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Share Your Kindle Notes and Highlights with Your Friends (Beta)
At Goodreads, we believe books are better with friends, and we’re always looking for ways to help you share more of what you read. If you like to make notes and highlights in the Kindle books you’re reading, we have good news for you. With today’s beta launch of Kindle Notes & Highlights on Goodreads, you can now share your notes and highlights on Goodreads and spark great conversations with your friends!
Let your friends see what you “wrote in the margins”
You can now access and share your Kindle notes and highlights right from the book pages on Goodreads.com (PC or laptop). You can even edit your notes directly on Goodreads, and your changes will sync back to your Kindle book. By default, your Kindle notes and highlights are only viewable by you—you’re always in control. You can choose to share them with friends by marking any (or all) of your notes and highlights as “Visible,” and your friends will be able to view, like, and comment on them. You can also share them by sending the URL of your Kindle Notes & Highlights page to anyone you like—for instance, a colleague, professor, or classmate.
Power up your book club
If you’re in a book club, Goodreads and Kindle make it easier to share your thoughts and discuss books—even between meetings. First, make sure you’re all friends on Goodreads, and then those who read on Kindle can choose to make their notes and highlights visible. You’ll all be able to see those notes on Goodreads.com (whether you read with Kindle or not), and you can start liking and commenting on them right away.
And if you’re worried about spoilers, we’ve got you covered! You can mark individual notes and highlights as spoilers, so your friends can decide when they’re ready to read them.
Writing a review? Easily access all your Kindle notes and highlights
Whether you’re writing a book review or diving back into an old favorite, your notes and highlights are right there in one place, alongside your rating and when you read it. That makes it easier to glance through and incorporate them into your review while you write it. More than ever, Goodreads helps you capture your thoughts and feelings about a book over time, allowing you to re-visit the key moments months or years later.
How do I find my Kindle notes and highlights on Goodreads?
- If you haven’t already, you’ll first need to link your Goodreads and Amazon accounts. To do this, click here, sign in, and scroll to the Amazon section to connect your accounts.
- Shelve your book on Goodreads. If you are reading on Kindle, you can easily mark it as “Currently Reading” from the “About this Book” feature on Kindle. (Here’s a tip for Kindle iOS readers: With Auto-Update, you can now set your Kindle iOS app to automatically mark each book you start as “Currently Reading” when you first open it, and as “Read” when you finish. This is a small but powerful new feature designed to give you one less thing to do!)
- Highlight and add notes to interesting passages as you read on Kindle. Because you linked your Goodreads and Kindle accounts, the notes and highlights you make will be accessible on Goodreads.com—viewable only by you.
- Go to your book’s page on Goodreads.com (from your PC or laptop) and click on the Kindle Notes & Highlights link in the My Review section:
Found them! Now how do I share my Kindle notes and highlights on Goodreads?
You can share any of your notes and highlights by switching them to “Visible.” The more you share, the more there is for you and your friends to discuss!
This is currently available on Goodreads.com from my PC or laptop. When will this be available more widely?
We’re working on it! We plan to support mobile soon.
What does it mean that this feature is in “Beta”?
“Beta” means this feature is still early in its development, and we’re excited to get your feedback about it! We’re already hard at work on enhancements to make it even better. In the meantime, let us know what you think by using the Feedback widget on your Kindle Notes & Highlights pages on Goodreads.com.
In which markets is this supported?
This beta launch is supported within the following Kindle marketplaces: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India, for customers who have linked their Goodreads and Amazon accounts.
We can’t wait to see all the notes and highlights you share!
Comments Showing 101-150 of 182 (182 new)
This is great! Really looking forward to checking out this feature!
Are there plans to make our notes and highlights from Kindle Unlimited and borrowed-via-Overdrive eBooks visible on Goodreads? It doesn't make sense to me that all notes and highlights are collected at https://kindle.amazon.com/your_highli... but they aren't all brought over to Goodreads... =/
Yaaresse wrote: "Great. Another push to daisy-chain on-line accounts for better, faster, more invasive data-mining. I get it. People are not customers or patrons anymore: we're products whose data is a resalable ..."
