How to export your Kobo highlights and notes

A Kobo is a lovely place to read and an awkward place to keep what you highlighted. There is no clippings file like the Kindle's, and Kobo's own export leaves out any book you did not buy from Kobo. Here are the two ways to get your highlights and notes out, what each one covers, and how to bring them into a reading journal where each passage keeps the feeling that made you mark it.

Where your Kobo keeps your highlights

Every highlight and note you make on a Kobo eReader goes into one file on the device: KoboReader.sqlite, inside a hidden folder named .kobo. It is a small database, not a text file, so opening it in a text editor shows nothing useful. It holds the highlights of every book on the Kobo: bought from Kobo, from Kobo Plus, borrowed, or copied over from your computer.

Books bought from Kobo also send their highlights to your Kobo account when the eReader or the Kobo Books app syncs. Books you copied over yourself (sideloaded) never do: their highlights exist only on the device.

Option 1: Kobo's own export (books bought from Kobo or Kobo Plus)

1. Sync your Kobo, so the latest highlights reach your account.
2. On Kobo.com, sign in and open My Books from My Account.
3. Open the actions menu next to a book and choose Export Annotations.
4. Pick a format (PDF, HTML, TXT or Markdown) and generate the file. It appears under the Annotations tab, ready to download.

It works one book at a time, Kobo says it may not work for every book, sideloaded books are not included, and drawings made with a stylus are not exported. Generated files are kept for 30 days.

Option 2: every book at once, from the Kobo itself

1. Connect the Kobo to a computer with its cable and tap Connect on the Kobo's screen. It shows up as a drive.
2. Show hidden folders. On Windows, in File Explorer's View menu, turn on hidden items. On a Mac, press Cmd + Shift + . in the Finder window.
3. Open the .kobo folder. KoboReader.sqlite is there. Copy it to your computer now and then: for sideloaded books it is the only copy of your highlights.

To read that file you need something that understands it. Storyfeel does, below; so does the free calibre plugin Kobo Utilities, if you already manage your books in calibre.

Bring them into Storyfeel

1. In Storyfeel, open Feels, go to Highlights and choose Import Highlights.
2. On a computer with Chrome or Edge, choose Connect to Kobo and select the Kobo drive: Storyfeel finds KoboReader.sqlite inside the hidden folder by itself. In other browsers the button says Choose Kobo File, and you select the file yourself, from the Kobo or from a copy.
3. Before anything is saved, you see how many moments were found and which books they belong to. A book that is not in your library yet asks where it should go: Completed, Reading, TBR or DNF, or Don't add to leave its highlights out.
4. Confirm, and your highlights are in Feels, each with its book.

The file is opened inside your browser and is never uploaded: Storyfeel reads the highlights and leaves the rest of the database alone.

What comes across

• The text of every highlight, with its book and author, in the order you made them.
• Your notes. A note you typed on a highlight becomes Your thought on that moment.
• Quotes. A highlight that starts and ends with quotation marks, like a line of dialogue, comes in as a quote.
• Sideloaded books often have no title inside the database. Storyfeel then uses the file name, without underscores; check in the preview that the book is the one you expect.
• What stays behind: page numbers and chapters (the Kobo does not store a page you can use), the colour of a highlight on a colour Kobo, stylus drawings, and plain bookmarks. The same passage highlighted twice comes in once.

Three Kobo quirks worth knowing

1. Sideloaded books have no backup. Their highlights never reach your Kobo account, so a reset or a lost Kobo takes them with it. Import them, or keep a copy of KoboReader.sqlite.
2. Library books: import their highlights while the book is still on your Kobo, rather than after the loan ends.
3. The Kobo Books app on your phone syncs highlights of books bought from Kobo to your account, so Option 1 covers what you highlighted there too.

After the import: give each highlight its feeling

On a colour Kobo you sorted highlights by colour. In Storyfeel you sort them by what they made you feel. Open a highlight in Feels and choose a feeling from a short list or Browse all feelings, then write a line in Your thought. A year from now the passage is still there, with the mood you read it in.

And so they do not sit unread again: in Games → Recall, a few of your highlights come back each day, spaced so they stick.

Questions

Can I import again after reading more?

Yes. Import the same file whenever you like: highlights already in Storyfeel are recognised and skipped, and only the new ones come in.

Can I do it from my phone?

Getting the file off the Kobo needs a computer. Once you have a copy of KoboReader.sqlite, the import works on any device.

Does the free plan limit highlights?

No. Highlights are not limited. Books the import adds count towards the free plan's book limits; any beyond them are kept, locked, until you subscribe. Nothing is ever deleted.

Reading on a Kindle too? Here is how to export your Kindle highlights. Moving from Goodreads? Export your Goodreads library. For what to write next to your highlights: reading journal prompts. Or simply try Storyfeel free.

Sources

Checked in November 2026: Kobo Help, Export annotations from your books.