Pocketbook Annotations Extraction

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

To rkomar (above):
To nhedgehog:

The DB file does not actually contain the annotations. It contains the file names and locations of the annotations from epubs. That system seems to have its advantages. In the Sony and Kobo, you get the page numbers next to the annotations when you extract them with the Toxaris annotation software.

Again to nhedgehog:

There is no "forced update option to go back in firmware" in the Touch HD 631. As NASCARaddicted already noted above, you're in the wrong thread for info about the PB626, a device that uses entirely different note-taking and dictionary functions and that has no Text-to-Speech option.

If you wouldn't be such an racist about YOUR type of device (PB 631), YOU would have known that every Pocketbook ever produced, regardless of the specific type, has an option to force update, even to a lower version. If your device has keys, there is a key combination to force it to rollback. Just look at the other Pocketbook threads an I'm sure YOU will find something. ... and it is confirmed that any PB 631 user can use the same dictionaries on the PB 631 as on the PB 515, just not YOU.

[michailbachtin]

Originally Posted by NASCARaddicted

Thanks for your feedback and your close work with the people at Pocketbook.

But I have one question: is there really a benefit if you use a DB file for the annotations?

The advantage to the DB file is apparent on screen.

The Pocketbook note files do not distinguish between what you've highlighted and your own annotations. The highlighting also repeats the first 100 Characters in bold followed by the highlighted text, which is then followed by the (undifferentiated annotation). MESSY!!! The only way to see what I myself wrote here as my own annotation is to use CAPITAL LETTERS ALL THE TIME for an annotation.

The Toxaris annotation exporter highlights in yellow your own highlights, and offers a separate column next to each highlight for an annotation to that highlight.

THAT IS SO MUCH EASIER TO READ THROUGH!!!

[michailbachtin]

The new software for the Pocketbook Touch HD is available. At least I think it is on the Russian website and on the USA page for the Touch HD 631:

http://www.pocketbook-int.com/us/sup...tbook-touch-hd

Can anyone tell us whether they fixed the highlighting and annotations? And how they work now?

Cheers to all?

P.S. No question, this is a great device, if only it would work correctly...

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

The new software for the Pocketbook Touch HD is available. At least I think it is on the Russian website and on the USA page for the Touch HD 631:

http://www.pocketbook-int.com/us/sup...tbook-touch-hd

Can anyone tell us whether they fixed the highlighting and annotations? And how they work now?

Cheers to all?

P.S. No question, this is a great device, if only it would work correctly...

Changelog (German):
http://download.pocketbook-int.com/6...205.16.371.pdf
Source:
https://www.e-reader-forum.de/ebook-...195#post344195

[michailbachtin]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

If you wouldn't be such an racist about YOUR type of device (PB 631), YOU would have known that every Pocketbook ever produced, regardless of the specific type, has an option to force update, even to a lower version. If your device has keys, there is a key combination to force it to rollback. Just look at the other Pocketbook threads an I'm sure YOU will find something. ... and it is confirmed that any PB 631 user can use the same dictionaries on the PB 631 as on the PB 515, just not YOU.

@ nHedgehog

The new PB 631 came with new software, so there is no earlier version to roll back to. I am familiar with the update technology, since I still own a PB 623. All PB devices accept a software version only if it is written for the device itself. Thus you can't update a PB 631 with software for a PB 625. The device won't allow it. It would help if you were better informed.

Sad that you would use the term "racist" against a person of colour. Perhaps "YOU" want to apologize. Alternatively, I could report you to the moderators.

I created this thread to discuss the PB 631 annotations by comparison with Kobo and Sony devices using Toxaris technology. True, I should have labelled the thread Pocketbook PB 631 Annotation Extraction (adding the PB 631 to the thread's title; but others here have told YOU (see NASCARaddicted's comment above to you) that we are discussing PB 631 devices.

Zu Ihren Links: In den Anmerkungen zu dem neusten Update der Software ist nichts, aber gar nichts, von der Anmerkungsproblematik zu lesen.

Please rant in someone else's thread.

[nhedgehog]

@michailbachtin
Something went terribly wrong in this thread! I think it is time for some clarification.
1) First of all, this is an open forum were people share information.
2) This is the developer thread intended for sharing infos about developing software for the specific branche, depending even more on clear informations.
3) My intentions about participating were to help with the problem and not to pester you.
4) If You had been more specific at the beginning a lot of confusion could have been avoided.


But lets analyse this:
You started the thread with a quite unspecific problem description asking for help and offering more information:

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

… Let me know if I can help!B.

Why unspecific?
You wrote about the

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

Pocketbook … the latest software releases … WARNING: ANNOTATIONS ARE A PROBLEM

Since we are talking about devices with embedded software, using the term firmware including the firmware number would have been much more precise. Pocketbook is producing software too, but this is an android app. I don’t think you did this on purpose but it was still misleading. Even a warning was included, raising the flag be careful for all Pocketbook users. Later in the text the information about your device is coming combined with other devices.

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

Pocketbook Touch HD (which uses the same software as the latest Pocketbook Inkpad 2 etc)

-> etc. opens this for all recent devices.

Problem description:

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

In previous versions of the pocketbook software, the highlights and annotations for each ebook (whether epub or mobi) were stored in a separate file in the system directory of the device as an html file.

The new software for the Pocketbook series of eReaders has changed recently to the sql format: precisely what the Sony and Kobo eReaders use. … The sql code stored on the Pocketbook HD 631 is located in a books.db file.

That I interpreted as:
Annotations are now stored in the a database file. There is no way to get to them.
Previous firmware of the aforementioned Pocketbook devices did not have this flaw.

