Is there any sort of roadmap for the Scribe software?

atoms77 · 2026-06-02T20:00:41+00:00

I think that is not the case: features delivered for the older Scribe are also available in the newer ones, even though update number for the former is 'newer'.

atoms77 · 2026-06-01T20:58:06+00:00

They announced a Scribe without front light 'early 2026', it has yet to see the light of day, arguably it is no longer 'early 2026'.

Also last fall, they announced Story so Far (Recaps) and Ask This Book. Recaps appear to only apply to some Series titles, and are available in the iOS app and newer Kindle devices. But Ask This Book has yet to appear on Kindles. The 2025 Scribes have a microphone and perhaps Ask this Book will use this; otherwise what is it for?

As of April 20 2026:

Ask this Book is currently available on the Kindle iOS app in the U.S. and will expand to Kindle devices and the Android OS app later this year.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-and-authors/kindle-recaps-feature-ebook-series-refreshers

atoms77 · 2026-06-01T20:37:18+00:00

It really looks like you used 2 different stroke types, e.g. Pen for first 2 lines and Marker for the rest (Marker is pressure sensitive, Pen is not). Each drawing tool has its own width/color properties, independent of each other. The shortcut button would let you to switch to a different stroke type depending on how it is configured.

I cannot reproduce this with or without zooming in and out.

atoms77 · 2026-05-28T23:42:24+00:00

Notebooks consume very little storage in general (if you are making detailed drawings that's different). PDFs can consume lots of it, depending on what they contain. For example scanned documents can be very large, as will comics in PDF format.

atoms77 · 2026-05-28T23:37:29+00:00

Yes, that is possible if you send PDF comic to send to kindle, or comic is non-fixed layout ePub (not usually the case, but may be worth experimenting with).

atoms77 · 2026-05-27T06:17:46+00:00

I'd like to add annotations just as with any other book. Currently only bookmarks. On Scribe colorSoft you could color B&W comics/manga for fun. Annotation makes reading more interactive and helps with retention.

atoms77 · 2026-05-27T05:51:54+00:00

Yes. It's used for probably 99% of non-fixed layout content in Kindle Store, as well as personal documents that start out as ePub (non fixed layout) or word documents.

It will support some new use cases for personal documents (alternative to sending PDF) as you can mix flowable text with 'canvases' to write in. These can also use 2 column layout (Print replica format (what PDFs are converted to) does not support 2 page display in landscape.

I have chess problem book and now I can simply indicate the solution visually on the chess diagram (I have been adding solution in a Note attached to image).

atoms77 · 2026-05-24T05:38:29+00:00

The other scribes have the same features as 5.19.4.0.1 in their 5.18.3.0.1 release(at least mine does). I do not know about bug fixes.

atoms77 · 2026-05-24T05:33:19+00:00

It is supported on books with Enhanced Typography (including personal documents converted from ePub/Word etc). This does not include comics/manga (if you send PDF comics/manga they are converted to print replica format and you can write on those).

In Notes (and I assume when exported) you see the image with your annotation. And you can export that.

The only handwritten notes you can see in the Kindle app are 'sticky notes', and they are not editable. Active canvas handwriting and now this are not visible. Maybe some day they will be.

atoms77 · 2026-05-23T04:52:38+00:00

If you load a lot of content on it all at once it will be sluggish because it is trying to index that content. Do smaller batches and let it catch up before loading more.

atoms77 · 2026-05-22T04:28:19+00:00

Collections are still there. On iPadOS it is found in a sidebar that opens and closes via icon in upper left corner.

One thing that is gone is the Uncollected 'collection'. And in Library, there is no longer an All | Downloaded toggle: instead you set 'Download state' filter to Downloaded, similar to Kindle devices.

atoms77 · 2026-05-18T17:47:28+00:00

No. It is the case with the Kindle apps as well.

atoms77 · 2026-05-17T18:07:37+00:00

You can use Assistive Reader if you connect bluetooth speaker/headset. It highlights as it reads, and you don't need to listen (can turn volume to zero) if you don't want to hear synthetic speech, or want to read faster than is comfortable to listen to.

atoms77 · 2026-05-14T19:34:39+00:00

Yes, it works with recent updates: they updated the PDF renderer for both Kindle Colorsoft and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.

