Edit table of contents in my kpf file for print

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Kindle Create Tutorial

In this tutorial, you'll use Kindle Create to prepare the interior of a sample book, Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice. You'll start with an unformatted manuscript and finish with a file that's ready to be uploaded to KDP. We've provided starting materials and will walk you through each step.

By the end of the tutorial, you'll understand what you can do with Kindle Create and how to use it to prepare your own books.

Contents

1. Download Kindle Create
2. Download sample files
3. Import unformatted file into Kindle Create
4. Add front matter pages (e.g. title page)
5. Add table of contents page (optional)
6. Style chapter title pages
7. Choose a theme
8. Insert an image
9. Insert hyperlinks
10. Add back matter pages (e.g. more books by author)
11. Prepare your book for print
12. Preview and export file

Download Kindle Create

If you haven't done so, download Kindle Create and install the tool.

Download sample files

Here's an unformatted Microsoft Word version of Pride and Prejudice and an image you'll insert in step 8. Download and save these files on your computer.

Import unformatted file into Kindle Create

To import the sample manuscript file, start Kindle Create and click Create New.

Find the file of Pride and Prejudice on your computer and open it. After Kindle Create imports the file, it will automatically find and format the chapter titles.

Make sure the chapters Kindle Create found are correct. When you're done, click Accept Selected. This formats your chapter titles and adds them to the Kindle TOC in the Body section. Kindle Create displays your book in three sections: Front Matter, Body, and Back Matter. You can split, merge, or rearrange chapters as needed. Next, save your file. This is a work file (in KCB format) you can use to update your book later. Learn more about creating projects and tables of contents.

Add front matter pages

1. Click the + sign next to the Front matter section and select Title Page.
2. Fill in the available fields like Title, Subtitle, and add a publisher image (optional).
3. Click Create Page and Kindle Create will generate a preformatted title page.

Add table of contents page (optional)

To add a table of contents (TOC) page, click your first chapter in the Contents pane, click Insert, and choose Table of Contents. A list of detected chapter titles will appear.

If everything looks the way you want it to, click OK. The TOC page will be added to your book's front matter. The TOC page is automatically updated as you add or remove chapters. When you change your chapter titles, the TOC updates automatically to match the new text.

Style chapter title pages

When you accept the chapter title pages Kindle Create detects, the tool automatically styles the chapter titles. To apply drop caps and add spacing between the chapter title and first paragraph:

1. Click next to the first word of your chapter's body text.
2. Go to the Text Properties pane.
3. Click the Chapter First Paragraph button.

Here's what it looks like before and after:

You can also format other text like indents, spacing, font face, and size. You can also add a separator between sections of a chapter. Here's what a separator looks like in Pride and Prejudice:

Experiment with the different elements and formatting options in the Text Properties pane. When you style the chapters of your own book, you need to repeat these steps for each chapter. Learn more about formatting text.

Choose a theme

Give your book the right look and feel by applying a theme that automatically updates the layout and font.

The Modern theme is the default. To change it, click the Theme button in the upper right-hand corner of Kindle Create. You have four options: Modern, Classic, Cosmos, and Amour. Here's what they look like when applied to Pride and Prejudice:

Insert an image

To insert the sample image into Pride and Prejudice:

1. Right-click where you want to insert the image.
2. Click Insert Image in the menu that appears.
3. Find the sample image file on your computer and open it. This inserts the image into your book.

After you insert the image, you can change its size and position. For example, to put the image on the left margin and have the text wrap around it, go to the Image Properties pane and click the left position icon:

If it's a small image like the one in our example, it will become blurry if you increase the size too much. Play with the options to see what looks best. Learn more about inserting images.

Insert hyperlinks

With Kindle Create, you can insert hyperlinks to webpages. A common reason for inserting hyperlinks is to add external references such as wiki pages or blogs.

1. Open Chapter 1 and highlight the word
2. Right-click the word and then click Insert hyperlink in the menu that appears
3. Enter a URL and click Insert hyperlink

Add back matter pages

Prepare your book for print

Kindle Create helps you to take the same project file you used for your eBook and publish it as a print version on KDP. It automatically handles margins based on the trim size you choose on KDP, and limits widows and orphans for a professional print. The page numbering of your book begins with the body, and front matter gets roman numerals as page numbers.

You can control how the headers and footers of your print book appear by specifying the style you want. Click the Print Settings button in the top-right corner of Kindle Create. This opens a window with several options to change the alignment and position of the author name, book title, and page numbers.

Preview and export file

After you finish formatting your book, you can preview it in Kindle Create to see what it would like look on a tablets, E-readers, and phones.

To preview your book, click the Preview button in the upper right-hand corner of Kindle Create. Here's a preview of our Pride and Prejudice file:

When you're happy with your book, then you're ready to export the file. To export Pride and Prejudice, you would click the Export button in the upper right-hand corner of Kindle Create. This creates a publishable file (in KPF format) that can be uploaded to KDP.

You're done! Thanks for testing out Kindle Create. Now try it on your book! If you still have questions, check out our help pages.