I have two kindles, the second bought because the first one developed a fault, which it then corrected itself, leaving me with two devices. However, while both contain the same books, both downloaded and on the cloud, the first contains 15 dictionaries, with a larger number on the cloud. The second contains only three, which is not useful. Also, the first has started saying that the books I am reading have not been indexed, so it can't find an item, whereas the second displays the indexed word or phrase.
First off, I am assuming that they are identical Kindle models and that they have the identical Operating System software on them. If either of these are not true then the answer is simple - each generation of Kindle and each release of the Operating System is slightly different and you will see "cosmetic" differences all over the place.
Having said that, basic functionality should always be the same.
So - things to consider:
Identical Build:
Assuming identical Kindles it may be worth checking they have the latest up to date Operating System. Use the Quick Link above IDENTIFY YOUR DEVICE to look up your kindle and go to the Software build section.
Remember, if you have to update from release 2.6 to 2.9 then you must download and install each of the other builds (2.7 and 2.8) to ensure it goes smoothly. It sounds a faff but only takes a few minutes.
Next consider restoring factory defaults on both devices. This will clear up any gremlins and accumulated trash along the way.
Most importantly for YOU, it will dump all of the queued corrupted books that you have tried to download and which have failed.
You know they have failed because your kindle is telling you XXX books not indexed. That translates as "At least one book is corrupted and is blocking the pipeline for all your other books and I will not stop indexing that one book until you fix the issue."
You will also have noticed that battery performance being very bad on that kindle - that is because it is indexing all the time.
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Dictionaries - As far as I am aware there are dictionaries in-built for most languages - including two covering UK English and US English. The usual complain is that there are too many dictionaries :) They are generally downloaded/updated automatically at random times, usually after a soft reset, Restore Factory Settings or Registration. Try either of those options
When you download a kindle ebook part of the metafile that is the computer code "managing" that "book" tells the kindle what language is being used in the book. For example probably most of your books will say UK English. When you download a book in German then that will encoded. That will then use the German Dictionary (not sure if that is automatic or if you have to change the default dictionary to German - I think it is the latter but not sure on newer Kindles).
I', not sure what use you want to put the many alternative dictionaries to so can not advise. The "general" advice is to create a Collection called "Reference" and move the Kindle User guide and the dictionaries into it so that they "vanish" from your book list.
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You sound like you are now comfortable with your book library being held forever on Amazon. I (boringly) suggest only downloading a handful of books to a device at any one time and then removing them from the kindle when finished and sorting them into either a "READ - Keep" collection or "READ - Trash" collection on your Amazon library.
I suggest keeping all books and using the "keep/Trash" option so that you are automatically warned that you already have the book if you try to buy it again. It's not foolproof but it's certainly saved ny bacon a few times :)
The main reason I suggest the small number of books on a Kindle is the INDEXING thing - it's automatic and happens every few months. With just a handful of books it is donw quickly and you don't notice it. With 500 books it takes 500 minutes and - if a book is corrupted - will never finish! Your battery will run down in hours and you may believe your device is broken when it fact it's fine.
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Indexing - search for a nonsense word like "sdfkjusfh" - if the report is "4 books not indexed" go DOWN from that report and it will list those 4 books. Select Delete From Device and download them again slowly, one at a time. should cure the problem.
Hope some of the above is correct and helpful :) regards, CW.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I wonder why someone would follow their own alternative forum profile.
I don't have the same dictionaries on all my Devices. Some of my earlier Kindles will not download dictionaries that newer Kindles will (Russian, Dutch and the various Indian language ones). I have over 50 dictionaries on my account since I have the latest 10th Gen Paperwhite plus an older 2nd Gen Kindle (not sold on amazon.co.uk). The 2nd Gen and 10th Gen use different English dictionaries (or they did at one time).
You can go to your account (Manage My Content and Devices on the upper right menu on the Amazon website) and change Books to User Guides and Dictionaries (you might need to scroll down to see them). If you sort by author, everything that doesn't have Amazon as an author is a dictionary and you can click on the Actions button [...] and see which devices it can be sent to by selecting Deliver from that menu
On newer Kindles, you can switch between Dictionaries by clicking on the name of the dictionary in the bottom of the definition box. I regularly use 5 different ones: US English, UK English, French, French to English and Spanish to English. The switching on the fly works even if a book is not encoded as being in that language so you can look up French words in a book that's encoded as being in English, but this only works on 6th or 7th Gen or later devices
I have two kindles, the second bought because the first one developed a fault, which it then corrected itself, leaving me with two devices. However, while both contain the same books, both downloaded and on the cloud, the first contains 15 dictionaries, with a larger number on the cloud. The second contains only three, which is not useful. Also, the first has started saying that the books I am reading have not been indexed, so it can't find an item, whereas the second displays the indexed word or phrase.
