How do I export my ebook highlights and notes?
· Graspium
Each e-reader keeps your highlights in its own place, and only Kobo has an official export. On a tolino they sit in a notes.txt file on the device, which you can copy over USB; on a Kobo you export them from your account on kobo.com; Kindle shows them in its online notebook. If you want them in Notion, Obsidian or a spreadsheet without a cable, Graspium brings your tolino highlights across through your tolino account and exports them as Markdown, CSV or plain text.
Why the highlights are stuck in the first place
An e-reader is built for reading, not for working with what you marked. The highlights are stored with the book, in the device or the store's cloud, in a format the store chose. You can see them while you read, but getting them into your own notes means a file, a tool or a workaround, and each store has a different one.
tolino: the notes file on the device
- Connect the tolino to your computer with the USB cable and open it like a USB stick.
- In the top folder, look for
notes.txt. It holds every highlight and note on the device, all books in one file. - Copy it to your computer. It is one long plain text file, so it is worth converting.
Two open source tools do the converting: tolino-notes turns the file into one Markdown or JSON file per book, and the Obsidian plugin tolino notes import pulls it into an Obsidian vault (it expects the device language set to German). Neither is from tolino, and both need the device on the cable.
Kobo: the export on kobo.com
Kobo added an official export in 2025 (Kobo help): sign in on kobo.com, go to My Books, open Actions on a book and choose Export Annotations. You pick PDF, HTML, text or Markdown, and the file waits in your account for 30 days. It covers books bought from Kobo or read with Kobo Plus, not EPUBs you added yourself, and Kobo says it may not work for every book.
Kindle: the notebook
Kindle for Web lists every highlight, note and bookmark of a book in its notebook (Amazon help). That is the place to read them. Graspium does not connect to Kindle.
Without the cable: highlights in Graspium, exported in one go
Connect your tolino account in Graspium once, and the highlights in your tolino account come across with the book, including the note you typed on a highlight, without USB and without converting a file. That includes books with hard DRM that Graspium cannot open: the highlighted passages and your notes still come across, just without a page number. Highlights you make while reading in Graspium join them. On the notes page you pick the books, then copy or download everything in one format:
- Markdown, for Notion and Obsidian. Notion imports Markdown and CSV files directly (Notion help).
- CSV, for a spreadsheet.
- Plain text, to paste anywhere.
- JSON, for your own scripts.
What it does not do yet: a Kobo connection is not public, so Kobo highlights are not synced. Kindle highlights stay with Amazon.
Questions and answers
Where does tolino store my highlights?
On the device, in a file called notes.txt in the top folder, which you reach over USB. Highlights also sync to your tolino account, which is where Graspium reads them from.
Can I export tolino highlights to Notion?
Yes. Convert notes.txt to Markdown with an open source tool and import that into Notion, or let Graspium bring your tolino highlights across and export them as Markdown or CSV, both of which Notion imports.
Does Kobo have an official highlights export?
Yes, since 2025: on kobo.com under My Books, Actions, Export Annotations, as PDF, HTML, text or Markdown. It covers books bought from Kobo or read with Kobo Plus.