5 Things Your Kindle Colorsoft Can Do (Besides Reading Books)

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There's a total of four Colorsoft e-readers from Amazon, and the first to hit the scene was the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, a 7-inch model that landed in late 2024. This led to the release of the regular Kindle Colorsoft in 2025, offering the same Kaleido 3 color screen but with less storage, an updated version that fixed the banding found in the early Signature Edition models (don't worry, the Signature Edition was fixed, too). There's also a Kindle Colorsoft Kids model, which is just the regular Kindle Colorsoft packed with a kid-friendly case, a year's subscription to Amazon Kids+, and no ads. Last but not least, there's the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, an 11-inch e-reading and note-taking color E Ink tablet, the most recent arrival, which includes a Premium Pen. It's a fleet of hardware specifically built with reading in mind, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of things your Kindle Colorsoft can do besides reading books.

As a matter of fact, Amazon has been improving its Kindle firmware over the last few years, with tons of cool new features recently added to the Kindle Scribe and Colorsoft lines. These bring new functionality like Send to Alexa+ so you can easily sync your notes across any device, an excellent addition to the already strong arsenal of annotating, audiobook support, the ability to play games, and social Goodreads integration.

While Amazon may have entered the color e-reader scene later than most, both its hardware and software have greatly matured with the arrival of the Colorsoft Scribe, which means there's much more you can do with your Kindle e-reader besides reading books. Below, we've highlighted five of our favorite features so you, too, can take advantage of the full capabilities of your Colorsoft.

If you'd like to highlight and add notes to PDF files on a Scribe Colorsoft e-reader, you can use the Send to Kindle website or email function to ensure those PDFs work with that functionality, or you can now sideload over USB for a touch of added convenience. When exporting these edited PDFs, any notes and annotations will be saved on top. While this isn't the most intuitive process, it works as advertised. Plus, any e-books you purchase from Amazon let you add text notes and highlights, rounding out the functionality across all content. What's nice about this setup is that you don't have to own a Scribe to take those text notes, and highlighting is supported across all Kindle devices. Suffice it to say, if you'd like to notate some documents, whether you sideload through Send to Kindle, over USB, or prefer retail e-books bought directly from Amazon, you absolutely can, making for an easy way to edit on the go with your Colorsoft device.

Of course, every Colorsoft offers a color Kaleido 3 E Ink screen, which means you can highlight in color, whether you wish to use a classic yellow to mark passages for maximum visibility or pull out the dreaded red color to really emphasize areas that require correction. Combine the highlighting function with custom notes, and now you're really marking up a document like an editor.

Basically, if you tend to push paper all day and are sick of dealing with the physicality of it all taking up room on your desk, you can jump to juggling your documents digitally with a Colorsoft by your side. This is especially true since you can sync your annotations to the cloud, be it through your Kindle account, or through Alexa+.

The Kindle Touch was the last to sport a built-in headphone jack, but just because the jack is gone doesn't mean you can't use your Kindle for audio, like listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Since around 2016, every Kindle model comes complete with Bluetooth functionality — including every Colorsoft — and this is how you can easily stream audiobooks and podcasts from Audible (owned by Amazon, of course), whether you'd like to stream that audio to a pair of wireless headphones or a Bluetooth speaker so the whole family can enjoy.

Even though your Kindle has an underrated Bluetooth feature you're probably not using, you absolutely should check out Bluetooth audiobook support. As a matter of fact, you may actually own an audiobook or two to test the feature out and not even know it. Sometimes e-books sold on Amazon can come with a free copy of their matching audiobook, and if you're a Prime member, many are free with the subscription. Better yet, sometimes you can snag a deal for a matching audiobook through the Matchmaker service to save a few bucks, once again affording the user access to an audiobook they can stream to any supported Bluetooth device. Amazon does a good job of incentivizing audiobook adoption with Kindle devices, and that's worth taking advantage of while it lasts.

If you hadn't considered the Kindle platform or your Colorsoft e-reader as one where you should purchase and listen to audiobooks, think again, as Amazon has been pushing hard in recent years to grow both. So if you were already in the market and audiobook support is something you're keen on, don't wait to buy a Kindle, as we don't expect new Colorsoft models anytime soon.

