How to highlight text on any webpage
Updated
Steps
- Open the page and click the Highlite icon to show the toolbar.
- Click Highlight in the toolbar, or press H.
- Pick a color in the panel that appears. The highlighter uses color only: the S to XL sizes do not apply to it.
- Select the text you want to mark. A selection can run across several paragraphs; Highlite colors each piece of text it covers.
- To remove a highlight, hover it and click its delete button, or switch to Eraser (E) and click it. Undo (Ctrl+Z, or Cmd+Z on Mac) works too.
Use colors as a legend
The five colors are the same for every tool and every page. Give each one a meaning, for example one for key points, one for errors, one for questions, and the highlights stay readable in the screenshot you send later.
Adding a comment to a highlight
Highlights carry no text of their own. To explain one, place a sticky note or a text box next to it, or draw an arrow from the comment to the highlighted words.
Limitations
- Highlite stores the highlighted words and their position in the page text. If the site changes that text, the highlight is not shown on your next visit.
- Annotations are tied to the exact page URL. The same article opened with a different query string or #anchor counts as a different page.
- Text inside images, PDFs opened in the browser viewer, canvas-based apps and browser pages cannot be highlighted.
- Highlights are not searchable, and there is no list of every page you highlighted.
Frequently asked questions
Do my highlights stay after I close the browser?
Yes. They are saved in your browser as soon as you make them. After a restart Highlite starts switched off, so click its icon on the page and the highlights come back.
Can I highlight text in a PDF?
No. PDFs opened in the browser's built-in viewer cannot be highlighted with Highlite, and neither can text inside images or canvas-based apps.
Can other people see my highlights?
Not on their own screen. Highlights stay in your browser. To share them, capture a screenshot of the page, or export the annotations as a JSON file with Premium.