[Felicia Rogers]

Can anyone tell me how to get page numbers onto my kindle?  Everytime I read a book it only tells the percentage.  I turned the kindle on when it was time to receive the upgrade but nothing showed up.

Thanks!

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Felicia,

I moved your question here to the Tips & Tricks board where you'll likely get a better response.

As far as I know, whether a Kindle book has page numbers or not depends on whether there is an associated print copy. On the book page at Amazon it should be listed under the Product Details section. If it's an "e-only" book -- which is the case for many independently published books -- there won't be an associated paper edition so you won't get page numbers.

If there is an associated paper edition, you can see the number of locations and pages by pressing the menu key while the book is open. Otherwise the progress bar just shows a percentage. This assumes you have the current version of the operating system which is 3.1 for the K3 and 2.5 for the K2. No page numbers for the K1. Not sure about the DX.

If you don't have the latest software you can get it at this page. There are directions linked there as well.

 

[Linjeakel]

As Ann says, not all books will have page numbers enabled, but also don't forget they won't show up automatically in any case. You need to press the menu button while you are in the book for the locations and page numbers to show up. The DXG model doesn't have the page number feature at all.

Edit: Sorry I see Ann already mentioned about pressing the menu button.

 

[Elk]

If the book you are reading does not have embedded page numbers and you want them you can use Calibre to add page numbers.

To do this, transfer the book to Caliber from your Kindle.  Delete the book from the Kindle.  Load the book back on from Calibre.  (Calibre transfers page numbers as embedded in the file and will generate approximate page numbers if they do not already exist.)

 

[Linjeakel]

If the book you are reading does not have embedded page numbers and you want them you can use Calibre to add page numbers.

To do this, transfer the book to Caliber from your Kindle. Delete the book from the Kindle. Load the book back on from Calibre. (Calibre transfers page numbers as embedded in the file and will generate approximate page numbers if they do not already exist.)

I use Calibre to edit the metadata on my books and use the method you described above - transferring the book to calibre, deleting off the Kindle and then transferring the amended book back to the Kindle from Calibre. Page numbers have not appeared in books where there weren't any before - is there another step to do in Calibre - or a plugin to use - to get the page numbers?

 

[paulF2011]

Hello - the new page-numbers feature seems to have stopped working on my kindle.

Can anyone please let me know how to activate it?

Thank you.

Paul

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Not all books have page numbers.  If the book does, you'll see it when you press menu.  If you don't see page numbers, then there is not an associated paper edition.  Such is often the case with books that are independently published as there may only be an "e" edition.

 

[Elk]

I'm very sorry.  I did not describe turning on the page numbering feature. 

In Calibre, click on "Preferences"

Then choose "Plugins" (under the "Advanced" heading)

From the list that appears, choose "Device Interface Plugins"

From this longish list, choose "Kindle 2/3 Device Interface"

A dialog box will appear.  Check "Send page number information when sending books"

I also check "Use slower but more accurate page number generation"

Now when Calibre transfers a book to Kindle, Calibre will add page numbers if they have not already been included.  These page numbers are not tied to any physical copy of the book, but are a close approximation of the page numbers which would exist if the ebook was a physical book.

I hope this is clear!

(perhaps for sticky inclusion?)

 

[Elk]

Addendum:

You must be using a Calibre version 7.46 or above and Kindle version 3.1 or above.

 

[Linjeakel]

Thanks Elk, that seems reasonably clear - I'll give it a try when I have some time at the weekend. 

 

[mooshie78]

Another way to check whether the book has page numbers, is to look at the product page for the Kindle book on Amazon.com.  If it has page numbers is will have this field listed under "Product Details."

Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0553573403

The other cool thing with that field is it gives the the ISBN (obviously!) so you can see exactly which print version the page numbers are from if you need to cite the print version in an academic paper or something--though there's still some risk there as it doens't show you were the page breaks are in the print version (i.e. page 73 on the Kindle may really be part of 72 and 73 or part of 73 and 74).  Because you can resize the text and the screen is small etc. there's no way to preserver print version pagination on the Kindle, so their page number algorithm just displays the page number that most (but not necessarily all) the text on the screen is located on in the print version.

 

[SJWrightAuthor]

I need to find out more about Calibre.  Thanks for the info!

 

[Morf]

(perhaps for sticky inclusion?)

No sooner said than done, a writeup on it's way to Linjeakel right now!

 

[Elk]

Wow!

You're amazing.