Import Kindle Clippings to Evernote

Attention Geeks: here is a crude, incomplete and not exactly terrific script I wrote that will import your “my clippings” file from your Kindle into Evernote using AppleScript.  It’s really a terrible hack, but it gets the job done – at least enough to include your highlights, clipped articles and other notes into Evernote to make the universal search thing happen.

Pros: simple, works, open source

Cons: the kindle seems to strip all of the article formatting, so the imported articles are a big ugly mess.

Wish List: auto-import when device is connected, better formatting (paragraph breaks would be really, really nice)

Here’s the code:

(*
kindle-to-evernote - Import Kindle "My Clippings" into Evernote

This folder action will import "My Clippings.txt" files from the Kindle into Evernote's default notebook, with the tag 'kindle'

source: www.cjthomas.org;  please let me know if you make any cool improvements
*)

set myFile to choose file
import_kindle(myFile)

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
 try
 repeat with i from 1 to number of items in these_items
 set this_item to item i of these_items
 set the item_info to the info for this_item
 if (alias of the item_info is false and the file name of the item_info is "My Clippings.txt") then
 import_kindle_item(this_item)
 end if
 end repeat
 on error error_message number error_number
 if the error_number is not -128 then
 tell application "Finder"
 activate
 display dialog error_message buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1 giving up after 120
 end tell
 end if
 end try
end adding folder items to

-- subroutine to import file

on import_kindle(myKindleFile)
 set fp to open for access myKindleFile

 repeat
 try
 set eSource to read fp until "
" as text

 set two to read fp until "
" as text

 set x to offset of " | " in two
 set eType to text 3 through x of two
 set eDate to text (x + 12) through end of two

 set three to read fp until "
" as text
 set eNote to read fp until "
" as text
 set five to read fp until "
" as text

 set eAdd to offset of "Bookmark" in eType

 if (eAdd is equal to 0) then
 tell application "Evernote"
 set result to create note with text eNote title eSource tags "kindle" created date eDate
 set result's source URL to eType

 end tell
 end if
 on error
 close access fp
 exit repeat
 end try
 end repeat
end import_kindle

Let me know if you make any improvements, it could sure use some assistance in the auto-detect/import (when the Kindle is connected to the Mac) and formatting departments!

Tags: applescript, evernote, imac, kindle