Did you know you don't need a larger Scribe to take a few notes on a Kindle? That's right, you don't even need a stylus to take notes with an 8-inch Kindle Colorsoft — you can simply tap out a note or two using the on-screen keyboard. Of course, if you do happen to own a Scribe Colorsoft, you can easily take notes with the included pen. In either case, all of these notes can be stored in the cloud, either through Alexa+ on the Scribe Colorsoft, or through the typical Amazon Cloud & Web service that syncs everything to your Kindle account. 

At the end of the day, note-taking is built into every Kindle. Since those notes don't have to be stuck on a single Kindle, it's easy enough to build workflows around your Colorsoft's note-taking abilities, no matter if you take them by hand on the Scribe with its stylus or type them out with the on-screen keyboard.

Now, if you are looking to use a Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and its included Premium Pen, taking your notes by hand can feel pretty natural — and since you can use the built-in AI to convert handwritten text into digital text, you can then properly format what you originally jotted down into an email or anything else, thus allowing your handwriting to bridge the gap between our physical realm and the digital. In other words, if you'd rather be writing by hand than typing on a keyboard, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, in particular, is at the top of the pack of its many competitors for a reason. For taking notes, especially on the go, you can't go wrong.

While Amazon doesn't advertise the feature often, just about every E Ink Kindle offers a web browser so users can jump onto the internet to read through their favorite sites. Yes, the browser took its time graduating beyond its experimental phase, even though it arrived with the Kindle 2 all the way back in 2009. Over a decade later, it's still kicking — and even if you don't wish to suffer through modern webpages on an E Ink browser that refreshes slowly, there are sites that lend themselves well to E Ink screens, some even in color. This is why websites like KindlePlay.com exist, offering familiar and simple games like Hangman, Sudoku, and Minesweeper that you can play directly on your Colorsoft.

If you jump over to the little-known ReKindle site, you can play an even larger selection of games through the experimental browser, including Doom and Wordle. Plus, ReKindle offers access to tons of other services well beyond games, like the ability to browse Reddit or jump into Discord. The site even looks similar to a Kindle's firmware, just greatly expanded in functionality since it's powered by online servers where your Kindle simply acts as a terminal for the site. ReKindle is tuned for E Ink screens specifically, being limited to black and white so that it works across all e-readers that offer a web browser. If you prefer to play color games on your Colorsoft, then perhaps the E-ink.club website will appeal more with its selection of games.

Thanks to the fact that every Colorsoft offers a browser, it's incredibly easy to use it as a window to a handful of sites created to be used on E Ink screens, many of which offer games.

If you love cataloging all your reads and wishlists in one place in order to share your finds, perhaps with a digital bookshelf, Goodreads is the world's largest website for book recommendations, thanks to its established community. Amazon purchased Goodreads back in 2013 and quickly tied the service to its Kindle products, which is why you'll find its social integration available across most Kindle models, including all four Colorsofts. By connecting the service to your Kindle account, you can track and share your progress for any title, such as when you start or finish a book, and manual reports are also supported, direct from the device. While this functionality has been streamlined in recent years, ditching the feed, you can still rate and review books directly from your Kindle, then browse your collected scores on the website itself (or even the mobile apps).

Beyond sharing what you're currently reading, if you add every e-book in your Kindle collection to Goodreads' bookshelf, you can start marking which ones you've read, keeping track of your library. This is also handy for avoiding repeat purchases, should you frequent several different e-book stores. Also, you can save your highlights to Goodreads rather than with Alexa+, say, if you prefer a book-focused platform for storing highlighted passages across all your favorite books. Just keep in mind that this functionality only supports e-books purchased through Amazon and not sideloaded content like PDFs.

While Goodreads integration is somewhat limited on Kindle devices, what is available can be pretty useful, especially if you enjoy sharing your hobby with friends and family. And by interacting with the website or mobile app, you can easily start discussions on the platform with any number of groups, no matter how niche your interests.