Backing Up with Highlights

Sunshine82 · 03-11-2022, 02:00 AM

Hi, all.

I'm a new user to this forum and a new Kindle user.

My goal is to back up my ebooks from my Kindle to my Mac while including all of the existing highlights, so that if my books need to be re-imported into my Kindle later, they will include the highlights.

(I encountered a problem with my Kindle when it lost power and now an error message is preventing me from continuing to use my Kindle. So, a backup is necessary before I can proceed.)

I have Calibre, but I'm not fully familiar with its functionalities. Although I'm aware of the Save to Disk and the Add Books to Library functionalities, I'm not clear about the differences between the two as far as whether either method would include the highlights associated with the books after they are exported from the Kindle. I'm also not sure if my question begs a deeper question about the ecosystem of my Kindle Paper-white. Is file management handled in a certain way with Kindles that would influence my backup process?

I should also note that I have a combination of public domain ebooks and paid Amazon (DRM content) ebooks on my Kindle. It would be good practice to back up everything all at once, I suppose.

hleo12 · 03-11-2022, 04:53 AM

Kindle doesn't really play well with Calibre that much. You gotta jump through hoops just to get something done.

There should be a file in your Kindle with all your saved notes and highlights. It should be titled 'My Clippings', and under the 'documents' folder.

If you have whispersync enabled, you automatically back up all your notes/highlights for the books you have on cloud. You can try that out by installing the Kindle app on your phone. You should be able to see all your notes and highlights there too.

That should work for books that came directly from kindle and your 'send-to-kindle' documents. I'm not too sure about books you sideload tho.

There's also a plug-in in Calibre called 'Annotations'. I've only used it briefly, but it can import all the Annotations from your Kindle to Calibre. It's only 1 way tho. You can't send Annotations back to your Kindle.

As for the Kindle ecosystem. Everything works great if you mostly read ebooks bought directly from Amazon, or their 'send-to-kindle' feature. Everything will be saved on the cloud.

You can read about send to kindle here.

It's a really neat feature. I have books purchased from other digital stores and just send them to my Kindle. Only downside is you have limited font choices, and no xray (I don't really use that function anyways). You can also set up Calibre to send books to your Kindle this way. Just needs a few more steps, but really convenient.

Sunshine82 · 03-11-2022, 10:21 PM

Thanks for the help!

I'll look into the Send to Kindle process. Looks quite helpful; thanks for sharing!

But it seems that my problem still persists because my issue is with getting data off my Kindle and onto my computer. I know how to backup my Clippings manually by copying and pasting them from within the data hierarchy of Kindle.

So a few questions remains: 1) is the copying and pasting process legitimate? Should I be doing it differently? If this process is fine, can I just manually copy and paste my entire ebook library from the Kindle to my computer?

2) More specifically, I'm still wondering if there is a way to backup my data that will preserve my reading progress within each ebook, so that my Kindle knows where to resume reading when I return to it.

3) Calibre seems fairly problem-free for me so far, but is there another program that you can suggest? I'd like to find a program that allows me to organize and manage my library of ebooks freely with great customizability within the program -- creating folders for certain genres, etc. I also have two other ebook apps, Bookshelf Library and Kindle. How do these compare? Is backing up with either of these easier or better?

hleo12 · 03-11-2022, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunshine82

Thanks for the help!

I'll look into the Send to Kindle process. Looks quite helpful; thanks for sharing!

But it seems that my problem still persists because my issue is with getting data off my Kindle and onto my computer. I know how to backup my Clippings manually by copying and pasting them from within the data hierarchy of Kindle.

So a few questions remains: 1) is the copying and pasting process legitimate? Should I be doing it differently? If this process is fine, can I just manually copy and paste my entire ebook library from the Kindle to my computer?

2) More specifically, I'm still wondering if there is a way to backup my data that will preserve my reading progress within each ebook, so that my Kindle knows where to resume reading when I return to it.

3) Calibre seems fairly problem-free for me so far, but is there another program that you can suggest? I'd like to find a program that allows me to organize and manage my library of ebooks freely with great customizability within the program -- creating folders for certain genres, etc. I also have two other ebook apps, Bookshelf Library and Kindle. How do these compare? Is backing up with either of these easier or better?

1) I do this too. I use Calibre tho. On Calibre, I just import the books I have on my Kindle to my Calibre library. Or you can manually add books to your library using other sources. Any way is fine. Calibre is gonna recognize/match books from your library to those on your Kindle.

2) Reading progress is also saved on cloud for books bought from Amazon and send-to-kindle documents. As for backing them up on Calibre, I don't think there's such a way. That's why I prefer using send-to-kindle because it makes everything so convenient.

3) Calibre is probably the best ebook management software you can use. Only downside for Kindle users is it can't really manage your Kindle the way you want it to. Like managing collections, etc. It's something I've learned to live with

I'm not familiar with Bookshelf Library. As for Kidle for PC. I don't really have a need for it since it can only manage books purchased directly from Amazon.

You can pretty much do anything on Calibre. You can even have multiple separate libraries if you want.

As for managing your Kindle device, you can do that on Amazon's website. Then go to 'Content and Devices.' From there, you can make collections, and put books in collections (as long as they're Amazon/send-to-kindle books), and they'll be automatically reflected on your Kindle if you have wifi on.

If you wanna stick to Kindle, then taking advantage of Amazon's cloud services will be your best option. You don't have to worry about reading progress, notes, etc.

unkn0wn · 03-12-2022, 01:17 AM

don't know if your kindle storage shows up if you connect it to your PC but if it does.. just copy the whole documents folder into your PC.. and when you reset/get another kindle, copy the same back, the whole set of highlights including the pages, bookmarks, current page that you are reading show up the same.

