Reading List Export to Markdown

WHAT IT DOES

This script extracts all items from your browser's reading list page and exports them as beautifully formatted Markdown. Each entry includes the title as a heading, the URL as a clickable link, and optional metadata including the date added, your personal notes, tags, and read/unread status. You can sort entries by date added, title, or URL, and choose between ascending or descending order. The export is copied directly to your clipboard, ready to paste into any Markdown-compatible editor, note-taking app, or documentation tool.

WHERE IT RUNS

The script works on any page that displays your reading list or read-later items, including chrome://reading-list, edge://read-later, and similar pages in other Chromium-based browsers. It also works on custom reading list implementations found in some browser extensions and web-based read-later services. The script automatically detects reading list items regardless of how they're rendered, using intelligent selectors that adapt to different page structures.

HOW TO USE

After installation, navigate to your browser's reading list page. Open the script's panel and configure your export preferences: toggle which metadata fields to include (dates, notes, tags, read status), choose your sort order, select a date format, and set a maximum item limit if needed. Click "Export to Markdown" to generate the output—the formatted Markdown is instantly copied to your clipboard. Use "Preview Count" to see how many items were detected on the current page without exporting. Reset to defaults anytime to restore the original settings.

TECHNICAL MECHANISM

This script operates without access to the browser's reading list API, which is unavailable in userscript contexts. Instead, it directly parses the DOM of the reading list page, using a multi-layered selector strategy to locate items across different browser implementations. For each detected item, it extracts the title from link text or heading elements, captures the URL from anchor tags, and retrieves dates from data attributes, datetime attributes, or visible date text. The script applies natural language parsing to convert human-readable date strings into timestamps for accurate sorting. Read status is determined by checking CSS classes, data attributes, and aria labels. The generated Markdown uses proper heading levels, blockquotes for notes, inline code formatting for tags, and emoji indicators for read status, following common Markdown conventions.

THE PANEL

The settings panel is fully draggable and can be positioned anywhere on your screen. It automatically snaps to the nearest edge when released, keeping your workspace organized. The panel can be collapsed to a small bubble showing only a gear icon, and restored with a single click. Its position is remembered across page reloads using GM_setValue. The panel also responds to the Escape key, which instantly hides it until you click the bubble again. All settings are saved immediately when changed and persist across browser sessions.

PLEASE NOTE

This script requires the free BotGentz extension to run. Reading list pages may change their HTML structure with browser updates, which could affect the script's ability to detect items. If you notice the script is not working after a browser update, check for script updates or contact the developer. The script does not access, store, or transmit your reading list items or any personal data. All extraction and formatting happens locally in your browser, and exported data is copied only to your clipboard—it never leaves your device.