Is there a way to sort highlights in E-book viewer?

georgehuang · 03-10-2021, 02:07 AM

Both in E-book viewer and Content Server's viewer, highlights are displayed rather randomly by default. I am wondering if there is a way to sort highlights by sequential order.

In my experience, highlights are divided by chapters, which is great. However, in E-book viewer's Highlights window, chapters are sorted sequentially, meaning Chapter 1 goes before Chapter 2 and so forth, but highlights in those chapter sections are not sorted this way. In Content Server's viewer, even chapters are displayed randomly: Chapter 1 is followed by Chapter 14 and then Chapter 5, for example.

The way I read book includes going through the whole book and make highlights first, and then export those highlights for note-taking and second-time reading. A way to sort highlights by sequence will definitely benefit my workflow. So, is there a setting that I missed can sort highlights this way?

Thanks!

kovidgoyal · 03-10-2021, 02:53 AM

They are sorted by order in which they appear in the book. I tried the following steps in the viewer:

1) Create a highlight
2) It appears in the highlight panel under the chapter
3) scroll up and create a new highlight somewhere before the previous one in the same chapter
4) It appears in the highlight panel before the previous highlight

georgehuang · 03-10-2021, 03:10 AM

That is exactly what I was expecting. Strangely, that was not the case for me. As you can see in the attached screenshot, chapters in Highlights do not match those in the TOCs.

kovidgoyal · 03-10-2021, 07:48 AM

strange is it only with this book or all books??

georgehuang · 03-10-2021, 08:53 AM

It is with all books. And it has been like this for me since Calibre 5. Very strange.

By the way, my environment is macOS Big Sur with Calibre 5, as well as a headless Calibre on a remote server running Ubuntu.

kovidgoyal · 03-10-2021, 08:56 AM

Well, if you open a bug report and attach one of these books with the highlights saved inside, I'll try to see if I can figure out the cause.

georgehuang · 03-10-2021, 09:11 AM

Will do. Thanks, Kovid!

Noirtier · 04-06-2021, 05:39 AM

I have encountered the same issue after trying to mark highlights using the Calibre Viewer for a couple of PDF books (which hence I cannot mark directly on my Kobo device). It seems like the ordering is mostly reversed, but not consistently so. I was hoping to export these highlights, but can't usefully do so with the present ordering issue.

I could not find an existing bug report for this so have created a new one now:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1922691

I attached the PDF and OPF files for the two examples I have, but not sure if they include the highlights? Let me know if they are stored somewhere else, or if there is anything else that would be useful to add.

Thank you!

03-10-2021, 02:07 AM	#1
georgehuang Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2020 Device: MacBook, iPhone, Kindle Paperwhite	Is there a way to sort highlights in E-book viewer? Both in E-book viewer and Content Server's viewer, highlights are displayed rather randomly by default. I am wondering if there is a way to sort highlights by sequential order. In my experience, highlights are divided by chapters, which is great. However, in E-book viewer's Highlights window, chapters are sorted sequentially, meaning Chapter 1 goes before Chapter 2 and so forth, but highlights in those chapter sections are not sorted this way. In Content Server's viewer, even chapters are displayed randomly: Chapter 1 is followed by Chapter 14 and then Chapter 5, for example. The way I read book includes going through the whole book and make highlights first, and then export those highlights for note-taking and second-time reading. A way to sort highlights by sequence will definitely benefit my workflow. So, is there a setting that I missed can sort highlights this way? Thanks!

03-10-2021, 08:53 AM	#5
georgehuang Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2020 Device: MacBook, iPhone, Kindle Paperwhite	It is with all books. And it has been like this for me since Calibre 5. Very strange. By the way, my environment is macOS Big Sur with Calibre 5, as well as a headless Calibre on a remote server running Ubuntu. Last edited by georgehuang; 03-10-2021 at 08:59 AM. Reason: Add environment info. Revise Calibre version number.

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03-10-2021, 02:53 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	They are sorted by order in which they appear in the book. I tried the following steps in the viewer: 1) Create a highlight 2) It appears in the highlight panel under the chapter 3) scroll up and create a new highlight somewhere before the previous one in the same chapter 4) It appears in the highlight panel before the previous highlight

03-10-2021, 03:10 AM	#3
georgehuang Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2020 Device: MacBook, iPhone, Kindle Paperwhite	That is exactly what I was expecting. Strangely, that was not the case for me. As you can see in the attached screenshot, chapters in Highlights do not match those in the TOCs.

03-10-2021, 07:48 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	strange is it only with this book or all books??

03-10-2021, 08:56 AM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Well, if you open a bug report and attach one of these books with the highlights saved inside, I'll try to see if I can figure out the cause.

03-10-2021, 09:11 AM	#7
georgehuang Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2020 Device: MacBook, iPhone, Kindle Paperwhite	Will do. Thanks, Kovid!

04-06-2021, 05:39 AM	#8
Noirtier Member Posts: 17 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2021 Device: Kobo Forma	I have encountered the same issue after trying to mark highlights using the Calibre Viewer for a couple of PDF books (which hence I cannot mark directly on my Kobo device). It seems like the ordering is mostly reversed, but not consistently so. I was hoping to export these highlights, but can't usefully do so with the present ordering issue. I could not find an existing bug report for this so have created a new one now: https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1922691 I attached the PDF and OPF files for the two examples I have, but not sure if they include the highlights? Let me know if they are stored somewhere else, or if there is anything else that would be useful to add. Thank you!