Calibre 9.11: Export Annotations to HTML — Guide 2026
What's New in Calibre 9.11
Calibre 9.11 landed in early July 2026, and its headline feature is one that researchers, students, and power readers have wanted for years: export your e-book annotations as a standalone HTML file. No more screenshotting highlighted passages or copy-pasting one note at a time.
Released roughly a week after Calibre 9.10.0, this update proves that the Calibre team is maintaining its impressive release cadence. While 9.10 focused on the PWA content server and CSS Level 4 selectors, 9.11 zeroes in on a workflow pain point that affects anyone who reads actively on their e-reader or in the Calibre E-book Viewer.
| Feature | Category | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| HTML annotation export | Major | Export all highlights and notes as a browser-ready webpage |
| Light/dark theme support | Major | Exported HTML adapts to reader preference automatically |
| Search and highlight filtering | Minor | Filter exported annotations by color or keyword |
| Ask AI {selected} placeholder | Minor | Insert selected text into custom AI prompts |
How to Export Annotations as HTML
The new annotation export feature lives in the E-book Viewer. Here is the exact workflow:
- Open a book in the Calibre E-book Viewer (double-click any EPUB or supported format in your library).
- Verify you have annotations. If you have highlighted text or added notes, the Annotations panel (View → Annotations or the speech-bubble icon in the toolbar) will show them.
- Click Export. In the Annotations panel, look for the new export button. It produces a single
.htmlfile containing all your highlights, notes, and color-coded highlights. - Choose your output location. The exported file lands wherever you specify — your desktop, a shared drive, or a note-taking app's import folder.
- Open in any browser. The exported HTML is self-contained: no server, no Calibre dependency. It works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and mobile browsers.
The exported page includes:
- Book metadata: title, author, and cover thumbnail at the top
- Annotation list: each highlight and note grouped by chapter or location
- Color-coded highlights: if you used different highlight colors in the viewer, the export preserves them
- Search bar: filter your annotations by keyword instantly
- Theme toggle: switch between light and dark mode with one click
- Filter by style: show only yellow highlights, only notes, or a specific color
Why HTML Annotation Export Matters
Before Calibre 9.11, getting your annotations out of Calibre meant using the clipboard, third-party plugins, or manual transcription. None of those scale beyond a few pages of highlights.
The HTML export unlocks several practical workflows:
Research Compilation
If you read multiple books for a research project, export each book's annotations. You end up with a folder of HTML files that you can search across, merge, or import into a research tool like Zotero, Notion, or Obsidian.
Study Revision
Students can export their textbook annotations as a self-contained study guide. With the light/dark theme toggle, the same file works for reading on a laptop during the day and on a phone in bed at night.
Sharing Annotations with Colleagues
Exported HTML files can be emailed, uploaded to a shared drive, or posted to a wiki. Since it is a plain HTML file with no dependencies, the recipient does not need Calibre — or any e-book software — to view your notes.
Annotation Backup
Your Calibre library's annotations live in the metadata database. While Calibre is reliable, having a portable HTML backup of your most important annotations gives peace of mind. Store the exported files alongside your e-books in cloud storage for a complete archive.
Improved Ask AI with {selected} Placeholder
Calibre 9.11 also upgrades the Ask AI feature introduced in earlier versions. The E-book Viewer now supports a {selected} placeholder in free-form AI queries.
Here is how it works:
- Highlight any passage in the E-book Viewer.
- Open the Ask AI panel.
- Type a prompt like: "Summarize {selected} in three bullet points for my research notes."
- The AI model replaces
{selected}with the actual highlighted text and generates the response.
This replaces the old workflow where you had to copy the selected text, paste it into an AI chat window, and write your prompt manually. It is a small change, but it saves significant time when you are analyzing multiple passages across a long book.
Bug Fixes and Maintenance
As with every Calibre release, 9.11 includes several under-the-hood improvements:
- Viewer resize fix: the text area now resizes correctly when the window is resized with the scrollbar enabled
- Python templates regression fixed: a bug introduced in 9.10 that broke Python-based templates in the book details panel is resolved
- Custom column defaults restored: default values for custom columns are now applied when adding new books
- News sources updated: Scientific American and Phoronix feeds have been refreshed
How to Upgrade to Calibre 9.11
Upgrading is straightforward:
- Windows / macOS: Calibre will prompt you to update automatically within a few days. You can also trigger an update via Help → Check for updates.
- Linux (official binary): download from calibre-ebook.com/download and run the install script.
- Linux (package manager): your distribution's package may take a few days to update. Use the official binary if you want it immediately.
- Portable / AppImage: replace your existing binary with the 9.11 release from the official site.
Calibre 9.11 is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is a free and open-source release under the GPL v3 license.
Verdict: A Focused, Practical Update
Calibre 9.11 is not a flashy release. There is no new UI, no major architectural change. But the HTML annotation export feature solves a real pain point for anyone who reads actively with Calibre. Combined with the Ask AI improvement and a handful of regression fixes, this is the kind of update that makes an already great tool more useful without breaking what works.
If you are already on Calibre 9.10, the upgrade is risk-free and takes less than a minute. If you skipped 9.10 entirely, check our Calibre 9.10 upgrade guide first to see what else has changed since the June release.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Calibre 9.11 export Kindle annotations?
Calibre 9.11 exports annotations made inside the Calibre E-book Viewer. If you have a Kindle book with highlights and notes, you must first transfer it to Calibre with a tool like the Kindle Collections plugin and open it in the viewer. The annotations you made on the Kindle itself will not carry over automatically — only annotations made inside Calibre are exported.
Can I import the exported HTML back into Calibre?
The exported HTML is a read-only snapshot. It is designed for sharing, backup, and viewing — not for round-tripping back into Calibre. If you need to transfer annotations between devices while staying inside Calibre, use the built-in wireless device sync or the Calibre content server instead.
Does the HTML export work on Linux, Windows, and Mac?
Yes. The annotation export feature is part of the cross-platform E-book Viewer, which works identically on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The exported HTML file is platform-independent — you can create it on Linux and open it on a Windows machine or iPhone with no issues.
How does Calibre 9.11 handle highlights with different colors?
The exported HTML preserves the highlight colors you used in the E-book Viewer. Each color-coded highlight appears with its corresponding background tint in the exported file. You can also filter the annotation list by highlight style or color using the built-in filter control.
Is the {selected} placeholder available in all AI providers?
Yes. The {selected} placeholder works with any AI provider configured in Calibre — including local OpenAI-compatible servers, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, or Google Gemini. As long as the Ask AI feature is connected to a working provider, the placeholder inserts the currently selected text before sending the prompt.