Kindle: How can I skip through pages quickly?

January 28, 2011 12:55 PM

Kindle: How can I skip through pages quickly? It's driving me crazy.

I bought a kindle 3, and while it seems perfect for reading through a novel I'm finding it practically useless for study as I can't skip back and forth through pages to look at different sections, or get an overview of a book or chapter.

The only shortcuts I can find are: press left and right on the 5-way controller to skip chapters, but this is crude and only helps if there are chapters in the document.

OR

Use menu-go to-enter location number which takes a long time to input.

Is there a way to jump 5 or 10 pages forward at a time say, or quickly jump to a location?

I hope I haven't bought a white elephant.

posted by Not Supplied to technology (18 answers total)

If you need to quickly flip pages in your ebook on your Kindle, there is a handy shortcut. Instead of pressing Next 100 times, you can flip through 5% of the book by pressing and holding the ALT key and the Next or Previous page keys. (via)
posted by special-k at 1:02 PM on January 28, 2011

I hadn't seen that, but from the age, think it may be a previous kindle. Just tried and it doesn't work.
posted by Not Supplied at 1:08 PM on January 28, 2011

I don't have a Kindle 3, but I have a Kindle DX, and in it there is definitely a way to "go to location". I don't have it in front of me now, but I think perhaps it's a menu item in the popup menu that opens when you hit the "Menu" key.
posted by Flunkie at 1:08 PM on January 28, 2011

Sorry, I missed that you had already seen that, and dismissed it for taking too long.
posted by Flunkie at 1:09 PM on January 28, 2011

On my third-generation kindle, holding the forward/back button down for a few seconds skips me ahead in books and in the listings (thank goodness as I have HUNDREDS of books on mine and browsing can be a little painful).
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 1:12 PM on January 28, 2011

er, skips me a few pages back or forward. Lala.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 1:13 PM on January 28, 2011

That would be great, but just not happening on mine. Mine is uk, surely they wouldn't change that?

Would be good if people could confirm l'Estrange Fruit's tip...maybe mine is defective??
posted by Not Supplied at 1:24 PM on January 28, 2011

I tried alt + back/forward on my Kindle 3 and it worked fine.
posted by special-k at 1:32 PM on January 28, 2011

I have the international version K3 as well and neither holding page buttons nor alt + page buttons do anything.

Maybe you can bookmark the book every once a while or if you think something might be relevant? I don't know if there are shortcuts to let you skip between bookmarks without going into the menu though.
posted by fallsauce at 1:38 PM on January 28, 2011

I should clarify that I have the US version. Alt + next/prev moves 8 to 10 locations.
posted by special-k at 1:45 PM on January 28, 2011

Argh..that is a pain. Nah, bookmarking won't do it..I need to skim. Why the hell did they change it?

It's out of 30 days but I might try and argue a refund.
posted by Not Supplied at 1:47 PM on January 28, 2011

Ignore my comments, it doesn't work in the US version either. I was watching the change in location numbers, not the actual text.
posted by special-k at 1:47 PM on January 28, 2011

I picked that trick up off of this article, which is from 2008. It does work on my Canadian 3rd Gen; I have no idea how international versions differ but it seems an odd thing to have for only certain models. How long do you hold it for? Mine does need several seconds, like 3-5.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 1:48 PM on January 28, 2011

It does seem odd..but maybe patents? Holding longer doesn't help, but thanks.
posted by Not Supplied at 1:56 PM on January 28, 2011

Thanks special-k
posted by Not Supplied at 1:58 PM on January 28, 2011

Hit the right button on the directional pad of the keyboard and it will go from chapter to chapter.
posted by Lobster Garden at 2:52 PM on January 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

special-k: "Ignore my comments, it doesn't work in the US version either. I was watching the change in location numbers, not the actual text."

I just tried ALT+Next (right-side Next, if that matters) and it moved me forward 10 "location units," complete with the on-screen text changing. Mine is a graphite Kindle 3 US WiFi+3G. That's a handy trick, thanks for it.
posted by fireoyster at 3:41 PM on January 28, 2011

The alt+Next trick only works on first generation kindles, apparently. Also here and here.

It's a sad, sad day, discovering this imperfection.


.
posted by lioness at 6:31 PM on January 28, 2011