For the broader buyer’s guide on running a Kindle planner on the Scribe (device check, file-format anatomy, setup paths, free vs paid tradeoffs, and the reMarkable comparison), see the pillar.
Setup
How to make Kindle Scribe templates: what you need
The honest version of how to make Kindle Scribe templates is short. You need a tool that can output a flat PDF at the right page size, a way to send that PDF to your Scribe, and ten minutes. Anything that exports to PDF at a custom page size will work: Affinity Publisher ($69 once) is the cleanest paid option, Google Slides and PowerPoint both work if you set the slide size manually, and Canva works on the free desktop version with a print-quality export. The page size to set is in our e-ink PDF size database, which lists the exact page for the Scribe and 28 other devices.
For the transfer, you need Send to Kindle set up. The web uploader at amazon.com/sendtokindle accepts PDFs up to 200 MB. The email route (your @kindle.com address) caps at 50 MB. Both land the file in your Kindle library on the Scribe within about a minute. Setup lives in your Amazon account under Manage Your Content and Devices.
Spec
The page size and DPI that match the Scribe
When people ask how to make Kindle Scribe templates that look right, the answer almost always reduces to this section. Get the page size right and the rest is decoration. Get it wrong and the template renders blurry, off-centre, or scaled to the wrong margin no matter how clean the design.
The original 10.2-inch Kindle Scribe (the model still sold new at $399, plus the 2024 refresh) has a screen that renders at 1860 by 2480 pixels at 300 PPI. That works out to a 6.2 by 8.27 inch active area, which is close to but not exactly US Letter. US Letter at 300 PPI (2550 by 3300 pixels) renders fine; the Scribe scales it down. A4 (2480 by 3508) also works, with slightly different margin proportions. For pixel-exact alignment, use the 1860 by 2480 native size. For everything else, US Letter at 300 PPI is the safe default and the one we ship in our own template files.
The 2025 Colorsoft Kindle Scribe is 11 inches diagonal at the same 300 PPI for monochrome content (color content drops to 150 PPI by Amazon’s own spec). For mono templates, the same 1860 by 2480 native target works; the Scribe pads the extra real estate. For colour templates designed for the Colorsoft, scale to 11-inch proportions and accept that fine colour detail loses some sharpness. We cover the colour side in our Kindle Scribe Colorsoft template guide.
Method
Three steps from blank canvas to a working template
Set the page size before you draw a single line.
In Affinity Publisher: File, New, Custom, 1860 x 2480 pixels at 300 DPI. In Google Slides: File, Page Setup, Custom, 6.2 x 8.27 inches. In Canva: Create a Design, Custom Size, 1860 x 2480 px. Setting this after you have laid out content forces a redo; setting it first costs ten seconds.
Design with margins the Scribe can actually use.
Leave at least 0.4 inch (around 120 pixels at 300 PPI) on every edge. The Scribe trims a small amount when it renders the PDF, and the bottom navigation bar covers the lowest 0.25 inch when open. Use medium-weight strokes (2 to 3 pixels) for lines; the Scribe’s e-ink renders hairlines as broken stippling.
Export to flat PDF, then send via Send to Kindle.
Choose Print Quality or PDF/X-1a. Avoid Web Quality (drops to 150 DPI), interactive form fields (the Scribe ignores them), and embedded fonts beyond the basic set. Drag the PDF into amazon.com/sendtokindle, or forward it to your @kindle.com address. The file lands in Library on the Scribe within about a minute, ready to open and ink.
That is the whole working method. Most published tutorials for how to make Kindle Scribe templates pad this out with brand-stamping and asset-library setup that has nothing to do with the actual Scribe pipeline. Once your file is a 300 PPI flat PDF at the right page size, the design choices are the same ones any planner designer makes.
Limits
What you can’t do, and how to work around it
One thing the tutorials online tend to skip: you cannot add a custom entry to the Templates menu inside the Notebooks tab. That menu (Lined, Squared, Dotted, Cornell, Calendar, To-Do, Storyboard, Music) is locked by Amazon at the firmware level. There is no developer mode, no sideloaded JSON, no community workaround that survives a software update. Anyone selling a “custom template installer” for the Kindle Scribe is selling something that does not exist.
The workaround is the PDF route this whole post is about. A custom planner imported as a PDF behaves almost identically to a built-in Notebook template. You write directly on it, the pen tools all work, you can erase and re-ink, and the file persists across reboots. Two differences: it lives under Library instead of Notebooks (a navigation tap, not a problem), and you cannot tap “New page from this template” the way you can with the built-in list (you have to keep a multi-page PDF on hand if you want refills). For most use cases the PDF route is more flexible because you can ship 12 weekly spreads as a single file instead of generating 12 blank pages from a template.
If you want a starter set rather than building from scratch, our free Kindle Scribe templates page has a handful sized for the 10.2-inch model, and the best Kindle Scribe planner roundup covers the paid options that solve the multi-page refill problem. The full hub of Kindle Scribe templates coverage sits one click away.
If you build something good using this method, drop a screenshot in the comments or send it to the address on our Kindle Scribe hub page; the templates that get the most attention here usually started as someone’s personal version that solved a real problem first.
FAQ
Common questions, answered briefly
Can you install custom templates into the Kindle Scribe Templates menu?
What page size should you use for a custom Kindle Scribe template?
How to send a custom template to the Kindle Scribe?
Why does a Kindle Scribe template look fuzzy after upload?
Can a Kindle Scribe template have multiple pages?
If yours isn’t above, drop the question in the comments and we’ll add it to the next update.
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