Amazon has issued a software update for the Kindle Scribe and the new 2024 Kindle Scribe today. The 5.17.3 firmware introduces a Side Panel Margin. You can now open a side panel margin to write notes in e-books with enhanced typesetting and Word documents. Choose between docked or overlay settings, and tap the caret to adjust its width. Amazon also implemented performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements.
Here is how the Side Panel works: A new icon launches it by the margin. Once opened, the side panel works in the Scribe’s landscape or portrait mode. The panel and the e-book’s text are visible simultaneously, allowing users to refer to both when taking notes. Once a note is taken, a marker will be placed on the text so you can go to that note specifically. The feature works for books purchased from Amazon and EPUB books delivered via Send to Kindle.
Amazon has gradually improved the writing system in e-books. The 5.17.3 update improves on the previous firmware released in December, which enhanced the functionality of writing in e-books through enhanced typesetting.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
