PDF highlites and notes written using a kindel are lost when viewing on computer

[cadmus]

My colleague bought a Kindle 3 (keyboard) and I was planning on doing the same. 
99% of what we read for work is only available in PDF and is so full of equations, citations, graphs and tables that would be lost if converting to an ebook using the 'convert' in the title email trick.   

We figured out how to highlight when reading a pdf in kindel.  We figured out how to add notes in the kindle. 
But as soon as we try to import that PDF into our computer and read it in adobe the highlights and notes are GONE. 

This is very important.  What is the point of reading something and taking notes if you can not go back and reread your notes and search your notes.     

There is a PDR (.pdr) file with the same name created but we have no idea how to open it but it might have the highlights and edits i am looking for.   

How do we get acrobat pro 8 to show the comments we made while writing in the kindel. 

thanks in advance for the help. 

[cadmus]

Also, since we are on the topic.  I assume a Kindle touch will let you scribble notes on the PDF with a stylus.  hand written notes.  Like the sony does.  Is this true?  will these notes be retained when viewing the file on your computer?  thanks

[Morf]

The highlights and notes are not saved in the PDF so as you've found, transferring the PDF back to your PC will not transfer them.

The best way to get the notes is to look at the "My Clippings.txt" file in the documents folder on your Kindle. This will contain all the notes and hightlights you make in all books including PDFs.

For a PDF it lists the note you've made and the page you made it on.

It's worth noting that the myclippings.txt file is a copy of the notes (the original notes are stored, as you surmised, in a file with each book), so if you want to you can copy myclippings.txt off your Kindle and then delete it (to keep things tidy or to keep it a manageable size): your notes will still be on the document.

The other way to do it is to use the personal documents facility: send the pdf to your Kindle using your kindle email address and it will be stored in the Kindle "cloud". Notes that you make in the books should then be synchronised to the cloud as long as you have wireless turned on.

However, the problem with this is that right now the notes will only sync with another Kindle on your account. They won't (at present) sync with the Kindle apps such as Kindle for PC, although Amazon have told us this will come in a future release.

So, for now, the myclippings.txt file is your only solution.

I can't help with the Touch, I'm afraid, I haven't got one.

[cadmus]

Thanks Morf.

That is too bad.   a txt file that is not spatially referenced to the original PDF is of little use to me. 

Are any other readers better?  I hear the sony will export it as a RTF, but i have no idea if that would be spatially tied to where the note was placed. 

[Morf]

If you highlight the text that you are interested in then type a note, you get both the highlighted text and the note in MyClippings.txt.

So, for example, in this PDF on Page 20 I highlighted "Adding a role" and then typed the note "note this".

MyClippings.txt has this in it:

Code:

Windows_Server_2008_R2_e-book
- Highlight on Page 20 | Added on Monday, January 30, 2012, 07:24 PM

Adding a role
==========
Windows_Server_2008_R2_e-book
- Note on Page 20 | Added on Monday, January 30, 2012, 07:24 PM

note this
==========

I think that to be any more spatially referenced than that you would need something that implements a full version of Acrobat with its note taking functions - a tablet for instance.

[cadmus]

thanks for the example.  Yeah that will not cut it for me.  I am guessing there is some file internally that must have a spatial reference to the exact location of notes on the PDF... but that might be a lot of programing.  

if a tablet came with an E-ink, yes, that would meet my needs.  

It looks like all the sony models do it, returning a RTF of the PDF plus any comments and notes and scribbles.  
I will report back as i find more.  

[cadmus]

I was unable to find a workaround for the kindels. 
but i did find this for the sony:
http://hoheinzollern.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/sony-reader-notes-to-svg-or-pdf/
some linux guru figured out how to combine the SVG file (scribble) and the original PDF into a marked up PDF.
But i am guessing it will not run on my windows machine.
that is the answer to my dreams, if anyone can come up with a way to do this on a windows machine please let me know.

But i was unable to find any usable format for the kindel.  Since the sony is better at PDFs i focused on that.

Thanks

[Morf]

Firstly, as I read the page you link to, his app only at present has the capability to turn the handwritten notes into an svg (graphics) file. He actually links to a Windows app to do exactly the same thing!

He then offers a way to use inkscape to convert the svg into a pdf. Inkscape is available for Windows as well.

TWhat he doesn't offer, although some people have asked him for it, is a way to combine the handwritten notes into the pdf that you wrote them against.

Nor does he appear to be able to get to any typed rather than handwritten notes.

However, I'm neither a Linux or a Sony guru, so I may have misread it.

It certainly looks as though a Sony will be more usable for your purposes than a Kindle.

I suggest you see if there are Sony forums out there (mobileread might be a good starting point) and see if people there can advise, we're mostly Kindle people here.

[Dragle]

What about emailing the PDF to your amazon account so that it is in your library, then on the computer reading it with the Kindle app (Kindle for PC/Mac, or the Cloud Reader if on Linux).  I'm just not sure if those apps work for PDFs, but if they do, they would handle your notes and highlights.