Here's How to Download Your Books from Kindle to Computer — and You Should Do It Today

For many people, there's nothing quite like queuing up the Kindle, grabbing a cup of coffee or tea, wrapping up in a blanket, and sitting down to read a favorite book. Knowing you have a library of books to choose from with just a few clicks is a book lover's dream come true. It's more environmentally friendly than physical books, and requires nearly no physical storage space, compared to a whole library of paper books.

But the downside of having ebooks is that the company that catalogs the books for you holds all the power, and you could lose access forever if something happens to your account.

So here's how to download your purchased books from a Kindle to a computer, to make sure you have them forever. Or as long as the computer works, anyway. Even if you have a lot of faith in Kindle and therefore Amazon as a company, it's always good to have a backup.

In 2025, Kindle announced that they would be disabling the "Download & Transfer via USB” feature on Feb. 26, 2025. This means that you would no longer be able to download your books to a computer via USB. This, of course, drove people to the internet to desperately determine how to download their books to a computer, just to make sure they're always available.

And luckily, we've got your answer.

@KSquaredReads on TikTok provided a helpful summary of the steps, and this is what you'll need to do:

1. Log into your Amazon account via a web browser on a computer.
2. Go to "manage your devices" and select your Kindle.
3. Click on "digital content."
4. Choose each book you want to download, one at a time, and select "more actions" to the right of the title.
5. The second option down should read, "Download and transfer via USB." Use this to move the file to your selected location on your connected computer. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for every book you want to download.

You can only download books you have actually purchased, so it will not work for Kindle Unlimited books you are accessing from KU or library books you've checked out via Libby or a similar service.

But why would you ever need to download your books? Can Kindle, a company owned by Amazon, actually even remove your books from your device?

The answer is yes, technically. Although they agreed not to do so the settlement of a 2009 lawsuit, according to PCWorld.

That lawsuit was filed because Amazon ironically removed George Orwell's 1984 from all Kindle devices earlier that same year because they apparently lacked the appropriate licensing to sell the book to certain consumer populations.

To settle the lawsuit, Amazon paid the plaintiff $150,000 and vowed not to remove purchased books ever again. 1984 was restored for purchase, as well.

However, there are certain situations in which they retained the right to remove books from devices, including due to an order from a court or regulatory body, due to a need to protect consumers from a malicious code, in agreement with the consumer, or because the consumer fails to pay.

And they do still have the physical ability, which is something to keep in mind.

Luckily, they don't generally spend their time plucking beloved novels from people's devices. But in an era where people are more concerned than ever about book censorship, having your books securely placed where they can't be removed is a comforting thing to consider.