UPDATE: MAC Users–apparently Microsoft removed VBA from their Word for MAC (read excruciating details here.) Thus, the only way to use this macro is to run Windows on your Mac, with the Windows version of Office running.
First let me thank Lance Laytner for encouraging me to pull out the macros and work on them some more.
As I posted previously, I had compiled/written a Word macro routine that would go through and reformat the Kindle’s “My Clippings.txt” file into something a bit more useful. It was rough around the edges requiring much massaging afterwards due to some quirks of formatting. In other words, it was a 50% solution.
I have fixed “most” of the problems with the macros. (see the file after the break!) I say most, because it now works properly for me, but that’s not to say there aren’t some other “odd” formatting features I haven’t found yet.
You can find the file here. (It should show up as a text file in your browser. I recommend cutting and pasting into a text document, and then saving as kindle.bas)
To install the macro, just go in Word to the VBA window (Alt-F11 usually gets you there–you might need to enable the “developer” tab first) and then import the file Kindle.bas — it should load into the Normal project, as Module Kindle.
To use the macro, just open the My Clippings.txt file (I open as a text file, and cut and paste into word) and then run the macro in Word.
Here’s what the macro does:
- Creates a table of highlights, notes and bookmarks.
- sorts the table by book and location in book
- removes a (now useless) column
- changes the font to a smaller one
- adjusts the column sizes
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for creating this macro! I bought the Kindle 2 primarily for it’s ability to export my highlights and notes to my computer (saving me hours of time inputting research). I was disappointed when I saw the format of the text file. This macro is a huge help! Thanks for posting it.
This macro works like a charm! I am in several writing critique groups and need to annotate the documents that I port over to my kindle to read. (computer screens are a bear to read on!). This way I can easily format my critique from the notes I take on the kindle.
Thank you very much for this!
Thanks!
This is exactly what I was looking for. I’m a student who bought a kindle to ease the price of books, and it did. I thought the idea of saving notes would be great, but the clippings file was virtually useless the way it was. This macro is definitely a must have for kindle owners.
The promise of this Macro is just what I was looking for but having trouble loading.
I have Word 2007 and can’t save the Macro in a .bas. Can you or some help please?
Craig
[...] with the Kindle is the ability to highlight (and clip) text, and add notes. I went so far as to develop a Word macro (windows only, sorry Mac users). Well, Amazon has made things ‘even easier’ for [...]
[...] file actually makes the clippings readily accessible as digital text. The draw-back (and hence my writing the macro) was that it wasn’t sorted in any useful manner. It was all entered sequentially, based on [...]
Wondering if the DX renders this inaccurate? It’s an excellent idea. Based on comments above I’m wondering if it’s user error, or perhaps a Kindle DX issue.
Can anyone verify that the DX translation ends up being one huge five column table tht is sorted by book? I.e it repeats the book title as many times as there are annotations, and since it’s in column format a long book title can take 1/3 to 1/2 a page.
I expected a breakout by book with the annotations being listed using the full page…
… i’m getting 100 pages of annotations, which is just as large as the txt file in my clippings even with all the annoying dashes and spacing.
Any suggestions / help is appreciated.
[...] has all book notes duplicated (though interspersed with notes from other books, but she recommended a Word macro that will put the My Clipping file’s notes in order by book). Andrys was talking to another [...]
For what it’s worth, Mac Office 2004 can run macros.
I’d prefer retaining an old version of Office to installing Windows on a Mac or running Boot Camp.
I’ll test the macro in 2004.
Matt
You make a good point–if I have time I will try to work on better presentation of the information.
My goal wasn’t to reduce the file size, or even the number of pages, but rather to turn the collection of sequential highlights/notes into something more useable, sorted by book and positioning IN the book.
That said, several of my friends are working on a more friendly version that will hopefully run as a standalone application in Adobe Air. When that is done I will provide link/contact information.
Gib
Thanks for your comment, and thanks for testing it in the older Word for Mac. Let me know how it goes!
Love the macro, thanks! Would be great if it could separate out the “date added” (without the words) so you could use Excel to filter to find only new clippings.
[...] Clipping Extractor Macro: This is for Windows, and is a macro for MS Word. It allows you to sort through the clippings.txt file in such a way that you can extract notes and highlights from a particular book. This can be very useful indeed when it comes to studying. [...]
Steve,
As ever I’m grateful for you work on this macro.
While clicking on your link to the macro text will cause the browser to show the text, there is a built-in way to save the text as a file from the browser.
With the macro text link, people should right-click on the link and, on a Windows system, choose something like “Save link as” or “Save target as” or Save File as” (depending on what the browser wording is) and that will cause the browser to suggest “kindle.bas” — accept that. (With a Mac, HOLD DOWN the mouse click and eventually a menu will come up saying “DOWNLOAD file” or something like that.)
HOWEVER, the file will be saved as “kindle.bas.txt” so people will have to rename that new file to “kindle.bas” as you suggest.
Your suggestion works but there is the danger that people may not highlight all of it.
– Andrys
Thanks for the macro! One of my favorite ways to use the Kindle is to highlight phrases that resonate with me for future pondering and research, and this macro works great to organize these highlights and notes by book. Thanks again!
[...] Clipping Extractor Macro: This is for Windows, and is a macro for MS Word. It allows you to sort through the clippings.txt file in such a way that you can extract notes and highlights from a particular book. This can be very useful indeed when it comes to studying. [...]
[...] tip – Via Andrys Basten’s Kindleworld, Steve Brady (aka The Professor) creates a Word macro (Windows only) that might bring some order to your My Clippings file. To see your highlights and [...]
Steve — thanks for a great solution to a time consuming problem. I had just started down the — this is going to be easy path I’ll just text->table it, when it all came unraveled at the first carriage return in some text. This solution saved me lots time in development.
One suggestion in this section:
‘ replaces general carriage returns with spaces, hopefully identifying those fields that are still content.
With Selection.Find
.Text = “^p”
.Replacement.Text = ” ”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
End With
If you make it .Replacement.Text = “@@@” then you can go along later (after it is text->tabled) and replace the @@@ for ^p to put the carriage returns back in and return the text to its original format.
[...] tip – Via Andrys Basten’s Kindleworld, Steve Brady (aka The Professor) creates a Word macro (Windows only) that might bring some order to your My Clippings file. To see your highlights and [...]
Thanks for your work. it helps me to built personal great book summaries thanks again
Pedro