One highlighter for everything you read

Highlight any website or PDF

A web and PDF highlighter: select text and pick a color, right-click, or press AltS. PDFs download with your highlights inside.

Free online PDF highlighter →

Video transcript

Select text, pick a color A sentence on a web page is selected. The Web Highlights popup opens next to it with its color palette, and picking mint highlights the sentence in mint.
Or right-click it The next sentence is selected and right-clicked. In the browser’s menu, “Highlight selected text” highlights it in yellow, the default color.
Or use the shortcut A third sentence is selected, and the keyboard shortcut Alt+S (Option+S on a Mac) highlights it.
Works on PDFs too PDFs work the same way: open one in the browser and highlight it. Download the PDF and your highlights are inside, as real annotations.

Still there when you come back — on any device

Close the tab, come back next week: your highlights wait on the page. With Premium they're in the web app and on Android too.

Video transcript

Close the tab A web page in Chrome has five highlights in five pastel colors. The tab is closed, and days later the page is opened again by typing its address.
Still there when you come back All five highlights come back on the page by themselves, right where they were. No account needed.
Beautifully organized Every highlighted page is in the Web Highlights library: a grid of cards with cover, title and highlight count, sorted into collections.
Synced to every device With sync, the same library is on the phone — in the Web Highlights Android app, or in the web app at app.web-highlights.com in any browser. Sync needs a free account and Premium or Ultimate; the free trial includes it for 7 days.

“Amazing Chrome extension--has my vote for one of the best things on the internet that's still free. If you want the added features of a paid account, like synching and backups, the cost is reasonable.”

Ian S.★★★★★Chrome Web Store review

Highlight as you read

Press AltQ and every selection becomes a highlight. No popup, no extra click.

Video transcript

Turn on the quick highlighter In the sidebar's header, the highlighter button turns the quick highlighter on; the keyboard shortcut is Alt+Q (Option+Q on a Mac). The cursor becomes a highlighter pen, and a small bar of colors appears in the corner of the page.
Just select — it's highlighted Dragging across a sentence highlights it in the current color right away, with no popup. A second sentence follows just as fast.
Press 1–5 to switch colors Pressing 2, then 3, switches to the second and third color in the bar; a click on the first color in the bar switches back. Each next sentence is highlighted in the new color.
Esc turns it off Pressing Esc turns the quick highlighter off: the cursor returns to normal and the bar disappears.
All saved in your sidebar The sidebar lists every new highlight in its color.

Annotate highlights with notes and tags

Add a note to any highlight or the whole page, tag it, and find that one line again.

Video transcript

Click any highlight Clicking a highlight on the page opens its popup: a row of actions above the line, and tags and a note below it.
Add a note, with formatting The note field is always open, so typing adds a note to the highlight right away. The toolbar under the note formats it — here a click on B makes the last words bold; italic, lists and more sit next to it.
Tag it to find it later Typing in Tags suggests the tags you already use; picking one adds it, and a new name is created with “+ Create”.
Or note the whole page A note can also be about the whole page, without a highlight: the small note button between two cards in the sidebar adds one, with the same toolbar — here a line and a short bulleted list.
All in your sidebar The sidebar shows the highlight with its note and tags, and the page note below it. Tags let you find them again in the sidebar and in the web app.

“Very useful so I don't have to save the page as pdf and save on my ipad just to annotate.”

Mary Trisha Q.★★★★★Chrome Web Store review

Export to Notion, Capacities and Markdown

Send highlights and notes to Notion or Capacities in one click, or copy Markdown for Obsidian.

Video transcript

Export to your favorite tools A saved page's highlights and notes go to the tools you already use: Notion, Capacities, and Obsidian or any other Markdown app.
Send it to Notion Export to Notion creates a page in your Notion database with the page's title, link and tags, each highlight as a quote and each note under its highlight. Connect Notion once in Settings → Integrations.
Or to Capacities Export to Capacities saves the page as a weblink with your highlights in order and in their colors, each note under its highlight. Exporting again adds only the new highlights.
Or copy it as Markdown Copy Markdown puts the page, its highlights and notes on the clipboard. Paste it into Obsidian or any Markdown app and it reads as formatted text. Copying Markdown and HTML works on every plan; Notion and Capacities exports are one a day each on Free and Premium and unlimited on Ultimate and the free trial; PDF and HTML files need Ultimate or the trial.

Save any page — and find it again

Web clipper and bookmark manager in one: save any page with one click, tag it and file it in a collection.

