💡 WiseUp! Vol. 50 — Find your note-taking opportunities

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.

❓ A Readwise question from Safdar I:

Is there a way to set things up so I get a text message once a day with my highlights automatically?

You can get a daily text message with a random highlight from your reading. This works by using webhooks, which let Readwise send updates to other tools as events happen. Zapier sets this up for you when you create a workflow that sends one random highlight each day. Custom webhooks are available if you want those updates sent straight to your own setup instead. You can setup a webhook from the Export page > Webhooks.

❓ A Reader question from Chi Z:

Is there a way to chat with articles while I’m reading them?

The chat with document feature lets you ask a document questions as you read, which can make long or dense material feel more approachable. The chat looks at the text, the context, and where you are in the document to give relevant answers. You can stop to clarify a paragraph, check a detail, or explore an idea without leaving the page. It keeps track of the conversation so follow up questions flow naturally.

📖 New help doc of the week

Reclaim screen space by collapsing Reader’s side panels

Reading on a smaller screen or just want fewer distractions? This week’s documentation shows how to quickly hide the left and right side panels on web via mouse, keyboard, or even by default in your preferences. Learn the shortcuts and settings that give your reading a bit more elbow room.

🎬 New video of the week

An experimental feature

We recently released a new feature in Readwise that started as an experiment, but has earned so much love we plan to keep it. Here’s a quick preview and how to turn it on in your account.

📰 Dec 25 - Jan 2 updates

What's new in Reader and Readwise

💬 Fixed Chat with Highlights — Ibai fixed a glitch that could cause Chat with Highlights to give an unexpected error on Android devices where the local time was slightly inaccurate.

📦 Fixed Bulk Updates — Tristan fixed a bulk update glitch that could cause the app to stop updating properly.

🔊 Improved TTS Autoscroll — Mati made text-to-speech autoscroll preferences persist between articles. Your autoscroll setting will now stay the way you set it as you move between documents.

🤖 Improved Ghostreader Reliability — Mati improved how Ghostreader handles YouTube and podcast transcripts; it should now have more context when answering questions.

🕺 Fixed Animation Settings — Modals, menus, and horizontal pagination now properly respect your "reduced animation" preferences.

🎙️ Fixed Podcast Transcripts — Mati fixed several issues where incorrect podcast episodes were being saved from Spotify and Pocket Casts links.

📧 Fixed Review Warnings — Ibai fixed a bug where Themed Reviews were incorrectly showing a warning message that was only meant for Daily Review emails.

📸 Fixed Broken Images — Tristan fixed an issue where some images weren't displaying correctly due to a quirk in our URL encoding.

🐦 Fixed Twitter DMs — Ibai fixed an issue where posts and threads sent to Readwise via encrypted DM weren't properly saving due an update with how Twitter handles usernames. They should all have come over now.

🔗 Fixed API — Tristan fixed an API glitch causing some requests (like updatedAfter) to throw errors.

👛 Fixed Changelog Updates — Tristan fixed a glitch that led to this RSS feed in Reader fetching content from the website instead of the RSS feed the way it is supposed to.

🛜 Parsing Updates — Krzys fixed saving articles from Dense Discovery newsletters. He also made improvements to how Reader handles Substack RSS feeds and documents from outsideonline.com/.

👍 Three featured finds from the CX team

From support specialist Angie

Something to read 📖
Max introduced niched perfumery to Angie recently, and this essay based on a Twitter thread is a great look at why that hobby gets so compelling so fast. It’s thoughtful, a little weird, and uses a sense we almost never recommend at Readwise: smell. You’ll probably finish it more curious than you started.

Something to focus 🧠
Angie upgraded from the original Palma to the BOOX Palma 2 Pro because she already loved the size and weight. The e-ink screen and distraction-free feel make it much easier to stay focused on reading, even in noisy places like planes, trains, or long car rides. It feels less like a gadget and more like a pocket-sized reading space that she takes everywhere.

Something to unwind 🍷
Angie recently opened a bottle of Kopke Colheita Tawny Port 1985, which feels like something you pour when the house is finally quiet. It’s smooth and layered, with notes of dried figs, toasted nuts, caramel, and a hint of orange peel. A perfect nightcap.

💬 From the Readwise group chat

How fast are your devs?

We hear Hannes is improving his driving ahead of the next F1 season. And before you ask: yes, the simulator does have a rollercoaster mode 🎢