How to Read Kindle Books with ADHD-Friendly Formatting

If you have ADHD, most ebook apps give you font sizes and not much else. No bold-anchor typography, no focus window, no RSVP, no read-along highlighting. This guide shows how to get your ebooks into Attention Dome, a free, offline reader with five ADHD-focused reading modes, using Calibre, the free ebook manager.

The honest version up front: this works for DRM-free books. Many Kindle books are locked with Amazon’s DRM, which ties them to Amazon’s own apps. More on that, and on where to get DRM-free books, below.

What you need

• A Mac or PC with Calibre (free, open source).
• A DRM-free ebook file (.epub, .azw3, .mobi, or .txt).
• Attention Dome on your device.

Step 1. Check whether your book is DRM-free

Plenty of ebooks have no DRM at all:

• Anything you bought from publishers like Tor/Forge.
• Most indie and self-published titles on Smashwords or Leanpub.
• Everything from Standard Ebooks and Project Gutenberg.
• Many Humble Bundle book bundles.
• Any personal documents you have sent to your Kindle.

The quick test: add the file to Calibre (Step 2). If Calibre opens and converts it without complaint, it is DRM-free. If Calibre says the book is DRM-locked, it cannot convert it. See the DRM section at the end.

Step 2. Add the book to Calibre

1. Install and open Calibre.
2. Drag your ebook file into the Calibre window, or click Add books.
3. The book appears in your library list.

Step 3. Convert to EPUB

1. Select the book and click Convert books.
2. In the top-right corner, set Output format to EPUB.
3. Click OK and wait a few seconds for the job to finish.
4. Right-click the book and choose Open containing folder to find the new .epub file.

EPUB is the format Attention Dome reads best because it reflows cleanly, which is what lets the reading modes restyle every word.

Step 4. Get the EPUB onto your device

Pick whichever is easiest:

• AirDrop the .epub from your Mac to your iPhone, then choose Attention Dome when prompted.
• Save it to iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud provider, then open it from the Files app and tap Open in Attention Dome.
• Email it to yourself and open the attachment in Attention Dome.

Step 5. Pick your reading mode

Open the book and switch modes to find what your brain likes:

• Bold-anchor typography: the first part of each word is bolded so your eyes have somewhere to land. Helps if you re-read the same line constantly.
• Focus window: a few words highlighted at a time, everything else dimmed. Structure without pressure.
• RSVP: one word at a time at your chosen speed. Eliminates eye movement entirely.
• Listen: text-to-speech with sentence highlighting, so the eyes and ears stay in sync.
• Plain: a clean, quiet reader when that is all you need.

Everything works offline, and it is free.

What about DRM-protected Kindle books?

Books locked with Amazon’s DRM are designed to be readable only in Amazon’s apps, and Amazon has tightened things further in recent years. Tools that strip DRM exist, but using them generally violates Amazon’s terms of service and, in many countries, anti-circumvention laws. This guide does not cover them, and whether to go down that road is a decision you would be making on your own.

The practical move going forward: buy DRM-free where you can. Good sources include:

• Standard Ebooks - free, hand-edited classics.
• Project Gutenberg - free public domain.
• Smashwords and Leanpub - indie titles.
• Tor/Forge books from any store (the publisher ships DRM-free).
• Humble Bundle book bundles.

Kobo also marks some titles DRM-free. Every one of those drops straight into Calibre and then into Attention Dome.

FAQ

Does this cost anything?

No. Calibre is free and open source. Attention Dome is free.

Do I need the internet to read?

No. Once the book is in Attention Dome, everything works offline.

Can I use PDFs instead?

Yes. Attention Dome opens PDFs, plus plain text, HTML, and Markdown. EPUB gives the best results for the reading modes because it reflows.

Will my highlights and progress sync back to Kindle?

No. Once converted, the book lives in Attention Dome with its own progress tracking.

Is bold-anchor reading scientifically proven to make you read faster?

Studies on this style of formatting have not shown an average speed benefit. What many readers with attention difficulties report is that it makes staying in the text easier, less losing your place, less re-reading. Try the modes for a chapter and trust your own experience.

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Attention Dome is a free, offline, ADHD-focused reading app. See all five reading modes.