Not that long ago, a friend sent me a preview of a book that she was about to have published and asked me to read it. I was delighted — but unfortunately, the copy she sent was formatted as a PDF. And since I usually read books and other documents using my phone, I knew already that this was a recipe for eyestrain.

I spent a frustrating three days squinting at my screen until somebody reminded me that you can email a PDF to your Amazon account in a way that will convert the file so that it is formatted for easy reading on a Kindle or the Kindle app. I tried it, and it worked like a charm, making the document much easier to read.

If you ever find yourself faced with the same problem, here’s how to convert a PDF so it can be easily read using a Kindle or Kindle app.

First, you have to establish two points of information: you need your special Kindle email address (to which you’ll be sending the file), and you need to make sure the personal email address from which you’ll be sending the file is verified by Amazon.

On your laptop or desktop: