How to fix common Highlite problems
Updated
Annotations are gone after a reload, a restart or in a new tab
Highlite is switched on per tab. It stays on when you reload, but starts off in a new tab and after a browser restart, and your annotations only show while it is on. Recent versions put a green number on the icon when the page has saved annotations.
- Click the Highlite icon. Saved annotations appear with the toolbar.
- Check the address. Annotations are tied to the exact URL, so a different query string (such as tracking parameters) or #anchor counts as another page. Open the URL you annotated.
- If only some highlights are missing, the site probably changed the text they were on. Highlite does not show a highlight whose words it can no longer find.
Nothing happens when you click the icon, or it shows a red !
Browsers do not let extensions run on their own pages (chrome://, edge://, about:, brave://), on extension store pages (Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons, Edge Add-ons) or on other extensions. On the Chrome Web Store and chrome:// pages the icon shows a red ! and clicking it does nothing. Open an ordinary webpage instead.
Text in PDFs opened in the browser viewer, in images and in canvas-based apps cannot be highlighted. If the icon does nothing on an ordinary webpage, reload the page and click it again.
Annotations have moved or sit next to the wrong element
Highlights follow the text they are on. Sticky notes, text boxes, drawings, arrows and shapes are placed at a position on the page. When the page lays out differently from when you annotated it, because of a different window width, a redesign or content that loads in another order, those annotations stay where they were while the content moves.
Resize the window back to the width you used, or switch to Select (V) and drag each annotation into place.
Annotations are not on your other computer or browser
Highlite has no sync and no cloud copy. Annotations live in the browser profile where you made them. To move a page, export it as JSON with Premium and import the file in the other browser, which is free.
Annotations disappeared after uninstalling
Removing the extension deletes every annotation it stored, and they cannot be recovered. Reinstalling starts from an empty state. Before uninstalling, capture a screenshot of each page you want to keep, or export its annotations as JSON with Premium.
Uninstalling does not cancel a Premium subscription. Cancel it from your billing page.
A keyboard shortcut does nothing
Shortcuts only work while the toolbar is open on the page, and they pause while the cursor is in a text field. Click the Highlite icon, click an empty part of the page, and press the key again.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Highlite store my annotations?
In your browser, in the profile where you made them, tied to the page URL. Nothing is stored on Highlite servers, which is why there is no sync and why uninstalling deletes them.
Can I recover annotations after uninstalling Highlite?
No. Uninstalling deletes them from the browser and there is no copy anywhere else. If you exported a page as JSON before uninstalling, import that file after reinstalling.
Why does Highlite not work on the Chrome Web Store?
Browsers block every extension on their store pages and internal pages such as chrome:// or about:. Highlite works on ordinary webpages.