As far as I am aware, there are no options out there for exporting the annotations you make with Kobo e-readers into neat and readable files with a simple script. So for those of us who don't wish to install Calibre just for this purpose, here is a script that finds all annotation files stored in the e-reader recursively and converts them into markdown files. Perfect if your workflow involves knowledge management software such as Obsidian.
This script was developed with the Kobo Clara HD model in mind.
- Python 3.6 and higher,
- modules html, os, pathlib, and sys should be included by default.
Simply drop the script in your .local/bin directory and call it from the command line. Your Kobo e-reader must be plugged in order for the script work.
$ kobo-annotations-exporter.py
No path was provided.
Default KOBOeReader path will be used.
Exporting Immanuel Kant - Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals.md...
Exporting Chris Bailey - The Productivity Project.md...The default script I used corresponds to where the Kobo Clara HD model stores it's .annot files. If your model has a different directory setup you may enter a custom path like this.
$ kobo-annotation-exporter.py /media/user/KOBOeReader/Digital\ Editions/Annotations/
Exporting Immanuel Kant - Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals.md...
Exporting Chris Bailey - The Productivity Project.md...- Dr. Mounir Mallek