Web Based Kindle Collection Maker

Step 1. How It Works

Creating multiple kindle collections one at a time takes time. Wouldn't it be easier if you could organize your ebooks in folders on your pc then have those folders become kindle collections? This web utility will create kindle collections.json file out of your folder structure on your pc.

Put all your ebooks in one folder with following subfolder structure.

Kindle
- documents
  - CollectionName1 <--- This will become collection name on your kindle
    - ebook1
    - ebook2
  - CollectionName2 <--- This will become collection name on your kindle
    - ebook3
    - ebook4
- audible
  - CollectionName3 <--- This will become collection name on your kindle
    - audiobook1
    - audiobook2
  - CollectionName4 <--- This will become collection name on your kindle
    - audiobook1
    - audiobook1
- system

This mirrors kindle folder structure. You can have additional subfolders under "CollectionName" folder, but they will not become collections. Kindle only allows one hierarchy level for collections.

This utility needs a starting folder from which it can create collection names. The starting folder is either "kindle\documents",
described above or "[drive letter]:\documents". Any subfolder that contains files in those paths will become a collection.
The latter path allows you to attach kindle to your pc via USB and generate file list directly from it.

Step 2. Paste Your Directory Structure

Run the following command:

On Windows

cd kindle or [drive letter]: of your attached kindle
run this command: dir /b /s > collections.txt

On Unix and Mac

go one level up from kindle directory
run this command: find kindle -type f -print > collections.txt

This will create collections.txt file with all file paths.

Open collections.txt file and copy and paste its contents into text box below.

Sample file list ("/" for unix and mac file list is allowed)

D:\Books\Kindle\documents\History\US History.mobi
D:\Books\Kindle\documents\History\European History.pdf
D:\Books\Kindle\documents\Science\2010 Discoveries.azw
D:\Books\Kindle\documents\CompSci\Entity Framework 4 & Asp.Net MVC 3.azw
D:\Books\Kindle\audible\Stories\Story1.mp3
D:\Books\Kindle\audible\Stories\Story2.mp3
...
...

Step 3. Copy All Files To Kindle

(Make a backup of your existing kindle collections.json file first)
Copy all files from your kindle folder on your pc to its respective subfolders on kindle including new system\collections.json file.
System folder on kindle is hidden. You have to make it visible first in order to copy collections.json file into it. Restart your kindle.

Step 4. Possible Issues

If you do not see certain books in your newly created kindle collections and you followed above instructions, it is possible that these books are DRM'ed. Protected books' file names need to be in certain format. You have two options.
Either remove protection (there are tools that do that, search google) or format file name in the following way.

MyBookTitle-asin_B001OLRMLO-type_EBOK-v_0.mobi

Step 5. Questions and Comments

This utility was tested with Kindle 2, 3 and 4 (non-touch version).

Feel free to contact me.