How To Fix Failed Downloads From Amazon To Kindle?

My main method of troubleshooting Kindle download failures is to ensure that you have an active internet connection. In some instances switching from Wi-Fi to your Kindle’s mobile data connection can help to download books. Sometimes the download can get ‘stuck’ and I will force-close the download by restarting the Kindle or switch to the ‘Sync and Check for Items’ option in settings.

I also try to download the book via the Kindle App on another device first and then sync my Kindle. It’s also possible that large files or inproperly formatted books cause problems with the download. I often try to convert such books to another file format like .kfx via Calibre. Sometimes Amazon blocks downloads from certain regions if you are connected via VPN. So I switch off my VPN for a few minutes and try to download the book again.

Finally, I know of a few scenarios in which you may need to get your Kindle e-book download problem sorted out by the experts at Amazon Support. You can try to contact them via live chat or over the phone. They will, very often, manage to sort out the problem straight away and will even, if necessary, refund your purchase and re-sell you the e-book. Lastly, never forget to keep your Kindle’s software up-to-date, in order to avoid potential problems with compatibility.

I have encountered numerous instances where Kindle downloads haven’t worked for me and it is rather annoying as I would like to get on with reading my newly downloaded book! First of all, I check my Wi-Fi connection and on occasion, switching to another Wi-Fi connection will do the trick. Restarting the Kindle by holding the power button down for approximately 40 seconds and then switching it back on also tends to sort the problem. I also manually sync from the settings menu which seems to solve the problem too. If none of the above work, I go to the ‘Content and Devices’ section of Amazon’s website and remove the book from my Kindle and then re-download it. Sometimes, the Kindle won’t download new books if it is completely full, so I clear some space and that usually does the trick. Rarely, none of the above methods work and in these cases, contacting Amazon support is usually quick to resolve the problem as they are very good at sorting out these kinds of problems.

Failed Kindle downloads are one of those “ill-defined problem” sorts of tech issues. They can usually be solved by working down a list of causes. First and foremost, does your Kindle have a Wi-Fi connection? If a download fails for no apparent reason, toggling the Kindle to and from Airplane Mode can often “re-boot” your connection. And sometimes the problem is with the .mobi file itself that you tried to download. Solve this by deleting the partially-downloaded file from your device and then re-downloading the book from your Amazon account in the “Manage Your Content and Devices” section.

If none of these work, check to see if you have the most up-to-date Kindle software (this can be found in Settings). If not, update. Also, try to ‘deregister’ and then ‘reregister’ your Kindle (found in Settings – although I’ve found this to sometimes cause more problems than it solves). Sometimes, too, I have to login to the book on Amazon from my computer and then download it to the Kindle from there (via ‘Deliver to Device’). Usually, though, Amazon’s Customer Services are able to sort this out for you within a few hours and deliver the book to your Kindle.

Storage can also fail here, and I was stuck for a while when my Kindle ran nearly out of storage space. The problem was hiding in plain sight. I cleared out some old samples and_other_books, and the download completed successfully. Note that sideloading books from a computer via USB also requires you to check that you are supplying the correct file type (mobi or azw3, for example). It’s not foolproof but it usually works in the end.