How to fix missing Kindle highlights

⚡ Fast fix

• Check the book first. If your highlights are still there on another Kindle™ or in the Kindle app, they're probably not lost.
• Sync your Kindle. Missing highlights may simply not have caught up across devices.
• Check your Amazon account. Highlights won't follow a book to a device registered somewhere else.
• Still missing your favorite passages?
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Highlights are usually the parts of a book you specifically don't want to lose. Maybe it's a quote you wanted to remember, something for book club, or an entire paragraph that deserved another read. So opening the book later and finding those yellow marks gone can be a little alarming.

At Asurion, our experts know their way around the settings and syncing features that keep everyday tech working. Before assuming those Kindle highlights are gone for good, here's where we'd look for them.

Check whether they're missing everywhere

Open the same book somewhere else if you can—another Kindle, the Kindle app on your phone or tablet, or your Kindle Notebook. If the highlights appear there, that's good news. The annotations still exist, and we'd focus on getting the device that's missing them to sync properly.

If only one book is affected while highlights from other books appear normally, keep that in mind too. One title behaving differently usually doesn't call for troubleshooting your entire Kindle account.

Sync the device where you made the highlights

If you still have access to the Kindle or app where you originally highlighted the passages, start there. Connect it to the internet, open the book, and run a manual sync. Then sync the device where the highlights are missing and reopen the book.

This is especially important if you've been reading across several devices. Kindle syncing is designed to carry reading information—including highlights and notes—between compatible devices using the same account.

If your reading position isn't following you either, our guide to fixing Kindle reading progress that won't sync can help with the broader syncing problem.

Make sure you're using the same Amazon account

When an entire collection of highlights seems to disappear after switching Kindles or reinstalling the Kindle app, we'd check the account before doing much else.

Make sure both devices are registered to the Amazon account that owns the book. A title downloaded or opened under another account won't necessarily bring the annotations from your usual Kindle library along with it.

Look in your Kindle Notebook

Sometimes the easiest way to answer "Are these highlights actually gone?" is to look somewhere other than the Kindle.

For eligible Kindle books, sign in to your Kindle Notebook with the same Amazon account and find the title. If your highlights and notes appear there, Amazon still has a synced copy even if one device isn't displaying them correctly.

That gives you something important before you start removing downloads or changing accounts: confirmation that the annotations still exist.

If only one book has missing highlights

One book losing its highlights while everything else looks normal changes how we'd approach the problem. Make sure the title has fully downloaded, then sync the Kindle again. If the annotations exist elsewhere but still refuse to appear on this device, removing and redownloading the book may refresh its local copy.

Choose Remove Download, not Permanently Delete. Our guide to removing books from your Kindle explains the difference before you tap the wrong one.

And if the highlights don't exist anywhere else, be cautious about removing that local copy until you've confirmed whether there's anything on the device you still need.

Restart if highlights have stopped syncing altogether

If new highlights from several books aren't reaching your other devices, restart the Kindle and reconnect it to Wi-Fi. Once it's back online, manually sync again and check a recent highlight.

When books, reading progress, and highlights all stop syncing at the same time, we'd treat that as a broader Kindle connection or account problem rather than three unrelated issues.

FAQ

Why did my Kindle highlights disappear?

First check another Kindle or the Kindle app, then manually sync the device where you originally made the highlights. If they're missing only on one device, they may still be stored with your Amazon account.

Where can I find my Kindle highlights online?

For supported Kindle books, sign in to Kindle Notebook with the Amazon account you use for Kindle and select the book to view available highlights and notes.

Why aren't my Kindle highlights syncing across devices?

Make sure the devices are online, registered to the same Amazon account, and manually synced. Start with the device where you made the newest highlights.

Will removing a Kindle book delete my highlights?

Choosing Remove Download is different from permanently deleting a book. Before removing anything when highlights are already missing, check whether those annotations have synced somewhere else.