Export Kobo annotations from iPad Mini?

[Curmudgeon101]

Hi all,

Is there any way to export annotations from Kobo books on iOS to my desktop?

Thanks in advance.

[davidfor]

An indirect way is to install the Kobo desktop application. The iOS app should be syncing the annotations to the Kobo server. Then these should be synced to the desktop app. The annotations are stored in an SQLite database and you can read that to get the annotations.

If you have a Kobo e-ink device, you can go via it and calibre.

So, the short answer is "no".

[Curmudgeon101]

Thanks for the info. My annotations are not syncing to the OSX app so I will followup with Kobo on that.

I found the SQL DB on my system. Do you know how to crack open that file to get at the annotations?

[tomsem]

There are a number of tools, e.g.: http://sqlitebrowser.org/

Annotation export is a weakness of most reading apps. One exception is Google's Play Books app, which will save them to a Google doc, which you can view or export as you wish (you can edit directly but it creates a new doc each time you create a new annotation so your changes would get overwritten). You can also import your own ePub files and it works with those as well.

One strategy is to use iOS sharing (to something like Evernote, OneNote, Apple Notes etc.). It is extra work (essentially these are independent of Kobo annotations so you potentially have to duplicate effort), but probably more convenient than messing with SQLLite database.

[Curmudgeon101]

Well, epic fail for Kobo. None of my annotations sync from my iPad to the desktop app (OSX). Call to support was a waste of time ("sorry, we can't help you, and we have no idea why it isn't working). So it looks like I'll have to input all my annotations by hand.

I'm going to start using either iBooks or Marvin to export annotations from now on. No more Kobo app for me.

[FlorenceArt]

If you do a lot of annotations, you might want to look at MarginNotes. It's the only app I use to read non-fiction, because it displays footnotes in the margin next to the text you're reading. It also displays your own notes if you write any. And it syncs your highlights and notes to Evernote or Dropbox. It takes some getting used to and can be a bit frustrating at times, but as far as I know there is no equivalent to this app.

[Curmudgeon101]

re. MarginNotes. Thx. I'll check it out. I did find a convoluted way to get annotations out of Kobo. It involves highlighting, selecting an icon from a pop-up, making another selection, pressing copy in another window, and going to my iOS Notes app and pasting. There's a limit on the annotation length (Kobo will cut it off sometimes) and it adds a long URL after. Tedious, but at least I can get the annotations out for the books I have left in Kobo.

Kobo did give me a $5 credit for my inconvenience. I guess everything is good now (sarcasm).

[alper]

MarginNotes is a huge mess of an app that tries to do anything and everything.

Still I haven't figured out how to export my notes in an easy to digest way. It seems to e-mail me a marginpkg file which I can unzip and then inside is an sqlite file which may contain my annotations.

Weird how this is so difficult for an app.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by alper

MarginNotes is a huge mess of an app that tries to do anything and everything.

Still I haven't figured out how to export my notes in an easy to digest way. It seems to e-mail me a marginpkg file which I can unzip and then inside is an sqlite file which may contain my annotations.

Weird how this is so difficult for an app.

You’ve chosen to reply to a seven year old post. You’re looking at the fourth and final post from our friend, Curmudgeon101, a more aptly named individual if there ever was. He came in like a storm, then never returned, which is too bad because syncing used to not work with Kobo’s iOS app to any other Kobo instance, but has improved over time. I recently was complaining about this very syncing issue in another thread. Eventually, Kobo’s sync does get around to finding parity. They had things worked out about two years ago, and then whatever. However, I’m not sure one can get those annotations easily from the iOS app still. That’s easier done with a Kobo eReader and Calibre.

So let’s talk MarginNotes! I’ve never even heard of this app before, so I was looking into it. You’re right that it’s a mess, but it does seem powerful. It seems perfect for academics, assuming you can get the textbook into the app.

Looking at the way the software is designed and used, I don’t think it was ever intended to export a raw annotation dump because of the way it displays notes using MindMap. It exports only to certain programs: OmniOutliner, MindManager, Evernote, and Anki.