BookCat · 03-14-2022, 12:26 AM

If you want to keep copies of your kindle books on your computer make sure that you use the 'transfer via usb' feature. At the moment, this only really works from the Manage Content and Devices part of Amazon.

There is a thread in the Kindle section of this forum discussing whether Amazon are phasing out this ability. Without it, you can only keep copies of your ebooks in the cloud. Hopefully, this is just a bug.

There isn't a way of transfering notes and highlights from your kindle to your computer then re-importing both the book and highlights. You can do this from Amazon's cloud storage (I'm not sure about the details of this because I always sideload books.)

You can save your highlights and notes from your books by using Kindle Mate. https://kmate.me/
This is extremely useful.

Calibre works well with kindle books provided they are not DRM'd. If they are, google Apprentic Alf.

03-11-2022, 02:00 AM	#1
Sunshine82 Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2022 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Backing Up with Highlights Hi, all. I'm a new user to this forum and a new Kindle user. My goal is to back up my ebooks from my Kindle to my Mac while including all of the existing highlights, so that if my books need to be re-imported into my Kindle later, they will include the highlights. (I encountered a problem with my Kindle when it lost power and now an error message is preventing me from continuing to use my Kindle. So, a backup is necessary before I can proceed.) I have Calibre, but I'm not fully familiar with its functionalities. Although I'm aware of the Save to Disk and the Add Books to Library functionalities, I'm not clear about the differences between the two as far as whether either method would include the highlights associated with the books after they are exported from the Kindle. I'm also not sure if my question begs a deeper question about the ecosystem of my Kindle Paper-white. Is file management handled in a certain way with Kindles that would influence my backup process? I should also note that I have a combination of public domain ebooks and paid Amazon (DRM content) ebooks on my Kindle. It would be good practice to back up everything all at once, I suppose.

03-11-2022, 10:21 PM	#3
Sunshine82 Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2022 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Backup Processes Recommendations Thanks for the help! I'll look into the Send to Kindle process. Looks quite helpful; thanks for sharing! But it seems that my problem still persists because my issue is with getting data off my Kindle and onto my computer. I know how to backup my Clippings manually by copying and pasting them from within the data hierarchy of Kindle. So a few questions remains: 1) is the copying and pasting process legitimate? Should I be doing it differently? If this process is fine, can I just manually copy and paste my entire ebook library from the Kindle to my computer? 2) More specifically, I'm still wondering if there is a way to backup my data that will preserve my reading progress within each ebook, so that my Kindle knows where to resume reading when I return to it. 3) Calibre seems fairly problem-free for me so far, but is there another program that you can suggest? I'd like to find a program that allows me to organize and manage my library of ebooks freely with great customizability within the program -- creating folders for certain genres, etc. I also have two other ebook apps, Bookshelf Library and Kindle. How do these compare? Is backing up with either of these easier or better?

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03-11-2022, 04:53 AM	#2
hleo12 Guru Posts: 653 Karma: 5078890 Join Date: Feb 2014 Device: Kobo Glo (deceased), Kindle 4th, Kindle Basic 10th Generation	Kindle doesn't really play well with Calibre that much. You gotta jump through hoops just to get something done. There should be a file in your Kindle with all your saved notes and highlights. It should be titled 'My Clippings', and under the 'documents' folder. If you have whispersync enabled, you automatically back up all your notes/highlights for the books you have on cloud. You can try that out by installing the Kindle app on your phone. You should be able to see all your notes and highlights there too. That should work for books that came directly from kindle and your 'send-to-kindle' documents. I'm not too sure about books you sideload tho. There's also a plug-in in Calibre called 'Annotations'. I've only used it briefly, but it can import all the Annotations from your Kindle to Calibre. It's only 1 way tho. You can't send Annotations back to your Kindle. As for the Kindle ecosystem. Everything works great if you mostly read ebooks bought directly from Amazon, or their 'send-to-kindle' feature. Everything will be saved on the cloud. You can read about send to kindle here. It's a really neat feature. I have books purchased from other digital stores and just send them to my Kindle. Only downside is you have limited font choices, and no xray (I don't really use that function anyways). You can also set up Calibre to send books to your Kindle this way. Just needs a few more steps, but really convenient.

03-12-2022, 01:17 AM	#5
unkn0wn Fanatic Posts: 595 Karma: 85520 Join Date: May 2021 Device: kindle	don't know if your kindle storage shows up if you connect it to your PC but if it does.. just copy the whole documents folder into your PC.. and when you reset/get another kindle, copy the same back, the whole set of highlights including the pages, bookmarks, current page that you are reading show up the same.

03-14-2022, 12:26 AM	#6
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,911 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	If you want to keep copies of your kindle books on your computer make sure that you use the 'transfer via usb' feature. At the moment, this only really works from the Manage Content and Devices part of Amazon. There is a thread in the Kindle section of this forum discussing whether Amazon are phasing out this ability. Without it, you can only keep copies of your ebooks in the cloud. Hopefully, this is just a bug. There isn't a way of transfering notes and highlights from your kindle to your computer then re-importing both the book and highlights. You can do this from Amazon's cloud storage (I'm not sure about the details of this because I always sideload books.) You can save your highlights and notes from your books by using Kindle Mate. https://kmate.me/ This is extremely useful. Calibre works well with kindle books provided they are not DRM'd. If they are, google Apprentic Alf.

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