do this, it prompts you for an email address. Use one from step 5 above (yours, not mine obviously).
The next time it will already be set up and the article is sent straight away. You can also right click the icon and select Options, then Kindle settings. Enter one of your Kindle email addresses. (Unlike normal email addresses, only email from your approved senders get through, everything else disappears into a black hole.)
7 Read it on Kindle
A minute or two after sending a web page to your Kindle, it can be read. The device/app automatically syncs, but if you don’t see the new item, you can force a sync. Here is the result running on a Kindle Fire HD tablet.
Obviously this is not useful for very short articles, but it is great for long ones where there is a lot of text and you want to save it for reading later or reference.
Now this is a chrome extension I can get behind! Thanks for sharing this useful tidbit.
This is a great way to take your reading on the go - thanks!