I’m pretty new to audiobooks but I am slowly falling in love with them. One of my biggest challenges has been taking notes while I consume them, and while I found that I could add bookmarks & notes on the app I could not for the life of me figure out how to access them! What use are my notes when I can’t find the things when it’s time to write my review?!
💬 Related Post: How I Annotate Books for Writing Book Reviews
This quickie guide honestly came from an intense need on my part to be able to take and access notes on Audible so I can write my very overdue review for Gemina. I wasn’t able to find a source online and it took me playing around on the Desktop app to find my bookmarks… so I decided to put together a quick post on how to access them!
Notetaking is part of my process
I’m a notetaker when I read. I’m used to writing my notes down in my books: scribbling my thoughts and reactions in the margins, underlining and tabbing quotes that I want to use. One of my favorite things about eBooks (especially eARCs) is that I can color-code my notes for different things I like to talk about in my reviews (blue are quotes for my review, red is character development, yellow is general notes/worldbuilding) and this process works really well for me when it comes time to write my reviews. With audiobooks, I have been struggling to retain my thoughts but you can actually take notes & add bookmarks while reading on Audible!
The Bookmark Feature (which is called clips in the app) allows you to mark the specific place in the audiobook and add your notes.
Now you don’t have to worry about furiously writing down notes and quotes in a notebook while you are listening to your audiobook (which helps because I sometimes am doing my dishes at the same time!). Future Kal was very happy to have figured out this feature, but when it came to me accessing them after the fact… I had trouble.
How to Access Notes on Audible
You can access your bookmarks via your mobile app or on the Desktop App. I like that you can access them on your computer because I write all my reviews on my computer so it makes it easier for me, but you can also access them on the app!
- Go to your Library and click to listen to the book you want to access the notes for. I will be using Gemina as my example because this was the book I needed my bookmarks for. Two birds, one stone.
- Click Listen Now and a Cloudplayer will open up in a new window (web app).
- Click the little … on the top right of the Cloud Player or phone app window and select “Bookmarks”
- Voila, all your bookmarks are hereeeeeee!
Screenshots for the web Cloud player:
Screenshots for phone app (Android OS):
After I found my bookmarks it was so much easier for me to write my Gemina review because when you click on the “Go to bookmark” link it takes you to that exact clip in the audio! Magic! Victory!
Do you read audiobooks? What tricks of the trade do you have to share? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
This is pretty cool! I think one of the things that’s been holding me back from audio is that I wouldn’t be able to take notes. Now I might give it a try!
It was definitely a struggle and a half for me, no doubt! I am so used to writing extensive notes and the great thing about audio is you can do errands or drive while listening… which doesn’t lend well to notetaking. Give it a try!
I had the same issue with audio books! I actually carry around a notebook and set up a page or two for the audiobook and just scribble down my notes or “quote @ 10min 51 sec”
I should use that feature in audible, but I check out some on libby and it’s not as friendly for notes…
That’s a good system! And I found that if you use the desktop version for Libby you can actually take & access notes in almost the same way! I took notes when I read along with my copy of Sadie, I will give it a test next time I check out an audio to see about taking screenshots!
That would be awesome!
Very helpful, thank you for sharing. I usually scramble to pause the audiobook before writing my thoughts in a notebook but this seems much easier.
You’re welcome! It has been a lot easier for me than the notebook thing, I hope it helps you too!
Ahahahaha, same, though, Kal. They don’t make it easy for you to access notes and at first I was like WHERE ARE YOU NOTES COME BACK. I used to do a lot of audiobooks but I’ve found lately I’m having trouble paying attention so I don’t bother with audiobooks. I may, however, try audio versions for some books that I have DNFed due to the slow pacing simply because I can easily fast forward if I want to and I think I can just zone out? Or is it the pacing?
I hate Hoopla and Overdrive because I can place bookmarks but I don’t have notes at all. 😭
I honestly was SO CONFUSED! I was like “I took notes where tf are they?!” and then I googled a lot and couldn’t find an easy thing and finally poked around and found it. I also struggle with paying attention to audiobooks, so it’s a work in progress for me.
When I checked out Sadie on Overdrive/Libby I feel like I was able to take and read my notes but I used it on the desktop. I am going to pay more attention next time I check out an audio
great guide, Kal! I’m still on the fence about audiobooks, but this is definitely a point in their favor since one of the things I love about my ebooks is the ease of taking and accessing notes 📝
Thank you, Isabelle! I still struggle with audiobooks most of the time but at least I can take notes electronically while reading along with my physical book (the only way that works for me & my attention span) instead of tabbing!
