My Clippings on a new Kindle

[Like_to_read]

I was going to buy a new Kindle Oasis and return my old one.

Is the My Clippings files with highlights and notes stored by Amazon on the cloud as well and automatically downloaded to a new device

OR

Does the file only show clippings of books which are downloaded to the new Amazon device (i.e. not all my clippings unless I download every single book to the new Kindle)?

Thanks

[shamanNS]

MyClippings.txt is a simple "log" type file in which a Kindle device locally makes records of highlight / note / bookmark "events" as they occur. It functions like a journal...
That file's content isn't being synced anywhere outside of the device that created it. And it doesn't get recreated after device factory reset or on "sync" with Amazon's WhisperNet servers.

Relevant information that is being synced to and from your Amazon account (syncing being done only for books that are associated with your Amazon account [ = emailed "personal docs" OR Amazon bought books. Not random USB transfered books]) is actually stored inside files that you can find in a folder named "book_title + '.sdr"


So, more to the point of answering your question: if you plan on using popular apps & services (like "Kindle Mate" app or clippings. io website) to extract your existing notes & highlights (to use that information elsewhere) your should backup / copy MyClippings.txt from that Oasis to your PC before returning it.

Those apps that "parse" MyClippings.txt don't need and don't care about actual book files... since all the info they're extracting is self contained in MyClippings.txt file.

[Like_to_read]

Thanks for the info

1) Can I just take the clippings log file and copy it from the old Kindle touch to the Oasis 2019 (effectively overwriting the log file on the Kindle Oasis)? Would that cause any issues with the new Kindle Oasis?

2) If all the notes were on books purchased directly from Amazon or documents emailed to the Kindle address, will they show up automatically on the new Kindle as well even if I don't transfer the log file?

3) I decided to stick with Kindle instead of another book reader because I was worried that there was no way to migrate my notes and highlights.

Are there programs which will copy the notes and highlights as well change the format of Amazon books? For example, I was thinking of getting the PocketBook or Kobo.

I knew that converting the Amazon books would be a pain but was doable. The dealbreaker was not being able to open the books without my highlights and notes. Is it possible to use the log file to import highlights and notes into converted Amazon books

[tomsem]

There’s really no point in transferring the file: it is not ‘source of truth’ for what the highlights and notes are. For example if you switch to a different device and make notes there, the log file won’t have these. And if you delete highlights or notes, the log file does not reflect that. The source of truth is in the cloud, better to trust that.

Using clippings file as source for import after conversion is not at all ideal. Kindle can export them on demand as an email attachment in a more structured form (.csv plus .pdf) that is more amenable to whatever tools you have to convert and migrate things. That said, I don’t know what is possible in terms of importing notes should you choose a different reading platform. Kindle platform doesn’t have a way of doing it, for example. There is a draft specification for ‘Open Annotation’ in ePub for example but I don’t think it has any implementations:

http://www.idpf.org/epub/oa/

I think the use case for exporting notes is to make them more readily accessible for using them in whatever writing you might be doing (reviews, academic work etc), or just so you can compile them somewhere and review them more easily.

Of course, having a document with the highlights and notes would make it easier to re-create them on a new platform, but I would not expect it to be effortless.

[Like_to_read]

Originally Posted by tomsem

There’s really no point in transferring the file: it is not ‘source of truth’ for what the highlights and notes are. For example if you switch to a different device and make notes there, the log file won’t have these. And if you delete highlights or notes, the log file does not reflect that. The source of truth is in the cloud, better to trust that.

Using clippings file as source for import after conversion is not at all ideal. Kindle can export them on demand as an email attachment in a more structured form (.csv plus .pdf) that is more amenable to whatever tools you have to convert and migrate things. That said, I don’t know what is possible in terms of importing notes should you choose a different reading platform. Kindle platform doesn’t have a way of doing it, for example. There is a draft specification for ‘Open Annotation’ in ePub for example but I don’t think it has any implementations:

http://www.idpf.org/epub/oa/

I think the use case for exporting notes is to make them more readily accessible for using them in whatever writing you might be doing (reviews, academic work etc), or just so you can compile them somewhere and review them more easily.

Of course, having a document with the highlights and notes would make it easier to re-create them on a new platform, but I would not expect it to be effortless.

How can I export notes as email attachment from Kindle to use in a program for migration? I only see options to email one particular note. How would I do it for an entire book or ideally all books in my Kindle?

Thanks

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Like_to_read

How can I export notes as email attachment from Kindle to use in a program for migration? I only see options to email one particular note. How would I do it for an entire book or ideally all books in my Kindle?

Thanks

It emails all of your notes for the book, as they exist at that point in time.

You can also view them for all of your books at read.amazon.com/notebook, but I don’t think there is any export there apart from copy paste.