Firmware Update 'Quick' highlights in v5.10.2

[Phil Wolff]

Does anybody know how to turn off the new 'quick' highlights feature of the firmware update. The previous version with the 'Highlight' button was excellent, nothing would get stored in 'My Clippings.txt' until that button was hit. With the erratic way that highlights happen with my thick fingers, being able to try again was useful.

With this new version I don't have a choice, so 'My Clippings.txt' is filling up with entries I don't have a choice.

Also I haven't figure out exactly how to get the old version of highlighting, sometimes I get the new version, other times I get the old version.

I use the 'My Clippings.txt' file for proof reading my books. Every book I buy I convert to MS word, save as pdf and side load to my Kindle. I've written an app that parses 'My Clippings.txt' and searches the DOCX file for that highlight so I can make the necessary corrections - I have yet to buy a eBook that hasn't had mistakes, from an occasional spelling mistake to whole pages replaced by pages from another author - or chapters missing.

[HarryT]

If you get a highlight in the wrong place, you can tap and hold anywhere on it and then select "Delete" from the pop-up menu.

I'm curious why you're converting your books to PDF rather than AZW3/KF8. PDF is not a good choice at all for an ebook format. If you were to convert to AZW3 you could then edit the book directly in Calibre rather than needing to edit and re-convert.

[shamanNS]

@HarryT: Deleting highlights or notes from anywhere in the UI will not have any effects on MyClippings.txt because it functions like a simple (event) log file. "The system" will record there that something was added but it will not even record that something was removed let alone remove the preexisting record.

@Phil Wolff: If you can't eliminate creating of those unwanted / accidental highlights you will probably have to switch from parsing MyClippings.txt to parsing those files in associated ". sdr" directory for each book (I can't remember what were the extensions matching each book format, IIRC for old mobi format it was ".mbp") in which Kindle stores "active"/up-to-date record of that book's notes, highlights and last-page-read.
But you would first need to figure out the (binary) format itself and type of encryption used.

Possible starting point on that topic (even if that app no longer works for files produced by newer firmware) :

http://www.angelfire.com/ego2/idleloop/mbp_reader.htm

Failing that I don't see any other alternative other than doing something tedious like beginning or ending all your intentional highlights with some unique string of rarely used characters and use that as a "helper markup" to later be able to filter out (un)needed information when parsing MyClippings.txt.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

@HarryT: Deleting highlights or notes from anywhere in the UI will not have any effects on MyClippings.txt because it functions like a simple (event) log file. "The system" will record there that something was added but it will not even record that something was removed let alone remove the preexisting record.

Ah - thanks; I was unaware of that. I too use highlights to proof books, but I then correct them using the "Notes" screen on the Kindle itself, not the clippings file. When you do it that way, it does reflect any changes that are subsequently made to a highlight.

[shamanNS]

I used to do it the same way: open "Notes" window on Kindle, open epub file (since I use epubs as "master copy" in my Calibre library) with Calibre Editor (used to be Sigil instead of Calibre Editor) on PC, fix a problem> delete the note from Kindle Notes section. Once I'm finished I re-convert epub to azw3 for the future (probably newer to happen) re-reads.


Yeah, MyClippings.txt is just a dumb event log for events regarding bookmarking and note-taking activities. That chronicles just the adding part not the removing. So I end up with 95% of MyClippings.txt records being about long gone bookmark markers (since I tend to use bookmarks every time I stop reading, just in case someone else picks up my Kindle and starts to swype away forwards/backwards ... which does happen especially when young children come to visit , if I fail to promptly hide away my most precious gadget).

Kindle OS itself reads the necessary up-to-date information (once you open the book ) from those "sidecar" files I've mentioned previously.

[Phil Wolff]

Thanks for the feeback.

I use PDf PURELY for reading on various devices—BeBook, Sony Reader, Kobo and Kindle. I keep the others becase I know I will sit on the Kindle at one point and let out all the magic black/white balls.

All my eBooks are stored in DOCX fromat, so that if anybody gets the bright idea to create a 16*9 format eInk device (more approximating dead tree format) I can reformat my 1000+ books to a new device.

Because most of the books I've been reading are from scanned dead tree books I might get a couple of hundred 'Notes' per book, so using the Kindle intself to go through all those notes would take hours. With my app I select the book, parse the mighlights file, open the document, find the highlighted test (most of the time) fix it nad move on to the nest.

I have experimented with the .pds file but cannot decode it (the suggested [sidecare] web site doesn't exist anymore on the format).

I realize that the text file is just a sequential log, but at least in the OLD days I had a choice on whether to store the entry or not. Amazon have decide 'no more'.

I have left feedback with Amazon on my complaints about their NEW features. I don't expect any response.

Cheers
Phil.

[odamizu]

I also use highlights to proof books. Then I export the Notes (not the MyClippings.txt file) via the Kindle for iOS app by going to the "Notes" screen, pressing the "Export" icon and selecting "Email." It then emails me a file with all my current highlights. Highlights that have been deleted are not included. It will, however, include bookmarks, so I try to delete all bookmarks before exporting.

This only works on eink Kindles and Kindle for Mac/PC if it's a regular, non-sideloaded Kindle book, which is useless to me as all my books are sideloaded. I don't know what the situation is with Kindle for Android.

Of course, if you read and highlight on an eink Kindle, exporting Notes on iOS only works if you use WhisperSync to sync your books and highlights across devices (which I do).

[rashkae]

The only way I found to keep clippings.txt file clean is to start highlights by selecting a single word (press/hold on a word), then drag he handle to my desired selection. When you do it that way, the UI behaves like old, and doesn't highlight until 'Highlight' button is pressed.

[kleinjar]

Originally Posted by rashkae

The only way I found to keep clippings.txt file clean is to start highlights by selecting a single word (press/hold on a word), then drag he handle to my desired selection. When you do it that way, the UI behaves like old, and doesn't highlight until 'Highlight' button is pressed.

Thank you so much for this tip. I’ll do this from now on. I hope they reverse this quick-highlight feature. I’m not sure it benefits anyone who uses My Clippings.txt, or anyone at all, for that matter.