Damn, this is awesome! I usually have trouble even finding my book… :/ I mean, when i’m listening and the phone screen goes dark, i’d kinda expect i can pause / press play again from the main screen. But for some reason i can’t.
So this note taking business is totally blowing my mind right now.
Thanks for sharing <3
You’re welcome, and I hope this tip helps you out a little bit!!!
You have read my mind. I use to listen audiobooks while reading the book. Now I have to review an audiobook (without the book) for the first time and I have to write down all because didn’t know about the bookmark.
Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, I am glad this was helpful for you!!!
Great post! I really need to get better at taking notes, even if it’s just to not down a thought or something I want to highlight in a review. I sometimes don’t get to my reviews until a month after reading and while I usually do remember what I want to talk about, sometimes it could be better lol. Thanks for this guide! Since I read a lot of audiobooks I’m gonna try it out. 🙂
I have the memory of a goldfish so if I don’t take notes, I’d be doomed when it comes to writing my reviews! I hope this trick helps you out, Lisa!
Thanks! I’m sure it will. 😀
Kal saves everyone again with an awesome guide *takes link to plop into my rewind post because ppl need this post in their lives*
I mean you know I’ve not tried audiobooks yet, nor do I read ebooks so my notetaking for my books has erm…certainly gone through some changes. Since my memory isn’t always helpful
Aww thank you!!! My memory is terrible, hence needing to take notes! I know this might not be useful for you because you read print only, but it’s here in case you ever change your mind and give audiobooks a try hehe
This is such a helpful post Kaleena! I just bookmarked it for my husband to read since he has been reading a ton of audiobooks lately.
Oh yay, I am so happy to hear it’s useful to others! I swear I thought I was going crazy because I couldn’t figure out how to find them, and there weren’t any posts about it. I was worried it was blatantly obvious to everyone but me LOL
I had no idea until I read your post.
Oh that’s really good to know!
Do you use Scribd? I was wondering if there was a way to add notes to that one too!!
I haven’t used Scribd yet but I will be starting next month! I will give it a try and see if I can figure out a way on there as well!
Oooooh I’m amazed you can do this with audiobooks! I don’t have audible yet, just started listening to audiobooks, but this was something I was really worried about. Gonna bookmark this!
I was so happy this was possible, especially for marking quotes down! Because constantly rewinding it to write it down is a pain in the rear.
Listen, you might just be a darn lifesaver with this post.
Listen, I gotta make sure you never die. Okay?
This is actually the most helpful thing I have ever seen. I love audiobooks, but it’s so much harder to review them because I can’t just highlight important passages or quotes – I’ve either got to write it down then and there or just remember it, which can be hard. But this nifty little guide should help me out with this problem! Thanks for such a great tutorial 🙂
YES I think we probably take notes the same way, and it’s a lot easier now that I have figured out this trick. Glad this was useful to you, too!
Loved this post, Kal! I LOVE AUDIOBOOKS AND THIS POST WILL MAKE MY READING EXPERIENCE MORE WORTHWHILE. Thank you so much for sharing this audible hack 😉
Awe YAY I am so glad this post will be useful to you, Rain!!!
(I think my first comment didn’t go through, lol) Anywho, I don’t typically read audiobooks, but think this would be SO helpful if I eventually did do so! I love taking notes and highlighting sections! Thanks for sharing, love! 😊
You’re welcome, and I am still on the fence with audiobooks but this definitely helps!
You really should be dubbed the queen of resources. That’s all I’m gonna say on this. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
Aww thank you so much, Sam!
I agree with Sam, you need a statue or an award or something. I don’t take notes for my book reviews, but I find that with audiobooks I kind of wish I did, so having knowing how to look for them definitely helps and I will now take notes. THANK YOU!!!
Awww thank you so much, honestly your compliments and gratitude are more than enough!!! I hope that taking notes with your audiobooks is helpful for you, love.
Thank you, I’m also kind of new to audiobook and I didn’t even know you could add notes! 😮
I didn’t know either, and I’m SO GLAD YOU CAN! I don’t know what I would do without that functionality!
Oooo thank you so much for this!!!
You’re welcome, thanks for stopping by!
It’s even easier now. All you have to do whilst in the audiobook is click the three dots at the top right and select ‘clips and bookmarks’ and voila.
Yes and THANK GOODNESS for that!