Why is this difference?
Good morning @Urquhat,
First off, I am assuming that they are identical Kindle models and that they have the identical Operating System software on them. If either of these are not true then the answer is simple - each generation of Kindle and each release of the Operating System is slightly different and you will see "cosmetic" differences all over the place.
Having said that, basic functionality should always be the same.
So - things to consider:
Identical Build:
Assuming identical Kindles it may be worth checking they have the latest up to date Operating System. Use the Quick Link above IDENTIFY YOUR DEVICE to look up your kindle and go to the Software build section.
Remember, if you have to update from release 2.6 to 2.9 then you must download and install each of the other builds (2.7 and 2.8) to ensure it goes smoothly. It sounds a faff but only takes a few minutes.
Next consider restoring factory defaults on both devices. This will clear up any gremlins and accumulated trash along the way.
Most importantly for YOU, it will dump all of the queued corrupted books that you have tried to download and which have failed.
You know they have failed because your kindle is telling you XXX books not indexed. That translates as "At least one book is corrupted and is blocking the pipeline for all your other books and I will not stop indexing that one book until you fix the issue."
You will also have noticed that battery performance being very bad on that kindle - that is because it is indexing all the time.
-----
Dictionaries - As far as I am aware there are dictionaries in-built for most languages - including two covering UK English and US English. The usual complain is that there are too many dictionaries :) They are generally downloaded/updated automatically at random times, usually after a soft reset, Restore Factory Settings or Registration. Try either of those options
When you download a kindle ebook part of the metafile that is the computer code "managing" that "book" tells the kindle what language is being used in the book. For example probably most of your books will say UK English. When you download a book in German then that will encoded. That will then use the German Dictionary (not sure if that is automatic or if you have to change the default dictionary to German - I think it is the latter but not sure on newer Kindles).
I', not sure what use you want to put the many alternative dictionaries to so can not advise. The "general" advice is to create a Collection called "Reference" and move the Kindle User guide and the dictionaries into it so that they "vanish" from your book list.
----
You sound like you are now comfortable with your book library being held forever on Amazon. I (boringly) suggest only downloading a handful of books to a device at any one time and then removing them from the kindle when finished and sorting them into either a "READ - Keep" collection or "READ - Trash" collection on your Amazon library.
I suggest keeping all books and using the "keep/Trash" option so that you are automatically warned that you already have the book if you try to buy it again. It's not foolproof but it's certainly saved ny bacon a few times :)
The main reason I suggest the small number of books on a Kindle is the INDEXING thing - it's automatic and happens every few months. With just a handful of books it is donw quickly and you don't notice it. With 500 books it takes 500 minutes and - if a book is corrupted - will never finish! Your battery will run down in hours and you may believe your device is broken when it fact it's fine.
----
Indexing - search for a nonsense word like "sdfkjusfh" - if the report is "4 books not indexed" go DOWN from that report and it will list those 4 books. Select Delete From Device and download them again slowly, one at a time. should cure the problem.
Hope some of the above is correct and helpful :) regards, CW.
I wonder why someone would follow their own alternative forum profile.
Thank you, Wombat. Your information is likely to be very helpful.
books have to be indexed locally on each device
I don't have the same dictionaries on all my Devices. Some of my earlier Kindles will not download dictionaries that newer Kindles will (Russian, Dutch and the various Indian language ones). I have over 50 dictionaries on my account since I have the latest 10th Gen Paperwhite plus an older 2nd Gen Kindle (not sold on amazon.co.uk). The 2nd Gen and 10th Gen use different English dictionaries (or they did at one time).
You can go to your account (Manage My Content and Devices on the upper right menu on the Amazon website) and change Books to User Guides and Dictionaries (you might need to scroll down to see them). If you sort by author, everything that doesn't have Amazon as an author is a dictionary and you can click on the Actions button [...] and see which devices it can be sent to by selecting Deliver from that menu
On newer Kindles, you can switch between Dictionaries by clicking on the name of the dictionary in the bottom of the definition box. I regularly use 5 different ones: US English, UK English, French, French to English and Spanish to English. The switching on the fly works even if a book is not encoded as being in that language so you can look up French words in a book that's encoded as being in English, but this only works on 6th or 7th Gen or later devices