How To Setup Readwise In Under 60 Seconds

Setting up Readwise is extremely simple. All you do is sign up for an account, download the Readwise extension, and connect it to your Amazon Kindle account. 

Once you get started, Readwise walks you through the short process very well. But, this short tutorial will give you an overview of the super-easy process.

You can complete the entire setup in literally seconds. (I tested it. Start to finish (except the actual import that Readwise does), it took less than 60 seconds, including installing the browser extension.)

Let’s get started.

1. Visit Readwise.com/steve (to get 2 free months of access).
2. Click on the “Get Started For Free” button.
3. There are two ways to sign up  – signing up via Amazon or signing up via email. We’ll go with signing up via email.
4. Enter your name, email address, and a password.
5. (Step 2 – Sync Your Highlights) – Choose Amazon Kindle. If the email you used to sign up is the same one that’s associated with your Kindle account, syncing starts immediately, and you’re all set. If you used a different email address, you’ll be prompted to enter the Kindle account email address, and then you’re done.
6. Readwise will automatically import all of your highlights, displaying your list of books in a progress bar.
7. You’re done! Readwise has sent you your first highlights email.
8. Check your inbox now. If you don’t see the Readwise email, check your Trash and Spam folders (mine ended up in the Trash, for some reason). If you’re a Gmail user, and the email landed somewhere other than on your Primary tab, go ahead and drag it to your Primary tab, so Gmail knows that’s where you want to see it.
9. Be sure to send a reply! This lets your email application (e.g. Gmail) know that you want these emails in your Primary inbox (otherwise, your highlight emails may go to your Gmail Promotions tab, or even your Spam/Trash folder). This also lets your email provider know that you have a “relationship” with Readwise, so it’ll keep your daily emails coming.

That’s it. You’ll receive an email every day (less frequently if you don’t open them daily – Readwise will turn down the frequency, but you can turn it back up).

I use Readwise primarily for resurfacing highlights from my Kindle. However, there are lots of other ways to get quotes, inspirational thoughts, or anything else you want to be reminded of, into your daily email. Some of these other sources are: Medium, reading apps like Instapaper and Pocket, Twitter, and virtually any text online that you can view via your brower. Check out all the other ways you can save text to your Readwise account.