I Built a Tool to Export Kobo Highlights via Email

[kavith]

Frustrated by always having to connect my Kobo to a computer to export highlights, I built Highlights.Email. It's a simple service that emails all highlights and annotations from your last read book directly to your inbox in a readable format.

The service is currently free for up to 20 books while I gauge interest and explore monetisation options. You can check it out at https://highlights.email.

I'd greatly appreciate your feedback on the concept, user experience, and especially any thoughts on sustainable monetisation strategies. I'm happy to extend the email limit if you hit it too soon!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kavith

Frustrated by always having to connect my Kobo to a computer to export highlights, I built Highlights.Email. It's a simple service that emails all highlights and annotations from your last read book directly to your inbox in a readable format.

The service is currently free for up to 20 books while I gauge interest and explore monetisation options. You can check it out at https://highlights.email.

I'd greatly appreciate your feedback on the concept, user experience, and especially any thoughts on sustainable monetisation strategies. I'm happy to extend the email limit if you hit it too soon!

How much does it cost after the free trial is over? I hope it's not a subscription and instead is a flat price.

[kavith]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How much does it cost after the free trial is over? I hope it's not a subscription and instead is a flat price.

To be honest, I'm still figuring out the pricing. The challenge is that infrastructure costs grow with usage, and I can't in good faith offer lifetime access for a one-time fee when the service has ongoing monthly costs.

I'm exploring options that balance user-friendliness with keeping the service running; currently considering a credit-based solution or a modest subscription. I'd love to hear what pricing approach you'd prefer, I'm genuinely open to suggestions!

[Anak]

Why not export highlights, notes etc. to Dropbox? It should be possible to export files to the Dropbox 'public' folder. "Pushed" to a Dropbox folder after finishing a book.

[kavith]

Originally Posted by Anak

Why not export highlights, notes etc. to Dropbox? It should be possible to export files to the Dropbox 'public' folder. "Pushed" to a Dropbox folder after finishing a book.

Thank you, that's a very good suggestion! I went with email because it's dead simple with no extra setup required - but you're right, a Dropbox integration could help reduce the email-sending overhead.

I just took a quick look at how Kobo's built-in Dropbox integration works, and it seems to be one-directional - it's scoped for importing files into the device rather than exporting files out of it. So in my case, I'd need to create a Dropbox App, implement an OAuth flow through the web app, and use the credentials securely on-device. It's definitely doable but adds a bit of complexity compared to the current email flow. I've added it to my feature roadmap though - if enough users are interested in this as a feature, I'll bump it up. Thanks again for the idea!

[febalci]

Very good idea, thanks for all the work. Actually, Dropbox is more preferrable.

As of now i am using this shell script. It creates a local markdown file on the device which includes 3 parts; Annotations, Bookmarks and Currently Reading.

Sample from Annotations:

### 🔖 The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang

*2025-01-29 17:59:41*\
Chapter 17

> “You made fun of mefor years at Sinegard.You didn’t say a kind word to me until Mugen was at our doorstep.”To his credit, Nezha actually looked guilty…

Sample from Bookmarks:

### 🔖 The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, 2025

30/01/2025 16:46:33
:
Chapter 19, 72%  read

> They had sent two regiments:one attacking perpendicular to the river and theother snaking around to the wharf from the direction of the canals.But the…

And Sample from Currently Reading:

## Currently reading:

- The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang (Chapter 19, 72% read)
- Pop-up — Booklist : Z-Library,  (20% read)
- Savaş Sanatı, Sun Tzu (15% read)
- Kemikavcılar, Steven Erikson (2, 7% read)

Bookmarks and last read page are really important because on ios i don't have a koreader and use yomu; and i have to transfer my last read page from kobo to ios somehow.

I tried to add sending the .md file from kobo to dropbox or any other server from within the script. However curl, rclone, wget post etc. none of them work; busybox doesn't have these. So maybe you can add also the above details to your tool and even if dropbox is not usable; emailing this .md file will just work fine.

[qkqw]

Originally Posted by febalci

I tried to add sending the .md file from kobo to dropbox or any other server from within the script. However curl, rclone, wget post etc. none of them work;

rclone works fine, I'm using it to sync my bookmarks and progress. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...30#post4299209