Highlights in pdf, what is working?

[igorolb]

Hello readers.

I've read a lot about it, but I can't figure exactly the best way do deal with this. I'm feeling lost.

I was used to read in my phone (which is terrible) but I could use the PDF reader to take notes and highlights. Now I got a Kindle just to read PDF's and I got shocked by the impossibility to get back the same PDF for PC but with the highlights.

So, today, what is working? Is a chance to do this with Kindle? I've read that Kobo do the trick but I need to be sure before I buy it. That's all expensive in my country.

The highlights in the papers are a must for me, and I need it in a document that I can save in a PC library.

Please, help me. Thank you.

[Aleron Ives]

You can't edit PDF on Kindle Scribe, because Amazon converts PDF to a proprietary Amazon format when you transfer it. IIRC you can send PDF directly to Kindle Scribe over USB, but then you lose the ability to annotate entirely; you can only read a raw PDF file.

Kobo has better PDF support but is primarily a reading platform. If you want even more functionality you should look at an Onyx Boox device, e.g. the Note Air 3.

[Quoth]

A Kobo can do it, but a TCL Nxtpaper 11 with Nebo (buy only) and Xodo and Pocketbook (free versions) is far better.

The Kobos are best for Calibre.
The 8″ Sage actually has more pixels than the 10.3″ Elipsa, so can be better for PDFs if your eyes can see the detail.

[igorolb]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

You can't edit PDF on Kindle Scribe, because Amazon converts PDF to a proprietary Amazon format when you transfer it. IIRC you can send PDF directly to Kindle Scribe over USB, but then you lose the ability to annotate entirely; you can only read a raw PDF file.

Kobo has better PDF support but is primarily a reading platform. If you want even more functionality you should look at an Onyx Boox device, e.g. the Note Air 3.

That Onyx is not available in my country. Anyway, I just need something that I can be sure I'll be able to but a PDF by USB, read and take highlights, than take the PDF back WITH the highlights back to PC via USB. It seems so simple, but here we are. Does Kobo make it for sure?

[igorolb]

Originally Posted by Quoth

A Kobo can do it, but a TCL Nxtpaper 11 with Nebo (buy only) and Xodo and Pocketbook (free versions) is far better.

The Kobos are best for Calibre.
The 8″ Sage actually has more pixels than the 10.3″ Elipsa, so can be better for PDFs if your eyes can see the detail.

I haven't understand yet the Calibre cause I'm pretty new to this world. Can Kobo really work for me? I'm not worried about the screen size or another gadgets, just the highlights in pdf.

Anyways, TCL Nxtpaper is way too expensive for me.

[Quoth]

Screen size is pretty important to PDF.
Especially pixels, so a 9.7″ DXG is rubbish compared to an 8″ Sage partly because it's 150 dpi vs 300 dpi.

A TCL Nxtpaper 11 can be got cheaper than any 8″ or 10″ approx eink. About €270 inc the pen.

For just epubs then 6″ or 7″ eink is better & cheaper, though I prefer the 8″ Kobo Sage eink for novels / epubs.

Only the Kobos that officially take a pen, and have a DRM free/unprotected PDF loaded do annotation. Calibre is optional and more value for the epubs/kepubs (real ebooks).

[igorolb]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Screen size is pretty important to PDF.
Especially pixels, so a 9.7″ DXG is rubbish compared to an 8″ Sage partly because it's 150 dpi vs 300 dpi.

A TCL Nxtpaper 11 can be got cheaper than any 8″ or 10″ approx eink. About €270 inc the pen.

For just epubs then 6″ or 7″ eink is better & cheaper, though I prefer the 8″ Kobo Sage eink for novels / epubs.

Only the Kobos that officially take a pen, and have a DRM free/unprotected PDF loaded do annotation. Calibre is optional and more value for the epubs/kepubs (real ebooks).

Are you sure? I really don't need the pen tool or anything close to an Ipad with multiple functions. I just need a simple PDF reader that exports highlights merged with the document.

But if it's the case, I'll go for those Kobos with the pen. I just need to be really sure cause whichever the choice I take it will be really expensive for me (€270 is more than the minimum wage per month where I live)

[tomsem]

To clarify your requirements: there is a big difference between PDF annotation that you might do with Acrobat Reader, FoxIt, PDF Expert etc., and annotation you might do with a reading device.

The former are saved with the PDF, the latter are not.

Reading apps treat the PDF as 'read only' (ReMarkable is somewhere in between: I guess you can add delete and reorder pages, don't know how it handles annotations: are they real PDF annotations that Acrobat Reader interoperates with?).

Generally you export a list of highlighted phrases and any associated notes, but they are not 'merged with the PDF'.

Scribe will export a flattened PDF with pen annotations and highlights on an image layer. Text notes are not represented. That might be useful if you are using that to make updates to some original document and all of your markup is in form of handwritten notes and highlights.

It will also export a PDF list of 'Notes and Highlights' similar to what you would have for regular books. This will have large page thumbnail images with handwritten notes for each page with handwritten notes, plus highlighted phrases and text notes in the order in which they occur, each with page number references.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by tomsem

To clarify your requirements: there is a big difference between PDF annotation that you might do with Acrobat Reader, FoxIt, PDF Expert etc., and annotation you might do with a reading device.

The former are saved with the PDF, the latter are not.

Some do save the annotation with the PDF, if the PDF isn't protected. You get an extra layer. The Scribe doesn't.

But if you want real plain text from pen annotation on PDF, there is no eink that does it. You need full version of Nebo on iOS or Android (and TCL Nxtpaper 11 is nearly like eink, but also true colour LCD). Even Android eink is no use because eink latency is too high. You see real time preview of Google Gboard hanwriting or Nebo handwriting on LCD Android with a digitiser. The iPad iOS Nebo nothing like as good as Nebo on TCL Nxtpaper 11.