Yes! Linking the accounts gives them more control and the account user less. I don't link to Facebook, or Amazon, or Goodreads or anything. Them "sharing" my highlights, NO. Those are mine to go through and decide who to share with, if and when, and not all of them. I would like to be able to pull them off to my computer and use them but right now, I use them just for me, what to come back to, what is important, sometimes fun and interesting (which I could share) but mostly, I highlight for me.
No linking to Goodreads on my Kindle, Airplane mode except to download from Amazon, that is where my Kindle is set. And the "Home Page" is set to my book list. I wish I could set the search engine to search only my books on the Kindle because it always pops up to the "Home Screen" and says to connect on-line to search Amazon. I'm not trying to search Amazon or my books on-line. I want only to search my items. Just another step to get away from the ads from the forced update to the Kindle. I really dislike the Kindle Home Page and try to avoid it. Now they have made Goodreads Home Page so similar it is not even funny. Bookcovers and blurbs, ads, etc... Please let us choose for ourselves to opt in or out and let us go back to the "classic view" including the old fonts!
I don't know where to put my comment, so I might as well chime in here. I don't want to link my Kindle comments to GR, and I hate the new homepage! Please, stop with all the changes, and if you won't put things back as they were, at least give members the option of going back to "classic view." Instead of making things better, you are ruining the best social media site on the Internet.
Amyiw wrote: "Yes! Linking the accounts gives them more control and the account user less. I don't link to Facebook, or Amazon, or Goodreads or anything. Them "sharing" my highlights, NO. Those are mine to go through and decide who to share with, if and when, and not all of them. I would like to be able to pull them off to my computer and use them but right now, I use them just for me, what to come back to, what is important, sometimes fun and interesting (which I could share) but mostly, I highlight for me."But that's how it works now? If you don't link your Goodreads and Amazon accounts, no highlights will be shared, and by default they are visible only to you. You have to actively share them with other people to make them visible.
why is Goodreads doing this but still not having half-star ratings?
This would be awesome if it supported kobo too. Kobo is very popular in Canada, more so than kindle I think.
Very happy to see this feature, as I also like to have everything in one place. I'm also delighted that the highlights and notes are private unless we choose to make them public. However, it IS odd that KU books and Overdrive (library) books are not included. I hope this changes.
Cassandra wrote: "why is Goodreads doing this but still not having half-star ratings?"Pretty sure that's deliberate. Netflix did some focus groups with half-star ratings and found people rated less, because it requires more consideration to land on a rating.
There are a lot of other stuff Goodreads could improve on though, but an integration like this was actually something I've been missing for a long time (and a lot of other people, judging by the myriad of third-party tools that exist for this reason), so to me this is something I think they finally implemented after having put it off for too long.
John wrote: "So, I currently it appears I must go to each book on Goodreads and at kindle.amazon.com to make reading status and notes public, separately and individually. Can this not be made user friendly? It'..."It shouldn't be necessary for you to visit kindle.amazon.com; just going to the book's page on Goodreads should show you your highlights, at which point you can make them visible. We hope to include a centralized page in the future, once we transition out of the beta.
Nikki wrote: "Are there plans to make our notes and highlights from Kindle Unlimited and borrowed-via-Overdrive eBooks visible on Goodreads? It doesn't make sense to me that all notes and highlights are collecte..."
Absolutely! Since this is just the beta, Kindle Unlimited notes and highlights are not yet available, but we definitely want to add them in the full release.
Eric wrote: "we are looking at further improvements that will reduce that annoyance."How about, don't automatically opt-in everyone to new features.
Not to mention if me and a friend are reading the same book, but one of us is ahead of the other, then those emails being sent on our notes will be FILLED with spoilers. Not cool.
