Bookworm for Windows?

[qqn]

Hey guys! I was directed here from a query I posted elsewhere earlier:

I’m looking for a(n ideally FLOSS) e-reader that works on both Windows and Android so I can start building and cross-referencing my library. I’m currently using Calibre but did play with Xodo before and liked both (Xodo has the nicer interface and allows for writing on pages with a stylus – that’s awesome).

The killer feature I need is saving any highlighting and bookmarking right into the file (generally PDF, and now more often EPUBs as well). If I can extrapolate highlights along with page numbers and citations – APA or otherwise – that would be even better. If there is some citation software out there that does this, that’s fine too (I have EndNote but don’t think this is an option there just yet).

... since then I've been very excited to discover a neat app, Bookworm. Only it's not for Windows, where I do most of my reading currently.

So now I ask you guys: how do/would you manage the above task? What's the best software out there to create an interconnected, searchable, annotatable text archive?

[skillachie]

Hi qqn,

There is a solution but not FLOSS based. Take BookFusion for a spin and let me know what you think. BookFusion will allow you to do the following:

• Read your eBooks on Windows,Linux & iOS via Web. Native app will be released later this year
• Read your eBooks on all your Android and iOS devices
• Your bookmarks, comments , highlights and reading progress will be synced across all devices
• Export your highlights,notes/comments to a CSV file
• Many more

You can learn more at https://www.bookfusion.com/reading/cloud-library

We unfortunately do not have citations at this time but plan to add it after we have added a few additional features and deployed some improvements to the platform.

Disclaimer: I am the founder of BookFusion and would be happy to hear your feedback

[qqn]

Thanks for the speedy reply, skillachie! Your program looks great indeed. Just it seems it doesn't offer a local copy, everything is just in the cloud? That's something that's not going to work for me, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

[skillachie]

Originally Posted by qqn

Thanks for the speedy reply, skillachie! Your program looks great indeed. Just it seems it doesn't offer a local copy, everything is just in the cloud? That's something that's not going to work for me, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Local copy for iOS and Android devices. Unfortunately for desktops via Web no local copy currently. However, we should have a desktop app later this year which will allow you to have local copies.

[qqn]

That's great to hear. Thanks for the update, I'm excited to check back again in a few months to see how that's progressing.

I'd love a system that stores everything just locally. Tbh, just the idea of signing in to a third-party service to access my own library is already a no-go. Syncing between my phone and my laptop is a great addition but my main concerns are great curation abilities alongside privacy I can trust.

Good luck -- looking forward to seeing what you cook up : )

[skillachie]

Originally Posted by qqn

That's great to hear. Thanks for the update, I'm excited to check back again in a few months to see how that's progressing.

I'd love a system that stores everything just locally. Tbh, just the idea of signing in to a third-party service to access my own library is already a no-go. Syncing between my phone and my laptop is a great addition but my main concerns are great curation abilities alongside privacy I can trust.

Good luck -- looking forward to seeing what you cook up : )

No worries. We are also looking at not requiring users to create an account unless they want to sync ebooks, bookmarks and comments or upgrade which will allow you to use it strictly offline without uploading your files.

Will follow up with you then for feedback.

[qqn]

Great! I'm happy to help, and even happier skilled people are turning their talents to creating something like this. The world needs it!

[vikarti]

How I do that?
I researched several things over years for this purpose.
- Bookari/Mantano - Android and iOS app (no Web, no Desktop, works reliable with Samsung DeX Pad which means it could be used on big screen). Sign-in required for sync. Paid cloud subscription required. Can be slow on large libraries (6k+ books/12k notes, even while I paid subscription for that level of library). Bookari 4 uses Adobe's renderers for epub2 and epub3(and you can choose renderer) (this means that if you provide them file which will crash app in some situations or just being rendered incorrectly, they can do exactly nothing about it. This was confirmed by support several times). Epub3 renderer have...issues. Bookfusion one is better in my opinion.
- Moon+ Pro - Android app only (no Web, no Desktop, works reliable with Samsung DeX Pad which means it could be used on big screen). Sign-in required for sync but it's sign to your own Dropbox/Google Drive account. Embeds notes directly in PDFs (Bookari and (apparently) Bookfusion doesn't do that). Strange sync logic (it looks like it assumes you start book on one device and continue SAME on another). As far as I understood, they use their own epub renderer and licensed PDF renderer.
- Bookfusion -. Everything skillachie said is true. Android/iOS clients. Web client. Calibre plugin for uploading (you can also upload via Web (as far as I understood, you can also upload from mobile app but I never used this). Paid subscription is required for anything serious if you need sync. Doesn't appear to slowdown with big library. Dictionary integration: Moon+ does this better, even Bookari does this better. Issues with GUI (I asked directly about most problematic of them and got answers like 'this will be fixed in 2019'). If some file renders incorrectly, this can be fixed by sending it to support. Sometimes it's rather fast.

[qqn]

Guys, I just found a really neat app that could have all the functions I'm looking for, it's called Polar (getpolarized.io). Here's a great summary of what they offer: getpolarized.io/2019/03/01/polar-personal-knowledge-repository.html, and the author is on Discord to boot: discordapp.com/invite/GT8MhA6.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by qqn

Guys, I just found a really neat app that could have all the functions I'm looking for, it's called Polar (getpolarized.io). Here's a great summary of what they offer: getpolarized.io/2019/03/01/polar-personal-knowledge-repository.html, and the author is on Discord to boot: discordapp.com/invite/GT8MhA6.

Seems to only support PDF and perhaps web pages. (Internally it uses JSON)

Dale

[qqn]

This is true, and a big failing. Polar's author recommends using Calibre to convert EPUBs into PDFs, a workaround I don't mind so much at the moment but that won't last long (especially since EPUBs are the better format for ebooks). On top of PDFs and EPUBs, I'd also expect it to work with comic book archives (CBR/CBZ/CB7/CBA/CBT).

I also came across a neat conversation about the new iPad Air that now has me thinking to maybe get one and make that my media device. One of the comments recommends LiquidText or Readdle's PDF Expert, and they both look great. But then, is it worth the extra $500, or should I just wait for Windows to catch up...