Send to Kindle Chrome extension not working? 8 fixes that actually help
Short answer: Amazon's "Send to Kindle for Google Chrome" extension hasn't been updated since January 2024, so it breaks easily. Sign in again on the same Amazon store as your Kindle, turn off ad and script blockers for the page, and reinstall it. If it still fails, send the page through Amazon's web uploader or use a maintained extension such as Leafpost.
Common symptoms
If you landed here, you have probably seen one of these:
- The extension asks you to sign in again and again, even though you are signed in to Amazon.
- You click the icon and nothing happens, or the preview window stays blank.
- It says the page was sent, but the article never shows up on your Kindle.
- It can't send the PDF you have open in Chrome.
- The article arrives with the wrong text, no images or broken formatting.
Why the extension breaks
The official extension is still listed in the Chrome Web Store with hundreds of thousands of users, but its last update was in January 2024. Chrome has changed a lot since then (Manifest V3 rules, cookie handling, side panels), and so have the websites people send. An extension that isn't maintained stops keeping up, and its reviews show the same complaints over and over: sign-in loops, failed uploads and missing PDF support.
Amazon's own help page also notes that the extension can fail on sites that block it, or when other extensions block JavaScript. That explains a lot of "nothing happens" cases.
8 fixes, from quickest to slowest
1. Make sure you are on the right Amazon store
Your Kindle belongs to one Amazon marketplace: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.es and so on. If you are signed in to a different one in Chrome, the extension can't find your devices and keeps asking you to sign in. Open the store where you bought your Kindle books, sign in there, and try again.
2. Sign out of the extension and sign back in
Right-click the extension icon, open its options and sign out, then sign in again. If there is no sign-out option, remove the extension, sign out of Amazon, sign back in, and reinstall it.
3. Pause ad blockers and script blockers
uBlock Origin, Ghostery, NoScript and similar tools can block the scripts the extension relies on. Turn them off for the page you want to send (or for amazon.com) and reload before trying again.
4. Clear Amazon's cookies in Chrome
Corrupted cookies are the classic cause of sign-in loops. Go to chrome://settings/content/all, search for amazon, delete the stored data, then sign in to Amazon again. You will need to sign in on other Amazon sites as well.
5. Try a simpler page
Some sites (paywalled news, infinite-scroll blogs, pages built entirely with JavaScript) confuse the extension's article detection. Test with a plain page such as a Wikipedia article. If that works, the problem is the site, not your setup. Use the reader-view or print version of the article, or select the text and send just the selection.
6. Check where the document went
Sometimes the extension works but the document lands somewhere you don't expect. Personal documents appear in your Kindle library under Documents (or Docs), not with your books, and they don't appear in Kindle for Web at all. Our guide on documents not showing up covers where to look.
7. Send it through Amazon's web uploader
As a workaround that always works, save the page and upload the file yourself:
- Press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on Mac) and choose Save as PDF.
- Open amazon.com/sendtokindle (or your local Amazon store) and drag the PDF in.
- Click Send. Files up to 200 MB are accepted.
The downside is that a printed PDF keeps the page layout, so the text is small and doesn't reflow on an e-reader. See how to send a PDF to Kindle for the "convert" option that makes it adjustable.
8. Use a maintained extension
If the official extension still fails, replace it. That's why we built Leafpost.
Alternatives that work today
| Option | How it sends | Images | PDFs | Setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leafpost (Chrome, Edge, Brave) | Amazon's Send to Kindle, with your Amazon sign-in | Yes, plus cover and table of contents | Yes | None |
| Amazon's official extension | Amazon's Send to Kindle | Inconsistent | No | Sign in |
| Print to PDF + web uploader | Manual upload | As printed | Yes | None, but slow |
| Email services (Push to Kindle and similar) | Email to your @kindle.com address | Usually | Varies | Approve a sender address; often limited free use |
Email-based tools need your Kindle email address, and you have to add their sending address to your approved list. Leafpost skips that step, because it uses the same Amazon session the official uploader uses.
FAQ
Is Amazon's Send to Kindle extension discontinued?
Amazon hasn't announced that, and it is still listed. It just hasn't received an update since January 2024, which is why it misbehaves with today's Chrome and websites.
Does it work in Microsoft Edge, Brave or Opera?
Most Chromium-based browsers can install extensions from the Chrome Web Store (in Edge, turn on "Allow extensions from other stores" first), so both the official extension and Leafpost work there. Firefox and Safari need their own versions.
Why does my article arrive without images?
Many sites load images lazily or from separate servers, and older tools only capture what is already loaded. Once you allow image access in its settings, Leafpost picks the real image behind lazy-loading placeholders, converts it to a format Kindle supports and embeds it in the book.
Can I send articles from my phone?
Desktop extensions don't run in mobile Chrome. On a phone, the free Kindle app can receive files from the share menu (a PDF, for example). For web articles, saving the page as a PDF and sharing that file is the most reliable route.