Brian wrote: "One key thing that I love is that it's easy to select exactly which highlights and notes to share. Not everything is meant for my friends' consumption! (snarky comments, typo-catches etc.) :)"My thoughts exactly.....I note all errors and make exasperated remarks, so to speak ;)
I like having them available for me as I always refer to them when reviewing. However, I'm not really "up" for sharing with the world as I'm often swearing with frustration at mistakes. However, it's really handy that I CAN share if I so choose with an author I've moaned about with a lot of mistakes. That's really handy.Thankyou :)
A little confused. Some don't have the highlights !! Is it because I've not finished them or deleted them ? I don't retain those I delete off my Kindle in the Amazon cloud. Or am I just being dim ??
Will this be available with using a Kindle Paper White?
Rinji wrote: "Will this be available with using a Kindle Paper White?"I would think so, Rinji, as I have an old Kindle Keyboard and it works with that and it's 6 years old !!
Lynda wrote: "I like having them available for me as I always refer to them when reviewing. However, I'm not really "up" for sharing with the world as I'm often swearing with frustration at mistakes.Currently, Kindle Notes & Highlights are only available for ebooks you’ve purchased on Amazon. You can continue adding your notes and highlights to other Kindle ebooks (for example those you've borrowed) as you read them, but unfortunately these won't be viewable on Goodreads.
Thanks for the wonderful feature and we'd be more happy if you guys would have made it available first on Android Mobile App. Anyways, hope it would be done soon.
John wrote: "Also, I notice, there's no apparent way to filter my books on GR based on whether they are Kindle books"There is a way at least to see which books are Kindle books and which are not - assuming that you are shelving the Kindle version when you add them to your library. Go to My Books, click on Settings in the middle at the top, then check the box that says "format" - this will show the format for each book, ie hardcover, audible, ebook, kindle, etc. Then you can sort that column.
Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "Eric wrote: "we are looking at further improvements that will reduce that annoyance."How about, don't automatically opt-in everyone to new features.
Not to mention if me and a friend are readin..."
OH lord. You're so right.
At this point I'm still really pissed off at the way GR thinks it's ok to mess up your privacy settings without telling you.So can someone point out how to NOT make your highlights visible? I did this without fully understanding what I was doing and now am sending people emails, which I didn't know about until someone messaged me.
Erika wrote: "At this point I'm still really pissed off at the way GR thinks it's ok to mess up your privacy settings without telling you.So can someone point out how to NOT make your highlights visible? I did..."
Oops! That's seriously very annoying...!
John wrote: "It is necessary to make notes public in both places separately. It's duplicative and redundant, but each in a silo, was my point...."You can choose where you'd like your notes to be visible. Some users may prefer to display a different selection on each platform.
Great suggestion regarding the filter - we'll place this under consideration for future development.
You can currently make both notes and highlights visible on Goodreads. If you're having trouble with this, please email us at support (at) goodreads (dot) com, detailing the highlight you're having trouble with and we'll happily look into this!
Erika wrote: "At this point I'm still really pissed off at the way GR thinks it's ok to mess up your privacy settings without telling you."Kindle Notes & Highlights are always private unless you choose to make them visible to those who can view your Goodreads profile. To make your notes and highlights visible, simply navigate to your review and click on “Kindle Notes & Highlights” underneath your read dates.
LitaVore wrote: "CMDH wrote: "This seems discriminatory to those that use a library, checking out hardbound, paperback, or audio books. Or buy used books from places like Salvation Army or Goodwill. Why would Goodr..."Well said!
Crystal wrote: "I can't wait/hope for them to add a progress update feature from kindle to goodreads to easily report on what page you are on when you click the button, like the currently reading feature they have."I can already do this from my Kindle Fire though it reports % read rather than page number. If you click the share icon in a book and then select GoodReads it updates your progess. Hope that helps!
Yaaresse wrote: "Great. Another push to daisy-chain on-line accounts for better, faster, more invasive data-mining. I get it. People are not customers or patrons anymore: we're products whose data is a resalable ..."
You do realize Amazon owns GoodReads and already had access to this. There is no such thing as a free service or free lunch. Companies, well within their rights, gather information and share typically masking individual identities.
The audacity of people to complain about something that is free to use bewilders me! If seeing an ad or using your brain is the worst thing that happens to you all day sounds like a phenomenal day. Literacy itself is a privilege many around the world don't have. Relish in that instead!
