Free Script to Easily Download All Your Kindle Books

On February 26, 2025, Amazon removed the ‘Download & transfer via USB’ option from their website. Unless they reverse course and reactivate this feature, you will no longer be able to backup your Kindle books using our script.

In light of Amazon’s announcement to discontinue the “Download & Transfer via USB” feature on February 26, 2025, many Kindle users are seeking ways to preserve their purchased e-books. This change will prevent users from downloading Kindle books directly to their computers for offline storage or transfer, raising concerns about long-term access to purchased content.

To address this issue, I’ve developed a Python script that automates the downloading of all your purchased Kindle books quickly and easily, ensuring you have local backups before the impending deadline.

Update: Since writing this article and posting about the script on Reddit, we’ve received incredible positive feedback from hundreds of users all over the world who have downloaded libraries as large as 14,000+ Kindle books. The script is written to work with the amazon.com US website, but users have modified it to work for many other amazon country sites and languages — including India, Germany, Australia, the UK, Brazil, and Spain — by modifying as few as two lines of the script. If you are looking to use the script on a site other than the amazon.com US website, check out the comments on the Reddit post to see if another user has commented about the changes to make.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Calibre/comments/1ivycmc/i_wrote_a_python_script_to_let_you_easily/

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What is the Defragg Kindle Downloader?

The Defragg Kindle Downloader is a simple Python script that automates the process of downloading all your Kindle books to your computer.

Key Features:

• Automatically Downloads All Books: Loops through each page of your Kindle content library and downloads each book.
• Fast: Processes around 25 books every 90 seconds.
• Detailed Real-Time Output: The script provides clear, real-time output in the terminal and a log file, allowing you to follow along with each step, see progress updates, and identify any issues as they occur.
• Detailed Logs: Tracks downloads, skipped books, and errors, saving all data to log files.
• Custom Page Ranges: Use --start and --end arguments to define which pages to process.
• Stop Any Time: Press Ctrl+C during execution to stop the script and receive a summary.
• Device Selection: Pick your preferred Kindle device for downloads through an easy, one-time pop-up.

TL;DR

If you are fairly tech-inclined, here is the short version of how to run the script (example commands for Windows):

• Install Python 3
• Run the following pip commands to install the prerequisites
  pip install selenium webdriver-manager
pip install chromedriver-autoinstaller
• Download the Defragg Kindle Downloader
• Run the script like this: python defragg-kindle-downloader.py

Prerequisites

1. Installing Python

• Windows:
  • Download and install Python from python.org.
  • During installation, be sure to check the “Add Python to PATH” option.
• macOS:
  • Download and install Python from python.org.
  • Make sure that pip is installed by opening a terminal and running the following command
    python3 -m ensurepip --upgrade

2. Installing Dependencies

Open your terminal or command prompt and install the required packages by running the following commands one at a time:

• Windows
  pip install selenium webdriver-manager
pip install chromedriver-autoinstaller

• macOS
  pip3 install selenium webdriver-manager
pip3 install chromedriver-autoinstaller


3. Ensure Google Chrome is Installed

The script requires and up-to-date installation of Google Chrome.

Setting Up the Script

1. Download the Script:
   • Download the Defragg Kindle Downloader and save it as defragg-kindle-downloader.py in a new folder, (e.g., C:\kindle-downloader).
2. Run the Script:
   • Open Terminal/Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where you saved the script folder:
     • Windows (example path)
       cd \path\to\kindle-downloader

     • macOS (example path)
       cd /path/to/kindle-downloader
   • Run the Script:
     • Windows
       python defragg-kindle-downloader.py
     • macOS
       python3 defragg-kindle-downloader.py

   • Advanced Arguments:
     • By default, the script starts on page 1 of your library and downloads all books. If you only want to download books on certain pages, you can add additional arguments when you run the script.
       • --start: Starting page number (default is 1).
       • --end: Ending page number (default is the last page).
       • Example (will download all books on pages 5 through 10):
         python defragg-kindle-downloader.py --start 5 --end 10

How It Works – Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1. Read Instructions:
   • Carefully read the instructions shown in the command window after executing the script.
2. Chrome Browser Launches:
   • Log into your Amazon account when the Chrome window opens.
3. Device Selection Dialog:
   • A pop-up lets you pick the Kindle device to link the downloads to.
4. Download Process Begins:
   • The script cycles through your Kindle library, page by page, and downloads available books. Do not interact with the Chrome window once the downloading begins!
5. Real-Time Updates:
   • The terminal displays progress output. Downloaded, skipped, or errored books are all tracked.
6. Stop Anytime:
   • Press Ctrl+C to halt the process. A summary of downloads and skipped books will appear.
7. Final Summary:
   • After completion or stopping the script, the following is displayed:
     • Total books processed
     • Number of successful downloads
     • List of skipped books (with reasons)

Understanding the Logs

The script creates two important files:

1. Activity Log (kindle-download-log-[date].txt):
   • Shows every action the script took
   • Records any errors that happened
   • Helps you track what the script did
2. Skipped Books Log (skipped-books-[date].txt):
   • Lists any books that couldn’t be downloaded
   • Tells you why each book was skipped
   • Helps you know which books to try again

You’ll also see a summary at the end showing:

• Total books processed
• Number of successful downloads
• Number of skipped books
• Reasons why books were skipped

Common Problems and Solutions

If the Script Won’t Start:

• Make sure Python is installed correctly
• Make sure Chrome is installed and up-to-date
• Try running the pip install commands again
• Make sure you’re in the folder containing the script when running the python command.

If Downloads Are Slow:

• Check your internet connection
• Make sure Chrome isn’t using too much memory
• Try closing other programs

If Books Are Being Skipped:

• Make sure you are not clicking on, minimizing, resizing, or otherwise interacting with the Chrome window.
• Some books might be library loans (these can’t be downloaded)
• Some books might be unavailable in your region
• Try those books manually through Amazon’s website

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Appendix: Full Command Reference

# Basic usage
python defragg-kindle-downloader.py

# Specify start and end pages
python defragg-kindle-downloader.py --start 2 --end 5

# Enable debug mode (by editing the script's DEBUG flag)