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

Pocketbook Touch HD (which uses the same software as the latest Pocketbook Inkpad 2 etc)

.
Ok I thought, that is something I can work with. I invested some time to look at it.
First I made sure I had the latest version of „the new software for Pocketbook series of eReaders“ and looked at it. I could not find your problem. Second I downloaded the database file you mentioned to see, if I can find the problem and be of any help, and here some question arose. So I did what You asked as to do, having a look at the problem and asking questions to specify the problem:

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

… Let me know if I can help!B.

What now came after some days was not of any help. A long text about your contact to custumer service, how disappointed You are with Pocketbook and a call for us to stand up for a better software against the developer Pocketbook but not a single helpful comment about the questions asked to clarify the problem. That was frankly rude so I commented on the question about answering questions. Here at last came something helpful. You acknowledged contrary to what You wrote in the first post that:

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

The DB file does not actually contain the annotations. It contains the file names and locations of the annotations from epubs.

And telling me in the same post that there is no way to go back to a previous version of the firmware for the PB 631 and to go to play somewere else:

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

There is no "forced update option to go back in firmware" in the Touch HD 631. As NASCARaddicted already noted above, you're in the wrong thread for info about the PB626, a device that uses entirely different note-taking and dictionary functions and that has no Text-to-Speech option.

First I didn’t talk about TTS previously and I’m aware of the differences of the devices. As shown above Your description was unclear.
Second: You were wrong. There is a forced firmware update possibility and from Your unclear specification as quoted above I still assumed You are not aware of it.
Sorry but that was not an appropriate answer to someone who wanted to help with Your problem and I felt chided by someone who is narrowminded focussed on his specific device. That was what I was trying to say with „racist about Your device“. I’m sorry that You interpreted this as „You are a racist“ that was nether intended and I appologize for it. I don’t care about Your sex, colour or anything else. I just was focussed on the problem You wrote about and how to solve this. In the last post You clarified at last, that the PB 631 came delivered with that new annotation system and that they didn’t change it with a firmware update. If this info would have been in the first post …
My last effort to help You was:

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

The new software for the Pocketbook Touch HD is available. … Can anyone tell us whether they fixed the highlighting and annotations? And how they work now?

I did give You the tools to look for it yourself and see, that they didn’t solve the problem. That could have helped You. But no, even that You interpreted as ranting in Your thread, sorry I don’t know what to say about that …

[NASCARaddicted]

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

To rkomar (above):
FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO HELP SOLVE THIS ISSUE: I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO WRITE TO ANNE CHERKES AT POCKETBOOK AND REQUEST AN ANNOTATION EXTRACTION SOFTWARE OPTION.

Anna Cherkes <help@pocketbook-int.com>

Yesterday, I wrote an e-mail to Pocketbook, asking about the annotations.

Here is the answer that I got:

Thank you for choosing Pocketbook.
We confirm that export of notes is currently unavailable for Pocketbook Touch HD.
This function will be added in the software version 5.18.
Should you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us again.

Best regards,
Customer Support Team

(just to add: right now, on the PB Homepage, you can download 5.16. So I hope we will get a solution for our problem in the near future.

[michailbachtin]

@ NASCARaddicted

Thanks for the helpful info.

We'll all be waiting for their solution. But I get the feeling that the Pocketbook techs are trying to do it right this time. About a year ago, I suggested they try integrating their notes and annotations with a plugin to export them to Calibre. And I sent them copies of Toxaris's annotation extractor. They showed interest in both possibilities.

So there's hope!

[cheflo]

Hi,
I just ordered a Pocketbook 626 (Touch Lux 3). After reading this thread, I am curious to know what format the exported notes and annotations are in on the Pocketbook 626.

Will it be on the database format that is linked in the first post? Or is it impossible to know without knowing which firmware comes preloaded on the device? Is it different between PDF and ebooks annotations?

[cheflo]

The Pocketbook support team just answered my question:

All Pocketbook devices support PDF and offer notes function.
The notes are saved in .html format and can be edited.
If the PDF file is a scanned one, the notes are saved as pictures and can be saved but cannot be edited.

To extract the notes from the device onto the PC, you should connect the device to the PC and find system/config/Active Contents or system/profiles/name_profile/config/Active Contents (if several profiles are activated);

[michailbachtin]

@ chefo

The PDF notes and the Epub notes should work fine on your device. The Touch Lux 3 uses the old system, so all notes are stored and exportable from the hidden system directory of the device (system/config/active contents).

Cheers!

[cheflo]

Thanks for replying michailbachtin,
I just got the device and I agree that the output html format is quite unreadable, especially when it comes to differentiate note that I have written from my text highlights.

However, this is not a big issue for me since I my usual workflow when taking notes in physical books and PDFs is to flip through all the pages afterwards and transfer the note to my computer. This serves as a good review and contextualizes the note further. Naturally it takes more time, the pdf annotation screenshots that the pocketbook saves might be useful for this.

[Arni1]

Found something to extract highlights from my PocketBook HD here: https://www.aar-innovations.com/high...-e-ink-readers It is rather simple but get things done--I got all my highlights in a txt file.

[NASCARaddicted]

Looks nice. Right now, I haven't my Pocketbook near me, so I can't test it, but if it works like you describe it ...
Do you know about an offline version? When it comes to stuff like this, I prefer something that can be downloaded. You never know, how long this page will be online - it could be gone tomorrow, or it could last for 20 years ...

[richo]

I have inkPad2 and old way of storing notes only in html files.
I am also not very happy about making highlights. The responsiveness and precision very much depends on font which you are using.