Does this mean that when I read a Kindle book I will no longer see passages highlighted by others who have read this book? When this started happening I was very annoyed. It was like buying a new book and finding that someone had scribbled on the pages.
Dora, you can switch that off in your Kindle's settings. I don't like it either so mine are off, too
I love this idea, but when I click on the link under my review, it says "Could not find Kindle Notes & Highlights for that user and book."That means I am unable to change it to visible. :-(
Gertie wrote: "I love this idea, but when I click on the link under my review, it says "Could not find Kindle Notes & Highlights for that user and book."That means I am unable to change it to visible. :-("
Hi Gertie. Could you please contact support@goodreads.com with some details about your account and what book was causing that error? We'd love to look into that more deeply. Thanks!
Dora wrote: "Does this mean that when I read a Kindle book I will no longer see passages highlighted by others who have read this book? When this started happening I was very annoyed. It was like buying a new b..."I changed my settings and now I am a happier woman! Why didn't anyone say that it could be disabled when they started broadcasting other people's highlights?
I only read on my iOS devices and Fire, never on my laptop or PC. Is this feature to link these coming soon?
It already does - I used my Kindle Fire to add the notes etc. and then they showed up on the Goodreads site. :-)
Are there any thoughts to opening up this API to other apps (in the future) ? I don't use the kindle app, relying on the powerful Moon Reader Pro in stead. However, I do make notes and highlights in my ebooks and would love for them to actually sync back to Goodreads in a private way. Currently I have to copy them over manually and that isn't the easiest thing to do.All my books are managed by Calibre, and everyone of them has a Goodreads ID attached, so it should be possible to allow other apps to use this feature as well.
Since "My Review" is now "My Activity" with the reread option (which I love!), my highlights and notes from my Kindle are not showing up. They aren't there for previously read books or books just finished. I double-checked that my Amazon and Goodreads accounts are still linked and they are. Any fixes for this? I really liked having my highlights and notes under each book.
Athena wrote: "Since "My Review" is now "My Activity" with the reread option (which I love!), my highlights and notes from my Kindle are not showing up."Athena, would you mind emailing us at support (at) goodreads (dot) com with a link to the book in question? We'd be happy to take a closer look!
I would love it if I could set these to visible by default.
Hi James and Tobias! Thanks for the suggestion of making Kindle Notes & Highlights visible by default. We're still very early on in our plans here, so keep your eyes peeled. It makes me very happy to hear that you would like that feature.
I wouldn't as I can be quite rude if, for example, I'm finding a lot of dumb mistakes in a book. So they should be left as they are, in my opinion. Private unless you switch the service on.I've also highlighted passages and made comments to a phrase that has touched me personally or reminded me of a life event and those should be kept private, too.
Maybe email all users and ask them to vote-call a referendum :)
Lynda~
If we were to add the ability to automatically share notes and highlights, it would be optional, not compulsory. No member referendum required!
This worked on the books I bought on Kindle, but it does not seem to work on the books that I borrowed form the library and read on Kindle. Is it something I am doing or is the feature not available on library loans? If it just isn't available is it something that we can get?
You're right, James. Supporting content that was not purchased is something we are actively working on. Stay tuned.
Ok now sure if this was already answered but how do I access my Kindle notes on borrowed ebooks from my library? Is there anyway to access that on Goodreads? I've checked both my Overdrive account settings and Amazon (since that is where I download it from) and I'm hitting a dead end.Is this feature only for ebooks you own on your kindle?
I'm pretty sure it is, Melody, though I think it was answered earlier that they're looking into adding the facility.Lynda~
If I actualize my highlights in my books on kindle, this highlights actualize too in goodreads? Thanks!
Nailed it.
I wouldn't be so bothered about this feature -- I honestly could care less about it, honestly -- but it's coming around the time of this new and "improved" homepage. Where they aren't letting us give them real feedback about it by disabling the comments on the announcement. And then coming out with this thing instead of fixing the homepage.