How to Use the Silk Web Browser on an Amazon Kindle Fire

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If you know everything about reading books and apps and all the other exciting visual stuff on your Kindle Fire, but haven't tried using it's web browser (Silk) yet, then this article can lead you to the path you'll need to use it.

Part 1 of 2:

Accessing the Browser

Turn on the device and look for and tap the "Web" tab in the top scrollable bar at the top of the screen. It could be a little farther over to the right, if held in portrait mode. [1] X Research source

Tap the "Apps" item from the top scrollable bar. Advertisement

Tap the icon for the Silk browser. The app looks mostly like the bluish globe with a rainbow-colored silk on top of it. [2] X Research source

Access the browser by tapping external HTML links from many books or apps leading to websites. It'll lead you right to the Silk browser.

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Using the Browser

Recognize what the opening page the browser should open you to is supposed to do. This page will show you the 8 most often visited pages you've visited since you last cleared your device apps history. [3] X Research source

Flick through the screen by moving your finger up and down, or even sideways. [4] X Research source

Use the two finger expand method you normally use for another touchscreen device to zoom in and out on the screen. Just move your thumb and index finger away from each other to expand the screen and move them closer together to contract it.

Look for the address bar on the screen. Notice that it is at the top of every browser screen, though it may not be completely filled from side to side at times due to another button. [5] X Research source

Realize that there is no way to "force-refresh" a page on a browser of this type. Reset the device by turning it off. Hold the button in for a few seconds and press "Shut Down", then restart the device. [7] X Research source

Tap a link on the page to access pages. Hold the link down for a few minutes and you'll get options to display it in another tab or in a few other options. You can also have the device copy the link's URL address to the clipboard for future retrieval. [8] X Research source [9] X Research source

Look on the screen for the back and forward buttons. They will be located at the bottom of the screen to the right of the Home button. [10] X Research source Wait for the appropriate button to be highlighted.

Open the browser menu at the top of the device. It has three horizontal bars, like a ladder. There you'll find options to bookmark or share the page. You'll also find the "Find" option there. [11] X Research source

Note what the magnifying glass option does. It will take you directly to the address bar. However, tapping this button is an additional step, if you know that you can tap the address bar itself to get to a site faster. The browser is supposed to take you to a search engine using that, but based on recent versions of the browser, it no longer does that.

Find your bookmarks. Tap the three barred icon in the top left corner of the browser and tap Bookmarks to find all your bookmarks. [12] X Research source

Community Q&A

Can I make it silent? Community Answer No. It just plays random songs if you try.

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I don't want to add anything to my favorites site and want my bookmarks back the way they were. How do I get rid of the new ribbon across my list of bookmarks?

Community Answer You press undo or Ctrl+Z.

How do I download an image from the Silk web browser? Top Answerer

To download an image, press and hold your finger on the image. A menu will pop up. Select the "Download Image" option. You can also choose to open the image in new tab and download it from there.

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Know what the Reading View button does. The Reading View button will give you a page that makes the page easier to read. It'll remove any unneeded graphics and will only give you words to read. It'll remove any page headers and sidebar links (it'll keep any regular links intact).

Besides the Most Visited page, there is still no way to set your own home page to the Silk browser.

Since Amazon is continuing to edit their browser. If you find something that you feel they haven't included, either tweet the Amazon Kindle team at @AmazonKindle, contact them by email kindlefeedback@amazon.com or contact them by phone (at toll-free number located on their site).

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Being this device runs on an Android operating system, you can watch whatever videos exist. However, each video will open in its own video screen in the foreground of other pages. To conserve battery use though, be kind and keep the device charged when viewing videos.