The major advantage to PDF files is that you can distribute documents to a wide variety of platforms, including the Amazon Kindle. While the Kindle opens most PDFs with no difficulty, you can run into some trouble if the PDF has password protection applied to it. The Kindle will open password-protected PDFs, but not if the PDF has digital rights management applied to it. Most Kindle models cannot open DRM-encoded PDFs, but you can download an app, qPDF, for the Kindle Fire that will let you open PDFs encoded with DRM.
Non-DRM Password Protection
Step 1
Highlight the PDF file.
Step 2
Press down on the 5-way control to open the PDF. If your Kindle is a touch-screen model, tap on the PDF to open it. This will open a dialog box that asks for the password.
Step 3
Type the password.
Step 4
Select the “OK” button and press the 5-way control button. Tap the “OK” button on touchscreen models.
DRM-Encoded PDFs on the Kindle Fire
Step 1
Click on the “Apps” tab from the Home page to open the Apps menu.
Step 2
Click the “Store” link in the top right corner of the page to access the Kindle Apps store.
Step 3
Type qPDF Viewer in the “Search” field.
Step 4
Tap the “Free” button next to the qPDF Viewer line. The “Free” button will change to “Install.”
Step 5
Tap the “Install” button. The app will download and install to your Kindle Fire. When finished, you will see an “Open” button.
Step 6
Tap the “Open” button to start the app.
Step 7
Tap the “Accept” button to accept the Terms and Conditions. You only need to do this the first time you open the app.
Step 8
Tap the “Open” button to select a PDF to open.
Step 9
Tap on the PDF you want to open. You will see a dialog asking you to enter a password.
Step 10
Type in the password.
Step 11
Tap the “OK” button to open your PDF.
