[Enhancement]: Kindle Highlights - but for audio #3294

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-02-20 03:07:01 -05:00 by deekerman · 2 comments

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 03:07:01 -05:00

Owner

Originally created by @fonix232 on GitHub (Nov 25, 2025).

Type of Enhancement

Web Interface/Frontend

Describe the Feature/Enhancement

One of the things I love about my Kindle is the ability to highlight parts of a book (as little as a word, or a whole page), and see them as separate entries - these are clipped into a text file, preserving the highlighted text, with location metadata so actually opening the book highlights the quoted section.

Something similar for audiobooks would be awesome. I know the bookmark feature already exists, but it's not ideal for a few reasons:

It's just a timestamp saved with a label
Playback jumps playhead to it when selected

A proper "highlight" feature for audiobooks would be:

Both a start and end timestamp
Also storing a separate clipping of the audio (the existing tooling for M4B processing should be able to clip a specific time segment out of a file with minor changes)
Potentially, a transcription of the audio stored as metadata
And a nice to have: once #3084 or #189 are implemented, also store the highlight in a paired EPUB via a metadata file (maybe similar format to Kindle's? Or if there's other, better implementations... I'm not too picky, this is a nice to have)

Why would this be helpful?

Well, to be able to highlight memorable quotes from an audiobook and directly export it to send over to people. Like a screenshot, but for audio!

Future Implementation (Screenshot)

UI-wise, a button similar to the current bookmark button (1), but it instead pops up a precise playhead positioning UI where the user can dial in the start of the quote (scrub to position, start playing, then press button at start, start will be 500ms before button press - also after setting initial start position, allow user to re-scrub it, down to 100ms precision), then let the book play out, and again press a button for the end of the quote.

One important thing is that these "highlights" should never ever modify the current playback position of the book! Upon pressing the initial button (1), playhead position is stored and after highlight is complete (either saved or dismissed), return the user to that position, paused (or optionally, continue playback as-is).

Audiobookshelf Server Version

v2.30.0

Current Implementation (Screenshot)

None

Originally created by @fonix232 on GitHub (Nov 25, 2025). ### Type of Enhancement Web Interface/Frontend ### Describe the Feature/Enhancement One of the things I love about my Kindle is the ability to highlight parts of a book (as little as a word, or a whole page), and see them as separate entries - these are clipped into a text file, preserving the highlighted text, with location metadata so actually opening the book highlights the quoted section. Something similar for audiobooks would be awesome. I know the bookmark feature already exists, but it's not ideal for a few reasons: - It's just a timestamp saved with a label - Playback jumps playhead to it when selected A proper "highlight" feature for audiobooks would be: - Both a start and end timestamp - Also storing a _separate_ clipping of the audio (the existing tooling for M4B processing should be able to clip a specific time segment out of a file with minor changes) - Potentially, a transcription of the audio stored as metadata - And a nice to have: once #3084 or #189 are implemented, also store the highlight in a paired EPUB via a metadata file (maybe similar format to Kindle's? Or if there's other, better implementations... I'm not too picky, this is a nice to have) ### Why would this be helpful? Well, to be able to highlight memorable quotes from an audiobook and directly export it to send over to people. Like a screenshot, but for audio! ### Future Implementation (Screenshot) UI-wise, a button similar to the current bookmark button (1), but it instead pops up a precise playhead positioning UI where the user can dial in the start of the quote (scrub to position, start playing, then press button at start, start will be 500ms before button press - also after setting initial start position, allow user to re-scrub it, down to 100ms precision), then let the book play out, and again press a button for the end of the quote. One important thing is that these "highlights" should _never ever_ modify the current playback position of the book! Upon pressing the initial button (1), playhead position is stored and after highlight is complete (either saved or dismissed), return the user to that position, paused (or optionally, continue playback as-is). ### Audiobookshelf Server Version v2.30.0 ### Current Implementation (Screenshot) None

deekerman

2026-02-20 03:07:01 -05:00

closed this issue
added the
enhancement
label

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 03:07:02 -05:00

Author

Owner

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Nov 25, 2025):

Duplicate of https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/issues/3088

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Nov 25, 2025): Duplicate of https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/issues/3088

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 03:07:02 -05:00

Author

Owner

@fonix232 commented on GitHub (Nov 26, 2025):

@nichwall cheers, tried looking it up but I guess I was using the wrong keywords. Audible's solution does seem like almost exactly what I was thinking of! Funnily enough I never used the app/service...

Closing this in favour of #3088

@fonix232 commented on GitHub (Nov 26, 2025): @nichwall cheers, tried looking it up but I guess I was using the wrong keywords. Audible's solution does seem like almost exactly what I was thinking of! Funnily enough I never used the app/service... Closing this in favour of #3088