I did not try the Kobo utilities before I sent it back, but was responding to your question about whether I had a Clara.

What I did not like about it is summarized in this thread, see my OP, and my last post in thread on why I returned it. Short version, I found both the hardware, and the software, to be unsatisfactory and I am not planning to replace it with any e-ink device. I find it just too frustrating about the lack of features (lack of adequate storage and an SD slot, modern connectivity options like USB-C ports, lack of adequate system memory and CPU, as well as many missing features in the software and incompatibilities with Android and PC versions of software).

For me, I'm not willing to deal with all these shortcomings in underpowered, overpriced, proprietary-platform devices, just so I can have the privilege of reading in e-ink or in the sunlight. I am going to stick with devices and apps that will let me read my books on any android device or PC, and my reading data (annotations, positions, etc.) are preserved across all apps/platforms without any quirks or workarounds. At the moment, the best solution I've found for that is managing all my books in Calibre, and uploading everything to the Google Play bookstore, which gives me everything I'm looking for (including, per your OP issue, the ability to easily export notes and to access them on any device).