💡 WiseUp! Vol. 42 — 37 ways to stay focused

📍 Let's start with a reading recommendation

37 Tools and tactics to protect your attention

In addition to using Reader to stay focused and avoid ads, we are always looking for ways to protect our attention online. Wisereads editor Abi loves this exhaustive guide from Matt Švarcs Richardson, which explores how the brain delegates attention and offers practical tools to improve that process. “To reclaim your ability to direct and sustain attention, you must take control of your environment by eliminating as many of these impulses as possible: the impulse that makes your finger twitch nervously towards a phone, or pull-to-refresh your email inbox every fifteen minutes, or check the news when the work gets hard. A curated and controlled environment can eliminate these impulses by putting you on the counter-offensive, and it can be designed by blacklisting predictable distractions, neutralizing impulses, and quieting rumination.”

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From the support inbox

Have questions about using Readwise or Reader in your workflow? We'd love to be your guide! Reply to this email with your question and you might be featured in an upcoming issue. Even if your question isn’t featured, we’ll respond to every message.

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❓ A Readwise question from Misbah H:

I renewed my Readwise subscription but never received a receipt. How can I confirm it went through?

Automatic receipts mean your payments are logged and emailed to you without you having to request them. This gives you a consistent record you can rely on, much like receiving monthly statements in the mail. You can turn this on from your Account Settings and selecting the check box next to Receipts. You can also look up or download any past receipts whenever you need it from https://readwise.io/receipts.

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❓ A Reader question from Nezar:

Could you add right-to-left (RTL) text support in Reader?

Good news! We already have this option available. On web, open the command palette (cmd/ctrl + K) and search "Direction", then select "Change text direction to RTL". On mobile, tap into the more actions (three-dot) menu in the lower right corner, then tap Appearance. Select More style options, then "Right to left" under Text direction.

📖 New help doc of the week

Sync your Readwise highlights to Capacities

With the new integration developed by the Capacities team, you can now sync your Readwise highlights to your Capacities account. Check out Cayla’s new documentation to learn how to set up the sync, and for some tips and tricks you can use to get the most out of the integration.

Read the guide

🎬 New video of the week

Export your highlights to Capacities

The new Capacities export is more flexible than other Readwise integrations, but also more complex. In her latest video, Erin breaks down how it works.

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📰 Nov 8 - Nov 14 updates

What's new in Reader and Readwise

🔀 NEW! Capacities Integration — You can now export your highlights to Capacities. There are two ways to move content from Readwise to Capacities: by adding a tag in Readwise, or by manually searching for the document in Capacities. You can read their blog post about why they opted for a more manual method.

☁️ Improved Offline Experience — Johannes added a new status message that shows whether a location is currently downloading. Documents also now have more informative messages if they aren't available, which should be rare as long as you open the app for a few seconds to give everything time to download. Johannes also fixed a bug where the experimental offline caching feature could freeze interactive elements in the app.

🎥 Fixed YouTube Videos — YouTube recently started returning "Error 153" in some cases, which prevented videos from playing, which Mati previously fixed on mobile. Piotr has now fixed the issue for the desktop app as well.

🟡 Fixed Highlight Menus — Lior fixed a bug where the highlight menu sometimes continued showing up after turning a page in long-form reading mode. Mati improved the reliability of the highlight menu appearing when you select single words on iOS. You should now see the menu more consistently after making a selection.

🎙️ Fixed Chat with Highlights — Ibai fixed a websocket connection glitch that prevented some users from chatting with their highlights using the Readwise app.

👈 Fixed Article Layout — Arek fixed a bug where article text was extending too far to the right on some RSS feeds, making them difficult to read.

🔆 Improved Button Contrast — Arek made the "copy note" button more visible on e-ink devices.

🔍 Fixed RSS Search — Arek fixed a bug where searching for RSS feeds would reset to default results after typing a complete match.

🗞️ Fixed iPad Scrolling — Arek fixed a bug where tapping the top-right icons on iPad (like the appearance settings or highlights view) could cause the page to unexpectedly scroll to the top of the chapter.

🛜 Parsing Updates —  Krzys made parsing faster for 70+ domains, and fixed a bug where images were duplicating in Buttondown newsletters.

👍 Three featured finds

From support specialist Max

Something to read 📖
Metaphors We Live By explores how a metaphor isn’t just a figure of speech, but a framework for how we think, feel, and make sense of the world. Max recommends it for anyone curious about the hidden structures behind everyday language.

Something to focus 🌌
Max recommends myNoise, a sound generator that fills the space just enough to help him focus. When silence feels too empty and music is too much, it strikes the right balance.

Something to unwind 🪷
Max has been exploring fragrance as a way to reconnect with the physical world. It’s a small, sensory, and surprisingly effective hack. You can try it yourself with this fragrance, for example.

💬 From the Readwise group chat

Look up to the sky and see

Having a distributed team means getting a peek into lots of different backyards, and sometimes the vistas are simply magical!