Migrating annotations from Kindle for PC to Tolino using Calibre

Subsurf · 04-08-2021, 12:17 PM

Hello everyone,

despite being an avid Kindle user on PC and Android, I bought a cheap used Tolino to have an actual e-reader, because reading is especially tiring on my Android phone.

Getting my e-books from Kindle for PC onto the Tolino is pretty easy thanks to Calibre and some plugins. However, I would like to also transfer my annotations from Kindle to the Tolino.

I guess the workflow would be to get my annotations from Kindle to Calibre and then from Calibre to Tolino.

Unfortunately, the only thing I found so far is the "Annotation plugin", which only seems to work with an actual Kindle device, not with Kindle for PC. Besides that, the plugin doesn't seem to use the actual annotation feature in Calibre but a separate "comments" column.

Is there a way to get my annotations from Kindle for PC to Calibre (and then onto the Tolino)?

JSWolf · 04-08-2021, 02:12 PM

Sorry, but no.

davidfor · 04-09-2021, 02:56 AM

As @JSWolf said it can't be done. The issue is how and where they annotations are stored. And if it is possible to translate them from one format to another.

The Annotations plugin does read annotations and store them in the calibre library. But, for both Kindles and tolinos, it is basically reading a log of the annotations made. These are in the "My Clippings.txt" and "notes.txt" files on Kindles and tolinos respectively. Neither of these files contain enough information to restore the annotations to either device. In both cases, the file is written to as you add annotations and never read. The "real" annotations are elsewhere. In the case of tolino devices, they are not stored where they are accessible when the device is connected to a PC.

The other problem, if we could get an accurate location for the annotation in the book, is translating between formats. The Kindle will be using one of MOBI, AZW or KXF. The annotations will be stored with an location into those book. The tolinos will be using ePubs. The location will be stored in a format that makes sense to those books. I can guess how this is done for epubs (probably based on how the Adobe RMSDK does it), and it could be transferable to other devices if you have exactly the same epub on both devices. But, different editions can make this hard. You probably have to end up searching for the highlighted text without any formatting and working out if it is an actual match. And then working out the new location string to store it in the devices annotations.

Someday I plan to expand the Annotations plugin to store the annotations as calibre annotations. And maybe I'll do restore function. But, at this point, I am only confident I will be able to do this properly for ePubs on Kobo devices. I know how those are store, and they should be "easy". Kepubs on a Kobo device will cause problems. Sony's might be as "easy" but, I don't have one so can't be sure.

04-08-2021, 12:17 PM	#1
Subsurf Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2021 Device: Tolino Vision 4 HD	Migrating annotations from Kindle for PC to Tolino using Calibre Hello everyone, despite being an avid Kindle user on PC and Android, I bought a cheap used Tolino to have an actual e-reader, because reading is especially tiring on my Android phone. Getting my e-books from Kindle for PC onto the Tolino is pretty easy thanks to Calibre and some plugins. However, I would like to also transfer my annotations from Kindle to the Tolino. I guess the workflow would be to get my annotations from Kindle to Calibre and then from Calibre to Tolino. Unfortunately, the only thing I found so far is the "Annotation plugin", which only seems to work with an actual Kindle device, not with Kindle for PC. Besides that, the plugin doesn't seem to use the actual annotation feature in Calibre but a separate "comments" column. Is there a way to get my annotations from Kindle for PC to Calibre (and then onto the Tolino)?

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04-08-2021, 02:12 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,887 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Sorry, but no.

04-09-2021, 02:56 AM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	As @JSWolf said it can't be done. The issue is how and where they annotations are stored. And if it is possible to translate them from one format to another. The Annotations plugin does read annotations and store them in the calibre library. But, for both Kindles and tolinos, it is basically reading a log of the annotations made. These are in the "My Clippings.txt" and "notes.txt" files on Kindles and tolinos respectively. Neither of these files contain enough information to restore the annotations to either device. In both cases, the file is written to as you add annotations and never read. The "real" annotations are elsewhere. In the case of tolino devices, they are not stored where they are accessible when the device is connected to a PC. The other problem, if we could get an accurate location for the annotation in the book, is translating between formats. The Kindle will be using one of MOBI, AZW or KXF. The annotations will be stored with an location into those book. The tolinos will be using ePubs. The location will be stored in a format that makes sense to those books. I can guess how this is done for epubs (probably based on how the Adobe RMSDK does it), and it could be transferable to other devices if you have exactly the same epub on both devices. But, different editions can make this hard. You probably have to end up searching for the highlighted text without any formatting and working out if it is an actual match. And then working out the new location string to store it in the devices annotations. Someday I plan to expand the Annotations plugin to store the annotations as calibre annotations. And maybe I'll do restore function. But, at this point, I am only confident I will be able to do this properly for ePubs on Kobo devices. I know how those are store, and they should be "easy". Kepubs on a Kobo device will cause problems. Sony's might be as "easy" but, I don't have one so can't be sure.

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