💡 WiseUp! Vol. 24 — On questioning, understanding Filtered Views, and putting strawberries on your pasta
This week, we discuss considerations in the form of questions, for example: why would someone put yogurt and berries on penne pasta? 🍓 We also go through some Filtered Views basics, like understanding the default ones placed on your left bar and creating one to clean up your attic, I mean, archive.
On the app side, we’ve made it possible to choose between the 4o and o3 models when chatting with highlights and fixed several pesky bugs. Read on for all the details or check out our log of weekly improvements.
Before we get into the tips…
📍 Let's start with a reading recommendation
To question is to consider, not refute
In anticipation of our 100th volume of Wisereads, our editor Abi is sharing her favorite post from author Derek Sivers on asking questions. "Some people hear questions as disinclinations. You say, 'Why are we going?' They hear, 'I don’t want to go.' Maybe they grew up around people who are indirect, and use questions to communicate cancellation. But questioning is necessary for exploring ideas."
If you enjoy his work, keep your eye out for Wisereads this weekend 🤫
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 Roman R:
Can I choose the ChatGPT model for Chat with Highlights?
Surprise! Chat with highlights just got better—you can now pick between the 4o and o3 models for the kind of help you want. 4o is quicker and more natural if you’re chatting or need fast ideas, while o3 digs in deeper when you want more thoughtful answers. Give both a spin and see what clicks.
❓ A Reader question from Miguel L:
How can I clean up my Archive without deleting noted and highlighted articles?
Clear out past reads that didn't stand out with this clever query. You can create a filtered view (shift + F) using the query in:archive AND has__not:highlights AND has__not:notes. This will display only archived documents that have no highlights or notes. If you'd like to exclude tagged documents as well, you can also include has__not:tags
Once you've created the filtered view, you can use bulk actions (shift + B) to delete all of the documents in "All documents in list" section.
📖 New help doc of the week
Learn about Reader’s default filtered views
Have you ever accidentally deleted one of the default views and weren’t sure how to restore it? Are you just curious about what all the default views do? Find all of the queries and descriptions in this new help doc.
🎬 New video of the week
Dialing in your Go Color 7
The Boox Go Color 7 is one of our favorite e-readers, but it can take a bit of trial and error to dial in the vast system settings. In her latest video, Erin is sharing how she configured her Go Color 7 for the optimal reading experience.
📰 Jun 5 - Jul 11 updates
What's new in Reader and Readwise
🎬 Improved Video Location Tracking — Mati fixed a bug that caused video progress to reset when navigating away from the document. You should now be able to pick up where you left off when you return to your video.
📅 Fixed Date Display for Pocket Imports — Rasul fixed a bug where some documents imported from Pocket showed dates far in the future when trying to sort documents based on the “Date Moved” parameter. You should now be able to accurately sort your documents based on Date Moved data.
⌨ Fixed Enter Key Shortcut in Desktop App— Scott fixed an issue in the MacOS desktop app that was causing document links to open twice in an external window when using the Enter key.
📤 Resolved File Upload Crash — Scott also fixed a bug that caused the Reader MacOS desktop app to crash when trying to upload local files. You can now upload documents without the app quitting unexpectedly.
📊 Fixed Mobile Sort Order — Arek fixed a bug in the mobile app that was setting the default sort order to Date Moved, even if you had previously changed it to sort documents by length. Your previously set sort-order will now persist after closing and re-opening the app.
💻 Improved MCP Support — Piotr added some slight refinements to the Readwise MCP server. The MCP should now automatically all required dependencies, making it easier to integrate Readwise with any AI assistant that supports MCPs.
🔗 Improved URL Detection on Mobile — Arek fixed clipboard detection issue in the Android app so that Reader can better distinguish between actual web links and other clipboard content. You’ll no longer be prompted to add SMS verification codes as URLs.
📜 Added PDF Reparse Option – Scott added a new “Reparse PDF” option to the web and desktop command palette. We recently upgraded our PDF parser, which more accurately extracts text, image, and table of contents when converting a PDF to enriched text. This new re-parse option lets you re-parse old PDFs using the new model.
🎧 Improved Audio Reviews — Mati fixed an issue with our newly-released audio reviews feature that was causing some reviews to not be marked as Complete after listening. You can now enjoy your Daily Review without having to manually mark it as done.
🎙️ Fixed Annotation Detection for Audio Reviews – Mati also fixed a bug where audio reviews would say “You noted that...” even when you hadn’t added any notes to a highlight. The audio narration now accurately reflects whether you’ve added personal notes or not.
👻 Added Ghostreader Toggle – Ibai added a global Ghostreader toggle in the web and desktop app. You can now turn on/off all Ghostreader prompts with one click on the Preferences page.
📚 Suggested Themes – Ibai also added some improvements to our Themed Reviews. Now when you go to create a Themed Review in Readwise 1.0, you can build one from scratch or use one of our AI-generated theme ideas.
🛜 Parsing Updates — We discovered a big parsing issue that was affecting tens of thousands of articles (especially from NY Times), where images and article content would be missing. It’s fixed now!
👍 Three featured finds
From support specialist Romi
Something to read 📖
Romi loves a good rom-com, and Rainbow Rowell stands out as a master of great characters, compelling will-they/won't-they tension, and memorable relationship building. If you’re also a fan of second-chance romance, give Slow Dance a read.
Something to focus 🔇
Working while her 6-month baby plays with the nanny at home might sound like a challenge, but these Loop earplugs make it easier to lock in and get things done. (Things like this newsletter!)
Something to unwind ⛰️
The scent of this Aesop hand soap is enough to make Romi dream of faraway lands, neck massages and snowy hilltops. It’s her favorite souvenir to bring home from a trip.
💬 From the Readwise group chat
A Polish delicacy: Strawberry Pasta
Like everyone else in the world, we recently found out about Makaron z truskawkami, a Polish summer staple that combines berries, yogurt and pasta. Although it sounds hard to believe, our very own Pole, Tadek, confirmed it.
We never yuck anyone's yum, but found this meme pretty darn accurate:
See you next week!
Warmly,
the Readwise customer support team