Every once in a while I run into a snag with using cloud based technology or web based apps. Namely, the company that runs the software can make changes whenever they want and then you are stuck trying to keep your data the way you organized it before. It happened when Google Reader stopped allowing ‘sharing’ and letting you have an RSS feed or your shared items. Delicious fixed that.
This happened a few weeks ago when I finished reading a PDF book on my Kindle and I couldn’t export the highlights like I normally do with all my amazon downloaded books. I looked all over Google and the Internet to find a solution and there wasn’t many good ones and most people said it wasn’t possible. The solution really isn’t all that difficult.
1. Plug your Kindle into your computer.
2. Navigate through the files on te Kindle and look for the file called My Clippings.txt
3. Open it and you’ll see all your highlights, copy them out and throw them into whatever program you want.
So while you can’t access it through http://kindle.amazon.com like I’m used to, at least I can get all my notes and import them into Evernote for easy searching, tagging and sorting.
Thank you very much for sharing this tip!
Hey Nathan,
We share the same name :)
I know how cumbersome it can be to get those Kindle highlights extracted. I was so fed up with it that I decided to build an app for that :) It’s called Snippefy http://www.snippefy.com
I’m launching it in November. You’ll be able to read and share your Kindle highlights and notes, all in one place. Exporting to Evernote, Email, Dropbox will be a breeze.
I’d be happy to provide you with a promo code if you are interested in getting first dibs.
Cheers!
Nathan
Its great message and I like your wonderful post here. Export Notes and Highlights from PDF is really a irritating task to me via my wi-fi file transfer protocol, but your info really nice to me. Thanks for share. Also I hope you all enjoy new developing app named Snippefy. Its another magic where you can Read and share your Kindle highlights and notes, all in one place :D
Just wait and updated via its website. :)
there is no “my clipping.txt” file in my kindle folder. how is it possible?
that app unfortunately is only for ios
I would like to recommend http://www.clippingsconverter.com for managing your kindle highlights. Seems very professional and it’s completely free.
Nathan you are a diamond :o) thanks a million for the tip – my dissertation solutes you sir!
Just discovered this – thanks very much; despite being years old, this tip still works !
I’m reading this 8 years after you wrote it, and this tip seriously just saved me hours of potential work. I could not figure out how to export my PDF notes. Thank you soooo much for posting this!
I can’t find my clippings either but I have ios so I am confused as to why it is not working : ( any tips?
Thank you man, life saver!!! whata tip… At first I could not do using the site, but looking further you can find the txt…and magic! Thanks for the tip man!!!