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I have a Nook Touch, but this question aims to address a system that would suit any Ereader device.

What do I need to do to reliably take anything I find on the web and automatcally have a version formatted to be highly-readble as plain or rich text?

How can I have a "send to Ereader" function on my PC that takes any web page, any PDF, any RTF, and other things like Google Books or Scribd and immediately gives me a nice plain text copy?

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There are already some excellent responses. But please post if you know of some "glue" utilities such as browser extensions or commandline scripts that can make the entire process "one-click". – themirror Oct 23 '12 at 16:57
I have added information on the "Send to Kindle" application for PC and Mac which is a one-click solution to sending files, web pages, and printed material to a Kindle. – tcrosley Oct 24 '12 at 15:11

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

You might want to look at Instapaper, which generates a clean, readable copy of an article or page and has a facility to send to ebook readers and other devices.

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up vote 2 down vote

The Calibre eBook management application can do exactly this and more.

As it says on the features page:

E-book conversion calibre can convert from a huge number of formats to a huge number of formats. It supports all the major e-book formats.

The conversion engine has lots of powerful features. It can rescale all font sizes, ensuring the output e-book is readable no matter what font sizes the input document uses. It can automatically detect/create book structure, like chapters and Table of Contents. It can insert the book metadata into a "Book Jacket" at the start of the book.

Syncing to e-book reader devices calibre has a modular device driver design that makes adding support for different e-reader devices easy. At the moment, it has support for a large number of devices, the complete list of which is here. Syncing supports updating metadata on the device from metadata in the library and creation of collections on the device based on the tags defined in the library. If a book has more than one format available, calibre automatically chooses the best format when uploading to the device. If none of the formats is suitable, calibre will automatically convert the e-book to a format suitable for the device before sending it.

Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form calibre can automatically fetch news from websites or RSS feeds, format the news into a ebook and upload to a connected device. The ebooks include the full versions of the articles, not just the summaries.

I use it to make sure I have all my books, manuals (including the 700 section pdf manual for my car) and comics on all my ebook readers (including kindles, android tablets etc)

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up vote 1 down vote

Amazon allows any Kindle user to set up an email address (username@kindle.com) which you can email documents to.

You can send the following file types:

Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
RTF (.RTF)
JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW)
GIF (.GIF)
PNG (.PNG)
BMP (.BMP)
PDF (.PDF)

or a Zip file containing any combination of the above.

Each of the above files except PDF will be automatically converted to Kindle format. PDF files can converted or left as is. I find the latter particularly useful on my Kindle DX since it supports PDF files natively.

If the document is delivered to your Kindle via Wi-Fi, there is no charge. If it is delivered via "Whispernet" (their 3G network), you are charged 15 cents per megabyte while in the US.

Amazon also has a "Send to Kindle" application that works on both the PC and Mac. I am only familiar with the PC version so I will comment on that.

On the PC, it integrates with Explorer so you can right-click on any file and choose "Send to Kindle", which is a one-click solution to sending files. It is also integrated with Google Chrome, to let you send any entire web pages, blogs, and other content to Kindle in one step. According to their web page, versions for Firefox and Safari are in the works. Finally, it installs itself as a printer device, so anything you can print, you can send to your Kindle.

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Damn! that's good. I wished that Sony T1 had something similar. – JP Hellemons Oct 26 '12 at 8:32
You can root sony t1 and install dropbox! – laika Oct 26 '12 at 22:21
@laika Still not as simple as the Kindle, which delivers the files in the background ("push" model). With the Sony, you have to log into Dropbox from its browser and fetch the files ("pull") model that you have dropped into your dropbox on your PC or wherever. – tcrosley Oct 26 '12 at 23:21
I agree than this implies some workaround, since it's not a builtin function.however, if you have a sony and don't want to buy also a kindle, you can root it and install android apps, like dropbox(no need to access it through the browser) or instafetch. I am not sure for Nook, but a quick google search suggests you can root it as well – laika Oct 27 '12 at 9:57
up vote 0 down vote

Perhaps the Nook also has a free email address you can email content to?

For reference, I use Instapaper to save all web content to, and let Instapaper send me the articles weekly to my Kindle. Works great!

Here's an article explaining the details: Instapaper delivered to your Kindle changes how you consume web content - Plus IFTTT, blogs and more

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