I’ve been a compulsive highlighter and note-taker on the Kindle ever since I got my first e-reader back in 2010. I go through dozens of books every year and generate hundreds of highlights of interesting quotes, technical data, or just well-written prose. But anyone who’s used a Kindle for any amount of time will know that managing highlights can be a real chore. Despite making some of the best e-readers and one of the best ebook reading apps around, Amazon still treats storing and reviewing those important nuggets as an afterthought.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours collecting highlights, but the Kindle won’t sync those unless I stay within the Amazon ecosystem.
Yes, I’m aware that the Kindle automatically syncs highlights to the website — as long as the book was purchased via Amazon. However, I like to read a lot of copyright-free books sourced via Project Gutenberg, scientific journals, and ebooks straight bought straight from the author’s website. The Kindle entirely skips syncing highlights on those, making the built-in solution a non-starter for me.