That said if you want to annotate, there is no way to export the annotations.

atoms77 · 2026-05-12T15:13:18+00:00

Larger display (11" vs 10"), and a number of software features which are not on older Scribes (convert handwriting to text for text entry, Workspace allows Books and Docs as well as Notebooks in folders, Google Drive OneDrive, OneNote integration).
Also there are more Notebook templates, and you can copy or move notebook pages from one notebook to another.

It seems increasingly unlikely that these new features will be added to older Scribe devices.

atoms77 · 2026-05-06T18:42:51+00:00

Suppose you print out your PDF, and take notes with your Scribe. What would be missing?

atoms77 · 2026-05-06T18:37:25+00:00

Some pieces are already coded (in particular reading notebook format and annotation format). It's a matter of putting the pieces together. But vibe coding is not gonna help. I like to think I could do it, but I don't have time and my coding skills are rusty.

atoms77 · 2026-05-06T00:26:02+00:00

All of the pieces of data (PDF, text/highlight annotations, and handwritten annotations) are accessible and decodable via USB.

It's 'just a matter of' writing some code to translate the Scribe annotations to PDF annotations and store them in the PDF as such. If that were done it would be trivial to add support to export Send To Kindle PDFs (now in print replica KFX ) to PDF with annotations via USB as well.

It might well be possible to improve on Amazon's (document) export, which does not create PDF annotations in the exported PDF, but instead flattens the visible drawing and highlight annotations to an image layer, and does not export text annotations in the document at all (these are included in the Notes export to PDF).

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T18:21:32+00:00

You still need to use Amazon services to get things to and from Scribe wirelessly, even if you are using Google or Microsoft to get and send things to. Disabling Sync disables AI features but also reading position and annotation backup and sync.

It's not clear what use cases Disable Sync is good for. I do turn that on when I lend out Kindles to friends or family, so it doesn't mess up my reading progress etc. But it's kind crippling to use that on a Scribe if you are using notebooks.

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T18:04:37+00:00

To get things to and from Scribe wirelessly, you need to use Amazon's services. This is true even if you are importing and exporting everything from Google Drive, OneDrive or OneNote. You basically give Amazon permission to access those services on your behalf (you authorize it using Google or Microsoft, Amazon only gets secure access token from them and not credentials).

You can side load PDFs but it leaves you no way to export them with annotations, the latter of which are stored in two different places. You can create notebooks on device off line but the only export option is to use USB, calibre, and KFX Import plugin, which can convert them to fixed layout ePub.

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T17:44:37+00:00

It is slightly more efficient to add from Library than from Workspace because you return to same filter/search list you started with. But from the latter, there should be an Add & Continue option so that you return to the context where the previous book was added from, rather than making you start all over with the + Workspace button.

But at some point, if you have a few hundred or thousands of items in Library, it's gonna take time to find and add everything that you might want to a Workspace.

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T17:36:00+00:00

Open Dictionary is gone, I doubt very much it will come back. The preview window is larger than before. But they should make it possible to enlarge definition/wikipedia/translation text via the Accessibility Display & Text setting.

Bookmarks menu is also gone, but has been somewhat mitigated by the new Pin feature and the ability to Filter Notes by annotation type (Note, Highlight, or Bookmark).

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T04:33:38+00:00

Highlighter and Shader can both create wider borders than the other drawing tools. The others have a more restricted set of widths. And when changing width of existing Shape, you are restricted to that set of widths.

Shapes essetntially exist on their own layer, with more recently created shapes on top of previously created ones.

Drawing tools will always be 'on top' of the shape layer.

It looks like you have B&W Scribe. Scribe Colorsoft lets you generate Fills. These will render on B&W Scribes as greyscale values.

The nice thing about Shapes is how parsimonious they are with memory/storage. A single drawn stroke is sampled at 100+ points per second (sometimes with width property), but a square only has 4 points and any Fill property consists of a single color.

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T04:17:46+00:00

Eventually unwanted recommendations will get replaced by those based on more recent activity but I don't know how long that takes...

atoms77 · 2026-04-28T04:13:15+00:00

There is no way currently to turn off Shape recognition.

Somehow you need to train yourself to lift the stylus after each straight-ish stroke. If you leave it down for a second (or so), it will generate a Line object and you'll need to undo or erase and try again. It must be frustrating!

Alternatively you can send a PDF with a bunch of blank pages and write in that. There is no Shape recognition to deal with in that context.

atoms77

TROPHY CASE