Pay-wall content from Phone to Kindle: Runbook Part 1 — #ProductHack
In How I send pay-wall articles from my Phone to Kindle in one click! — #ProductHack we outlined the motivation and the high-level solution for this runbook.
This article focuses on the 1st of 2 runbook parts for you to achieve this product hack.
Estimated Setup Time: 15 mins / Complexity: Easy
Table of Contents
1-i) Generating Ebook compatible files from articles in a mobile web browser:
- DotEpub
- On Firefox [easiest]
- On Chrome (and other browsers) [slightly tougher]
1-ii) Sending an Ebook to your Kindle via email
1-i) Generating Ebook compatible files from articles in a mobile web browser
DotEpub
Dotepub is an online tool to convert any webpage into an e-book, in either .epub or .mobi format.
Most apps generating Ebooks from web pages do so by passing the page’s address to another app which retrieves the page itself. Whilst this works for public access web pages, it fails for any content which is behind a secure login (such as paid for News sites like The Economist, The Telegraph, Time magazine etc.). By contrast, Dotepub works even in this case, as it works directly from the content already loaded in your web browser.
Easy to use Dotepub plugins are available for all major desktop web browsers, but it’s not the same story for all mobile web browsers.
The path forward will depend on which browser you like to use. Here I have covered 2 of the most popular browsers:
On Firefox [easiest]
Firefox Mobile does offer an easy-to-use plugin. 🎉
Install
Download the DotEpub Firefox add on from the Firefox Mobile add-on marketplace.
Configure
- 1. In Firefox open the dotEPUB Add on configuration page [Three Dots in the top right > select ‘Add Ons’ > select ‘dotEPUB’]
- 2. Configure ‘Immersive mode’ as desired (I prefer it on)
- 3. Configure ebook format as required (For Kindle, that’s MOBI)
Now Use
- 1. Navigate to a webpage you would like to convert to an Ebook
- 2. Open the Firefox menu (the 3 dots in the top right)
- 3. Select ‘dotEPUB’
Your Ebook will be generated and downloaded to your downloads folder, courtesy of dotepub!
On Chrome (and other browsers) [slightly tougher]
Configure
In the device and browser you will use;
- 1. Navigate to https://dotepub.com/
- 2. Configure the ebook format as required (For Kindle, that’s MOBI)
- 3. Configure ‘Immersive mode’ as desired (I prefer it on)
That’s it! (no save button or anything, don’t worry, you’re not crazy)
Install
The following steps all work for Google Chrome.
- 1. Go to https://dotepub.com/
- 2. Copy the text from the box with the heading ‘Copy and paste this code int a new bookmark’
Note: I recommend fetching this text directly from the above link since it is likely updated from time to time. Failing that, I have pasted the content from the time of writing below
javascript:(function(){try{var%20d=document,w=window;if(!d.body||d.body.innerHTML==’’)throw(0);var%20s=d.createElement(‘link’),h=d.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0],i=d.createElement(‘div’),j=d.createElement(‘script’);s.rel=’stylesheet’;s.href=’//dotepub.com/s/dotEPUB-favlet.css’;s.type=’text/css’;s.media=’screen’;h.appendChild(s);i.setAttribute(‘id’,’dotepub’);i.innerHTML=’<div%20id=%22status%22><p>Conversion%20in%20progress…</p></div>’;d.body.appendChild(i);j.type=’text/javascript’;j.charset=’utf-8';j.src=’//dotepub.com/j/dotepub.js?v=1.2&s=0&t=epub&g=en’;h.appendChild(j);}catch(e){w.alert(‘The%20page%20has%20no%20content%20or%20it%20is%20not%20fully%20loaded.%20Please,%20wait%20till%20the%20page%20is%20loaded.’);}})();- 2. In your browser, create any new bookmark e.g. by bookmarking the current page
(Chrome: 3 dots in top right > star icon) - 3. Open the bookmark’s edit dialogue
(Chrome: 3 dots in top right > Bookmarks > Locate the created bookmark > 3 dots on the right > Edit) - 4. Rename the bookmark something clear and short. E.g.
MOBI - 5. Copy the code from your clipboard into the URL box
- 6. Leave the bookmark editor.
Now Use
- 1. Navigate to a page you would like to convert to an Ebook
- 2. Click on the web address bar in the browser and delete the content
- 3. Start typing the name of your memorable bookmark to see it come up
- 4. Select the bookmark.
Your Ebook will be generated and downloaded to your downloads folder, courtesy of dotepub!
Note: If you are not a Firefox user, but find the above too tricky, you might consider downloading Firefox and using it whenever you’re on the lookout for Ebook content
1-ii) Sending an Ebook to your Kindle via email
Kindle Devices have email addresses, and it is possible to send reading material (in certain supported formats) to the device as an attachment via email. It is necessary to:
- add your email address as an authenticated sender of content to your device. → Instructions to achieve this procedure are provided by Amazon.
- identify the email address of your device
- send an email from your email account with an Ebook attached.
After sending an attachment, the next time you turn your Kindle device on with an internet connection, the content will automatically download to the device.
Summary after Part 1
You might have noticed that with the Part 1-i) and Part 1-ii) it is already possible to achieve the majority of what you need… After finding an article you’d like to read, use DotEpub to generate an Ebook download, then sending an email to your Kindle device with the file attached. Voilà!
But do we want to do that manual emailing step in between? If you’re reading several articles per day, wouldn’t it be cool if we could do this step automatically?
Solving for this is the goal of Pay-wall content from Phone to Kindle: Runbook Part 2 — #ProductHack
