Check highlights and notes after document conversion
PDF highlights do not automatically become EPUB annotations. Back up important notes, anchor them with short quotations and recreate only the highlights you need.
On this page
Save notes with a quote and location
- Export or copy important notes before changing formats.
- Keep a short quote with each note.
- Find the passage in the converted book.
- Create and check new reading-app annotations.
Preserve the note before recreating the highlight
A PDF annotation can contain more than a colour: note text, a page coordinate, author information and a comment history may be stored separately from the visible passage. Export or copy the important information using your PDF reader’s supported workflow before replacing the reading file. Retain the PDF when exact annotation placement matters.
In the EPUB reader, recreate important highlights only after checking the converted wording. Anchor a note with a short quote and section heading so a changed text size does not make it hard to find. Do not assume notes migrate when you rename a book or replace a library copy. If a reader offers annotation export, test that export on a non-sensitive example first. EPUBTurn reconstructs reading content; it does not transfer your PDF annotation database into a new reader.
Keep a note anchored to Alice’s actual chapter
For a note about Alice following the White Rabbit, save Chapter I, Down the Rabbit-Hole, together with a short phrase from the edition you read. After conversion, locate the phrase in the new file before recreating the highlight. A chapter title helps if screen numbers change, and the quotation distinguishes one passage from another mention of the rabbit. Keep the original annotations until the new notes have been checked. This is a note-preservation method; no transfer of PDF annotation data into a new EPUB is claimed.
Open the published source.
Reader annotations may not transfer
Readers store annotations differently. Changing a filename or replacing a library copy can affect saved notes. EPUBTurn does not promise automatic transfer of your PDF annotations.
Keep annotations separate from the reading-file replacement
A reader can store notes in its own library rather than inside the EPUB. Before replacing a book or importing a new edition, check how your chosen app exports or backs up annotations. Anchor important notes to a heading and distinctive phrase rather than a reflowed screen number. No iPad multitasking or annotation-transfer result was measured here; current model and app controls need a separate test.
Anchor notes to the actual passage in the sample
The NASA EPUB retains the rate-control discussion and links back to its sampled original pages. Use a distinctive phrase from that passage when recreating a note after conversion. That is a way to find the content, not a transfer of the PDF’s annotation database. Keep your existing highlights until the new reading app’s saved notes have been checked. Choosing EPUBTurn for adjustable reading does not establish that annotations will migrate automatically.
Open the actual source PDF · Download the saved EPUBTurn sample.
For your own document, create an EPUBTurn sample from your PDF, then use the reading checks described here.