How to Export Highlights & Annotations from a Kobo Device

UPDATE:

January 11th, 2022

Several commenters alerted me to the fact that, since a recent update, the original set of instructions can result in truncated highlights and annotations once exported (i.e., incomplete text where only part of the highlight is present followed by “…”).

Here are instructions for a workaround using Calibre and the Annotations plugin. Unfortunately this doesn’t result in a neat little .txt file like the other method, but it does get your annotations onto your computer where you can copy and paste them. Once again, I have a Mac, so it may be a bit different if you’re running Windows. I’ve kept the original instructions for the first exportation method at the bottom of this post in case it starts working again.

1. Download Calibre if you haven’t already.

2. Go to the top bar and select calibre > Preferences > Plugins (under the Advanced heading).

3. Click Get New Plugins.

4. Click into Filter by name and type “Annotations“.

5. Select the plugin and click Install. A warning will pop up. Select Yes.

6. Restart Calibre.

7. You should now see the Annotations plugin on the right side of the header bar. Open it and select Customize plugin…

8. Open the Wizard by clicking the wand button.

9. Type “Annotations” and click Add custom column. By default, the annotations will appear in the Comments column once exported. This step ensures that there is a dedicated Annotations column.

10. Click OK on both of the dialog boxes shown below and then restart Calibre.

11. Connect your Kobo device to your computer via the appropriate cable.

12. Open the Annotations plugin and select Fetch annotations from connected device.

13. At this point you can select which books you want to export annotations from. By default all books will be selected. Click Import Annotations once you are ready. Click OK.

14. Now when you select a book, you should be able to see the annotations. I like to right click the book and select Show Book details for a larger view. You can also hit the ‘I’ key to bring up the book details.

Here is the link for the discussion regarding the plugin if you have any concerns.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241206

I will continue to search for alternatives and update this post with more information.

If you find any other solutions, please add them in the comments and I will look into them. I hope this is helpful!

old instructions

If you have a Kobo and you’re hoping for an easy way to export your highlights and annotations so you can view them in a .txt file on your computer, look no further! Below I’ve listed the steps for accomplishing this, and the beauty of it is that you only have to do this once and then your Kobo will always have the option for you to export your highlights and notes! It baffles me that this isn’t just built into the Kobo from the start.

the why

When you follow the instructions below, the result will be a compilation of your highlights and annotations in a .txt document which you will be able to access in the Kobo device folder once you connect your Kobo to your computer.

Up until today, I was literally re-typing all of my highlights and annotations, which was a very painful process. My fingers would get tired and I wouldn’t have time to write my blog post in the same session. Well, no more! This is much more time-efficient and allows me to spend more time writing my actual blog posts.

I looked up how to do this a couple of times, but I was really confused because I couldn’t see the files other people were referring to in their instructions. I hope that the instructions I’m sharing are a bit more clear and that the screenshots make the steps easy to follow.

if you have a mac

Please note that your Mac hides sensitive files which when messed with can really screw things up. But no need to fear: you can easily enable and disable the viewing of these files so that you don’t accidentally mess with something you shouldn’t. I’ve included how to do this in the instructions as well.

The below instructions are specific to Mac, but the steps for Windows should be fairly similar. I’m running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 at the time of writing this post.

the how

Here are the precise steps that allowed me to set up the system for exporting my highlights and annotations from my Kobo device:

1. Connect your Kobo eReader to your computer via the appropriate cable.

I use the cable that came with my Kobo along with a dongle which turns the USB-A end into a USB-C end that I can plug into my laptop.

2. Go to the Kobo device folder.

Mine is called KOBOeReader, which I believe is the default (but I will refer to it as the device folder going forward as yours might be named differently). If you’re using a Mac, the folder might appear on your desktop. If not, it will probably be in the Finder side bar under the “Locations” heading, or you can search for it in Spotlight.

3. Press [Cmd + Shift + .].

Yes, those are the command, shift, and period keys! This should unhide the hidden files.

4. Open the “.kobo” folder which has appeared.

It was probably hidden until the last step. If you don’t see it, repeat step 3 as you may have accidentally hidden it.

5. Once you are in the “.kobo” folder, open the “Kobo” folder inside it.

6. Inside the “Kobo” folder you should find a file called “Kobo eReader.conf”.

Open this with your text editor of choice. I used Sublime Text, but you can also use TextEdit which comes with your Mac. You may have to right-click and select “Open With” and choose the text editor that way. You can also double-click on the file and click “Choose Application…” if you’re having trouble.

7. Add the following two lines of code (anywhere not under an existing heading; at the very end of the file is safest), making sure that they are indeed on two separate lines:

[FeatureSettings] 
ExportHighlights=true

8. Save the file, ensuring that you save it as .conf and not as .txt. 

9. Return to the device folder, where you can press [Cmd + Shift + .] to once again hide the sensitive files.

10. Safely eject your Kobo from your computer.

Right click the desktop icon and select “eject” or go into finder and click the eject button beside the name of the device folder in the Finder sidebar.

11. Now when you touch and hold over a book on your Kobo, you will see the option to “Export highlights”.

This will prompt you to select a file name and save a .txt file in the root directory of the device.

12. Next time you connect your Kobo to your computer, open the device folder again and you’ll see the .txt file(s) you generated.

It’s that easy!

As always, feel free to discuss in the comments below or reach out via the contact form. I’d love to hear from you!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to my email list by clicking the button below: