[GUI Plugin] Annotations

[Quoth]

I used to use "Annotations", but as I don't want them in Calibre, but in separate text files, the Kobo Utilities suit better. The format is easily changed in any good text editor after copy, paste, save. I used to use Notepad++ in Windows and now use KATE on Linux Mint.
You can then paste them back into Calibre.


Edit:
On Kobo you can also edit the config so there is an extra context menu item per ebook to allow export as a text file. Then you can copy it off using USB transfer in a file manager, but I found Annotations simpler, then Kobo Utilities suited my use case better.

[PeterT]

Here's a pre-release version of 1.7.14. It's the exact same as Teresa's versions, just with a new version number (her beta had not changed version number from the previous release).

I've forked the repository to https://github.com/PeterJT/calibre-annotations/

When I get some feedback I'll update the first post with the new release.

[Terisa de morgan]

Bad memory moment, sorry.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Leonatus

As I got the above mentioned error message, I tried the KoboUtilities plugin, and it worked. I'm not a technic, so I can't give further explications, but the remarks bopuc made are pretty correct, as far as I can see.

Ok, I remember now why my KoboUtilities call Annotations...

[bopuc]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Here's a pre-release version of 1.7.14. It's the exact same as Teresa's versions, just with a new version number (her beta had not changed version number from the previous release).

I've forked the repository to https://github.com/PeterJT/calibre-annotations/

When I get some feedback I'll update the first post with the new release.

Hi PeterT

Thank you for this. Does this mean that you are taking maintainership of the codebase?

You wrote that you forked the repo and released "the exact same as Teresa's versions"… could you please elaborate? Teresa's zip was a modified copy of the last officially released plugin, whereas the repo contains a few things that are not included in the zip (notably release build scripts, some additional unfinished reader support, annotation colors for PocketBook, etc…).

I'd really like to move this forward in a cohesive, collaborative and sustainable way, without duplicating/multiplying efforts. I made some suggestions to that effect in my previous post. I've also forked the code, this time into a separate non-personal repo which can be used and managed by more than one person: https://github.com/calibre-annotatio...re-annotations . Happy to open it up to anyone interested.


Why I care:
In my view, the Annotations plugin is the only solution currently for safely and easily managing annotations, in an automated and integrated way, supporting multiple ereaders, not requiring copy & pasting and managing one's own database/archive separate from Calibre and the books the annotations come from. As mentioned, it provides an enormous amount of the value, to me personally, of reading ebooks. As such, I want it to stabilize and stick around. I do not want control of it, I just want it to continue to be useful and useable to anyone like me.

[bopuc]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I used to use "Annotations", but as I don't want them in Calibre, but in separate text files, the Kobo Utilities suit better. The format is easily changed in any good text editor after copy, paste, save. I used to use Notepad++ in Windows and now use KATE on Linux Mint.
You can then paste them back into Calibre.


Edit:
On Kobo you can also edit the config so there is an extra context menu item per ebook to allow export as a text file. Then you can copy it off using USB transfer in a file manager, but I found Annotations simpler, then Kobo Utilities suited my use case better.

Lovely.

I prefer the automation of just importing everything with one click, then accessing it in the database as necessary for further integrations (e.g.: I automatically push my annotations into my writing app—Obsidian—and publish them inline on my personal ebook library webapp (linked in signature below).

[PeterT]

No. I dont I tend to be the maintainer but i could facilitate it

The extra files are a major mistake on my part and will be fixed shortly.

The only change I made was to update the version number to reflect the fact that Teresa's build had c still used hanges made from the lasf official release but her build still identified as the same version number as the official one.

Sent from my TB350FU using Tapatalk

[DarkRogueScribe]

I'm fairly new to annotating. I use the stylus on my kobo to take notes and such along with the highlights and I'd like to back them up on calibre however after installing the Annotations plugin I get a not callable error.
Possible I did something wrong? Or are stylus annotations not supported?

[rantanplan]

Not supported, only text.

[Quoth]

Use Nebo on iOS or Android if you want export of text created by stylus (needs models with digitiser and active stylus (in built in Wacom), except Nxtpaper 40 & maybe 50 is supported without active stylus. Unlike reMarkable or Amazon Scribe, no server/cloud needed.

Stylus enabled Kobos only do handwriting to text in the separate cut down Nebo based notebooks, though a PDF can be copied to Mac/PC/iOS/Android and have an annotation layer (but not as text).

[dunhill]

Will it be possible to add the option to retrieve annotations from Moon+ Reader to the plugin? If Moon+ Reader is synced to a cloud service like Dropbox, it generates two files: one with the .an extension and the other with the .po extension.
The .epub.an file contains the annotations (underlines, comments, bookmarks).
And the .epub.po file contains the reading position (last page, progress, etc.).

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by dunhill

Will it be possible to add the option to retrieve annotations from Moon+ Reader to the plugin? If Moon+ Reader is synced to a cloud service like Dropbox, it generates two files: one with the .an extension and the other with the .po extension.
The .epub.an file contains the annotations (underlines, comments, bookmarks).
And the .epub.po file contains the reading position (last page, progress, etc.).

The challenge is that we don't have an active maintainer for this; davidfor passed away several years ago.

[Merlyn]

Hi there,
I can't get my Annotations from my kindle paperwhite (12th edition).

This is the Error message:

calibre, version 8.16.2
FEHLER: Unbehandelter Ausnahmefehler: <b>AttributeError</b>:'MTP_DEVICE' object has no attribute 'create_annotations_path'

calibre 8.16.2  embedded-python: True
macOS-26.2-arm64-arm-64bit Darwin ('64bit', '')
('Darwin', '25.2.0', 'Darwin Kernel Version 25.2.0: Tue Nov 18 21:09:56 PST 2025; root:xnu-12377.61.12~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6041')
Python 3.11.14
OSX: ('26.2', ('', '', ''), 'arm64')
Interface language: de
EXE path: /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/calibre
Successfully initialized third party plugins: Annotations (1, 17, 14) && Apple Books covers (1, 1, 0) && Category Tags (0, 3, 2) && Kindle hi-res covers (0, 5, 1) && Manage Series (1, 5, 2)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre_plugins.annotations.action", line 363, in fetch_usb_connected_device_annotations
    self.fetch_usb_device_annotations(self.get_connected_device_primary_name())
  File "calibre_plugins.annotations.action", line 407, in fetch_usb_device_annotations
    annotated_book_list = self.get_annotated_books_on_usb_device(reader_app)
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "calibre_plugins.annotations.action", line 623, in get_annotated_books_on_usb_device
    ra.get_installed_books()
  File "/var/folders/5k/t9yv25lj5574mh7l8r5fqry40000gn/C/calibre-bfgms1gn/calibre_annotations_plugin/Kindle.py", line 154, in get_installed_books
  File "calibre_plugins.annotations.reader_app_support", line 803, in get_path_map
    path_map = generate_annotation_paths(ids, db)
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "calibre_plugins.annotations.reader_app_support", line 788, in generate_annotation_paths
    a_path = self.device.create_annotations_path(mi, device_path=path)
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: 'MTP_DEVICE' object has no attribute 'create_annotations_path'

Any ideas how to solve this?

[PeterT]

Unfortunately I think you're out of luck here. The original author passed away a few years ago, and recent Kindles have changed from using USBMS to MTP.