Simple Script to convert Kindle clippings to Anki import file format

kindle_anki.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

clippings = 'My Clippings.txt'
ankiFile = 'AnkiImport.txt'

def kindle_to_anki():
	try:
		clippingsFile = open(clippings, 'r')
	except IOError, e:
		print '*** file open error: ', e

	anki_import = open(ankiFile, 'w')

	kindle_notes = clippingsFile.readlines()

	anki_import.writelines(['"%s"\t"%s"\n\n' % (kindle_notes[i].strip(), kindle_notes[i+3].strip()) 
		for i in range(0, len(kindle_notes), 5)])

	anki_import.close()
	clippingsFile.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
	kindle_to_anki()

To run this script, you have to have python installed in your pc. You put the script and the kindle clippings file (named "My Clippings.txt") under the same folder. After running the script (shell command: python kindle_anki.py), you will find a file named "AnkiImport.txt". That's the file to import into Anki.

This is awesome. I was going to write some script (either in CoffeeScript or Ruby) to screen scrape the notes that you can get on the web at https://kindle.amazon.com/. I'll probably write something similar to what you've written, just for fun though. :)

Hi! I followed your instructions but it failed to create Anki file. I put your script and My Clippings into python folder. Message from Command Line:
C:\Python32>python kindle_anki.py
File "kindle_anki.py", line 9
except IOError,e:
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Hello michkles,

I run this script under Python 2.7 and it works. I didn't test it under Python 3.2 . The Syntax of Python 3 is different from Python 2. I think that's why it didn't work under Python 3.