If you highlight passages while reading on a Kobo, getting those highlights off the device and somewhere useful is surprisingly tricky. Kobo doesn't make it obvious, and the options differ depending on whether you're using the native Kobo firmware or KOReader.

This guide covers every method — from the simplest to the most powerful — and shows you how to view all your highlights beautifully in Luminaria once you've exported them.

In this guide
  1. Exporting with Kobo native firmware
  2. Exporting with KOReader
  3. Viewing your highlights in Luminaria
  4. Keeping your highlights in sync automatically

Method 1: Exporting with Kobo native firmware

If you're using the standard Kobo firmware (not KOReader), you have two options depending on where your books came from.

For books purchased from Kobo

Kobo's website lets you export annotations from books you've bought directly from them. It's the easiest method but only works for Kobo Store purchases.

Step 1

Sign in to your Kobo account at kobo.com and go to My Books.

Step 2

Find the book you want to export. Click the Actions icon next to it, then click Export Annotations.

Step 3

Choose your file format — PDF or HTML work well — then click Generate File. The file will appear under the Annotations tab ready to download.

⚠ Limitation Kobo's built-in export only works for books purchased from the Kobo store. Sideloaded ebooks and library books aren't supported. Exported files are also only stored for 30 days. For a more complete solution, see the KOReader method below.

For sideloaded books — enable the hidden export feature

Kobo has a built-in export feature that works for all books, but it's hidden by default. You need to enable it once by editing a config file. It sounds technical but takes about two minutes.

Step 1

Connect your Kobo to your computer via USB and tap Connect when prompted on the device.

Step 2

Open the Kobo drive in your file browser. You need to make hidden files visible — on Mac press Cmd + Shift + ., on Windows enable "Show hidden items" in File Explorer.

Step 3

Navigate to .kobo/Kobo/ and open the file called Kobo eReader.conf in a text editor.

Step 4

Add these two lines to the end of the file and save:


[FeatureSettings]
ExportHighlights=true
Step 5

Safely eject the Kobo and restart it. From now on, long-pressing any book cover gives you an Export Annotations option. The exported file appears in the root of the device next time you connect via USB.

Method 2: Exporting with KOReader

KOReader is an open-source reading app that runs on Kobo devices (and many others). It has the best highlight export of any e-reader app — it exports all your highlights from all your books into a single, well-formatted markdown file with one tap.

If you're not already using KOReader, it's worth installing just for the highlight export alone. Installation instructions are on the KOReader GitHub page.

Exporting all highlights at once

Step 1

Open KOReader on your device and tap the top of the screen to bring up the menu.

Step 2

Tap the Search icon (magnifying glass), then tap Export all highlights.

Step 3

KOReader generates a single .md file containing every highlight from every book, organised by title and author. It's saved to the clipboard folder on your device at /mnt/onboard/.adds/koreader/clipboard/.

The resulting file looks like this:

# Meditations
##### Marcus Aurelius

## Book Two
### Page 42 @ 14 January 2025 09:14:22 PM
*You have power over your mind, not outside events.*

This format is exactly what Luminaria is designed to read — drop it in and all your highlights are instantly browsable by book.

View your KOReader highlights beautifully

Drop your exported .md file into Luminaria and browse every passage you've ever marked, organised by book with full-text search.

Open Luminaria →

Viewing your highlights in Luminaria

Luminaria is a private web app built specifically for reading highlights. Once you have your exported file, viewing it takes about ten seconds.

Step 1

Go to luminaria.uk in any browser.

Step 2

Drag and drop your exported file onto the page, or click to browse for it. Luminaria supports files from KOReader, Kobo native export, Kindle, and Readwise.

Step 3

Your highlights appear instantly, organised by book in the sidebar. You can search across every passage, star your favourites, copy quotes to clipboard, and share highlights as beautifully designed image cards.

✓ Completely private Luminaria stores your highlights in your browser's local storage — nothing is sent to any server. Your reading life stays yours.

Keeping your highlights in sync automatically

Manually exporting and uploading a file every time you finish a chapter gets old quickly. If you use KOReader, Luminaria has a sync feature that makes it one tap.

Your highlights update in seconds, with no file management needed.

Sync your highlights automatically

Connect your KOReader device to Luminaria and keep your highlights up to date automatically.

Get your sync token →