PRS-650 Highlighting function - PRS-650

[BMaloney]

Hello everyone. I am new to e-readers and was surprised to find that my PRS-650 does not allow me to copy and paste what I have highlighted in my first purchased ebook.

It lets me export text from all other files, so I assume it is a DRM function?? Does that mean it wil be impossible to copy highlights from all purchased ebooks? And here I thought I would never have to retype a quote again...

Thanks for your help.

[grooks]

If the book has DRM, which is most purchased books, it will only allow copying highlights up to 100 characters (I believe this is the limit).

The reason is to prevent someone highlighting and exporting the full text from a DRM protected ebook and either making a non-DRM ebook or posting it elsewhere.

[BMaloney]

Thanks so much for the swift reply to my question.

I suspected that purchased books might have DRM protection like that and, to be honest, I'd be happy with a 100 character limit. As I said, the main attractive feature would be not having to retype quotes. 100 characters (at a time) would be more than enough.

But my Reader Library does not even let me copy one highlighted word from this book, let alone 100 characters. Am I doing something wrong?

Have you successfully copied and pasted highlights from any purchased ebook on Sony's Reader?

Thanks again.

[Bookworm_Girl]

You can save highlights from DRM'ed books. The limit is 100 characters for DRM'ed books and 2000 characters for non-DRM'ed books. First, highlight the text in the ebook on your ereader. In the pop-up menu make sure you select the pen icon. Otherwise, it will not save your highlights and ignore them. Now connect your ereader to your computer via USB and open the Sony software. Next open the book in the Sony software. Make sure you open the copy on your ereader where you took the notes. In the lower left-hand corner of the open book will be icons to list your notes and also to export them to an RTF file which you can save to your computer hard-drive.

Sometimes I find that 100 characters isn't enough to highlight the passage that I want. I either highlight in smaller blocks or edit the exported RTF file to complete the passage.

Hope that helps!

[BMaloney]

Thank you very much Bookworm_Girl! I had missed the buttons in the lower left hand corner.

I have to take back what I said, though: 100 characters are not enough. At least not the way Sony has it set up. I expected one of two things. Either (1) the reader would tell me when I reached my 100 character limit, thereby allowing me to highlight carefully chosen bits, so as to not miss any words, or (2) longer highlighted sections would be broken up into 100 character segements in the rtf file but, spread out, all the text would be there. Neither is the case. The reader does not tell me when I've reached the limit; the rtf file cuts off my highlight right there and simply ignores the rest.

(Shoot the devils who designed that!)

Thanks again for your help.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Glad you figured it out! I think 100 characters is too limiting also. Sometimes it doesn't even cover a whole sentence. Rather frustrating! I wish they would increase the character limit for each highlight or take the Kindle approach which is based on the percentage of the document highlighted for all highlights combined together.

[BMaloney]

I like the sound of the Kindle approach, too. It means that you could vary the use of your "document percentage," exporting a relatively large part of the text each time. You could use bookmarks, for example, then jump and export one file per quote. Something like that?

And now something else has really made me rather cross. Does exporting the highlights also mean deleting them from the reader? Because, after having done my little experiment, they have simply vanished!

[Bookworm_Girl]

Don't panic yet. Maybe your notes haven't vanished. Exporting is supposed to save a copy. Your notes should still be on your ereader. If you click All Notes on the Home screen of your ereader, then you should still see them in the list.

There are 2 methods to delete notes. Do you remember doing either of these?
1) On the device itself through the various option settings.
2) When you open the book in the Sony software, there is a notepad icon in the lower left corner. Click that icon and it lists all of your notes. You have to select the notes, click delete and answer yes to the "Are you sure?" prompt.

It is likely that you have two copies of the book, and you are looking at a copy without notes. One copy is probably on your hard-drive and shows up in the Sony software under the Library icon. The other copy is on your ereader. The notes are associated with the copy on your ereader since that's where you made them. If you open the copy in the Library linked to your hard-drive, then you won't see any notes. You have to set-up the software to "sync" collections to transfer the notes automatically.

So how do you know which copy you are looking at? When a book is open in the Sony software, there is a little "i" button in the upper-left corner for "information". Click that button and it shows you the file path of where the book is located.

Hope that helps.

[BMaloney]

Your answers are so clear and patient, no wonder you have such awseome karma Bookworm_Girl!

Fortunately, the notes were never that important. The main thing was to learn how it works. I am too cautious to put important info on a new gadget.

So I started from scratch. I deleted the book from the reader, re-transferred it to the reader, made new notes, exported them to an rtf file, re-opened the book on the reader and... voilà, the notes were still there.

I am not sure what happened last time. I can understand why you assumed I was confused. But I was trying to find the notes on the reader itself, not the Library program.

Nonetheless, I am going to abuse your generosity and ask you to explain something you said, please. I am unable to delete highlights/notes in either of the ways you explained.

1) The only "delete" option I see for notes in the reader's menus is the "erase" option within the Create/Edit menu (requiring erasing one by one).
2) The Sony Library software mentions the Delete option in both the Edit pulldown menu and when I right-click the notes in the bottom left-hand corner. But the option is in a light grey color - unselectable. This is the case for all files I have tried so far.



In all cases I am working with the software, but making sure that I have selected the copy of the book file that is on the reader, I promise!

Thanks in advance.

[Bookworm_Girl]

No problem, BMaloney. I hope these instructions are good. I have the 950 rather than the 650 but the menu interface looks similar from the manual. The 650 User Guide is a bit confusing! I think the 950 guide is more detailed and easier to follow.

In Method #1 to delete on the ereader, there are a few ways to accomplish this:
A) On the Home Screen select "All Notes". This should list all of your notes from all of your books. Then press the Options button and Delete Notes. It will show boxes next to your notes. Click in the boxes to check them off. It is important to click "Done" in the upper right corner to delete them or it will ignore your request.
B) You can delete notes from within a book too as you have already discovered. Inside the book select the Options button and then Notes > List. You will see a list of notes specific to that book. You can then press the Options button again and Delete Notes similar to Method A above.
C) You can delete notes from within a book another way. Go to a page that has a note. Then select the Options button and Notes > Create / Edit. Select the third icon at the top. It is supposed to be an eraser even though I don't think it really looks like one... Then select the highlight on the page and it will disappear.

In Method #2 to delete from the Sony software, I think I may have misled you and I learned something new. That's why I like to help because I learn in the process too. This method only works on notes associated with the copy of the book that is on your hard-drive apparently. It won't work with notes associated with the copy of the book on your ereader. I just connected my ereader by USB, and I see this option is gray too. Very interesting! Sorry about that.

[BMaloney]

This is indeed very interesting, Bookworm_Girl!

You could not have been more clear. I can see how to delete highlights and notes now: from the reader (1A), from books (1B) or one at a time (1C).

We now also both fully understand the limitations of the highlights. They must be deleted where they were made, reader or computer. Right? I'm glad you could learn something new as well.

As for me, I made a big leap along the learning curve, thanks to your help: I now understand that the functions offered by the "Options" button on the reader change depending on where you are in the menus.

That pretty much does it for this thread, I think. I hope to see you around the forums Bookworm_Girl. Thanks again!