Start a reading note in BookLog

Keep a book and the thought you want to return to together. In BookLog 4.0.7, you can add a title, write a first note, and read it again from your bookshelf without creating an account. This guide walks through those first steps.

Get BookLog on Google Play

Looking for a book first? Try the BookLog book lookup.

Want to start here? Make a note to paste into BookLog.

1. Begin with one book and one moment

From your bookshelf, tap the + button. The next screen is headed Add a book. Enter a Title. Add the Author if you know it, then use Add notes for the thought you have now. Choose Save when you are ready to put the book on your bookshelf.

You do not need to turn the first note into a review. A useful starting point is often only two or three sentences: what happened, what caught your attention, and a question you want to carry into the next chapter. Writing while the detail is still fresh is more useful than trying to recreate it later.

For example, instead of “good chapter,” try a short note such as:

The narrator avoids answering the question about the old house. Is that caution, or a clue that the story is changing direction?

That gives future-you something specific to notice when you return.

If you search by ISBN

BookLog’s online catalog can fill in a cover and page count when the selected record includes them. If either is missing, you’ll see a placeholder cover or a blank page field; check the book details and edit them before saving. No matching result? Try a title or author search, or add the book manually. Catalog search needs an internet connection. The browser lookup linked above does not send results into the app.

2. Give the note a small job

A note is easier to reuse when it has a purpose. Pick one of these for each entry:

• Remember: record a scene, idea, name, or page reference in your own words.
• Question: capture what you do not yet understand or what you want to look for next.
• Connect: link the passage to an earlier chapter, another book, or your own experience.
• Decide: write whether you want to continue, pause, recommend, or discuss the book.

Keep the note concrete. “The chapter turns the promise into a problem” is easier to revisit than “interesting.” If you quote a book, add just enough context to know why you saved it, and respect the book’s copyright when sharing material elsewhere.

3. Open the book when you want to return

After saving, the book appears on your bookshelf. Select its row to open its detail view and read the note with the title and author together. Before your next reading session, open the book and reread the note to recover the question or detail you wanted to remember.

Try three quick rereading questions: What did I notice? What am I still wondering? What should I pay attention to next? There is no target number of notes. The useful test is whether the note helps you pick the book back up with more context than you had before.

4. Organize your shelf

Open Settings, choose Filter, and select Show all, To read, Reading or Finished. The status comes from the book’s dates: no start date means To read; a start date without a finish date means Reading; both dates mean Finished.

Under Order by, choose Title, Author, Rating, Pages or Start Date. Title and Author are ascending; Rating, Pages and Start Date are descending.

Pages is the book’s total page count, not a pages-read counter. The date fields in the book editor are labelled Start date and Finish date.

Keep local copies in mind

JSON export and restore require BookLog 4.0.7. These controls are not available in version 4.0.4.

For BookLog 4.0.7, book entries, notes, search history, and settings are stored primarily on the device. Clearing BookLog’s app data in Android settings or uninstalling the app removes that local app data. Keep a separate copy of anything you need to preserve.

Moving to a new phone? In BookLog 4.0.7, open Settings and use “Export shelf and notes” to save a JSON file, then move that file yourself and choose “Restore shelf and notes” on the other phone. Restore adds entries with IDs not already on the phone and leaves matching entries unchanged; it does not match by title or merge notes. Shelf display settings and offline cover images are not included.

Before restoring, the confirmation dialog shows how many books are in the file and how many IDs already match records on the device. After you choose “Restore missing”, the completion dialog reports inserted and skipped records. If all IDs already exist, a successful restore can report 0 inserted: the existing records are left unchanged. These counts refer to book records, including their notes—not individual note paragraphs.

The file contains plain-text private notes: keep it private, consider the storage provider you choose, and delete exported files separately when you no longer need them. Automatic Android device transfer remains disabled, and the optional legacy-cloud import is not ongoing sync. See the BookLog privacy notice for details and the account and data deletion page for local versus legacy-cloud deletion.