How to find your vocab.db

When you look up a word while reading on your Kindle, it gets saved to a small database file called vocab.db. Here’s how to get it.

Kindle e-reader

Paperwhite, Oasis, Basic

Connect your Kindle to your computer with a USB cable
It will appear as a drive in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac)
Open the Kindle drive and navigate to the system folder
Inside system, open the vocabulary folder
Copy vocab.db to your computer

The full path is Kindle/system/vocabulary/vocab.db

Alternatively, open the Kindle drive and search for vocab.db in the search bar.

The system folder may be hidden. On Windows, open File Explorer, click “View” in the toolbar, and check “Hidden items.” On Mac, press Cmd+Shift+. to show hidden files.

Other platforms

Kindle app (Android) — The vocab.db file is stored in the app’s internal data, which is not accessible without root access on most devices.

Kindle app (iOS) — Apple does not allow access to app data directories, so vocab.db cannot be retrieved from an iPhone or iPad.

Kindle for PC / Mac — Desktop Kindle apps do not maintain a vocab.db file in the same way e-readers do. The vocabulary builder data is stored in Amazon’s cloud but is not accessible as a local file.

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