How to save bookmarks →

Video transcript

Save any page Click the bookmark icon in the sidebar to save the page you are on; “Bookmark saved” confirms it. Your first highlight on a page saves it automatically, too.
Or right-click anywhere Or right-click anywhere on a page and choose “Save page as bookmark” in Chrome's menu. You can also give saving a keyboard shortcut at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.
All in your library Saved pages appear in the sidebar and in the web app with their title, description and image. Tag them and file them in collections, which are real folders, to find them again.

Learn what you highlight — with flashcards and spaced repetition

Turn any highlight into a flashcard, or let the AI flashcard generator on your device draft a deck. Spaced repetition schedules your reviews.

Free flashcard maker →

Video transcript

Turn highlights into flashcards A highlight on a web page becomes a flashcard: the highlighted sentence is the answer, and you add the question.
Or let AI write the deck Or let the AI write a whole deck from the page — it runs on your device, in Chrome and Edge. The free plan includes one AI deck a day.
Quiz yourself A review session shows the question first. Turn the card to see the answer and grade yourself with Correct or Incorrect.
Spaced repetition does the rest Spaced repetition brings each card back just before you would forget it — after a few days, then a week, then weeks and months. Ready-made decks are on the Learning Hub, no account needed.

“I needed a program that I could use to highlight passages from different news articles for my research project. Web Highlighter became a life saver.”

Syed Azhar H.★★★★★Chrome Web Store review

Highlight YouTube videos

Read the transcript under the video, highlight key moments and jump back to them.

Free YouTube highlighter →

Video transcript

Highlight YouTube videos On a YouTube video with captions, click the Web Highlights button in the player's controls to open the video in the reader.
Read along with the transcript The transcript sits below the video and follows along as it plays; the line being spoken is marked.
Highlight key moments Highlight lines of the transcript and add notes, just as on a web page.
Jump back to any moment Click a line's timestamp to jump back to that moment in the video.

Reader mode — read without ads and pop-ups

Open any page in a clean reader. Pick Light, Sepia or Dark and highlight as you read.

Free online reader mode →

Video transcript

One click to a clean read On a saved page, open the sidebar's Reader tab and click “Open in reader” to read the article in a clean view.
No ads, no pop-ups Reader mode removes ads, pop-ups, cookie banners and other distractions and keeps the article itself.
Easy on your eyes Pick a color mode (Auto, Light, Dark, Sepia or Contrast) and adjust the font size, line height and width to suit your eyes.
Highlight as you read Highlight and take notes in the reader just as on the page; they are saved with the page. Opening the reader also saves the page's text, so you can read it offline.

AI summaries and chat — on your device

Summarize any page, PDF or YouTube video, or chat with it. The AI runs on your device in Chrome and Edge.

Video transcript

Summarize any page One click on AI summary in the sidebar writes the key points of the page. The summary is saved with the page, above your highlights. Key points, TL;DR, headline or teaser; short, medium or long.
Or chat with it Or chat with the page: ask a question and the answer comes from the page itself. AI chat works on websites, PDFs and YouTube videos.
Right on your device The AI runs on your device — Gemini Nano in Chrome, Phi-4-mini in Edge — with no cloud. The free plan includes one AI summary and one new AI chat a day; Ultimate and the free trial lift those limits.

Start with the next page you read

Free · no account needed · Chrome, Edge & Firefox

Add to Chrome - it's free

4.8 from 5,000+ ratings

Read all reviews →

Why Law Students love us

The advanced highlighting feature is incredibly helpful

- Juliene Ebreo

Law Student from Philippines

Juliene, how long have you been studying and which areas are you focusing on?

I'm currently on my first year second semester Juris Doctor program and I'm expecting it to finish in 4-5 years hopefully. I still have a long way to go, and I will be using Web Highlights during the whole program [...]. Juris Doctor is the entry level program for those who want to be lawyers. So we will be studying all kinds of laws in

Read the full interview

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Web Highlights?

Web Highlights is a browser extension I built to make it super easy to highlight and add notes to any website or PDF. It's perfect for reading, research, or just saving stuff you don't want to forget. It's one of the top Chrome extensions for productivity, and you don't even need to sign up to use it. Just install it and start highlighting. You can use different colors, add tags, and send your notes to second brain apps like Notion, Obsidian, or Capacities.

How does the page marker extension work?

It's simple: Install the extension, or use one of our free online tools, select any text on a webpage or PDF, and you'll see a popup to highlight it. You can also right-click or use keyboard shortcuts if you prefer. Add notes, create tags, and everything is saved automatically. When you come back to the page, your highlights are still there. It's like having a digital marker for the whole web.

Can I highlight and annotate PDFs in Chrome?

Yes! Web Highlights works with both online and local PDFs. Here's how:

For online PDFs: Simply open them in your browser and click the "Highlight this PDF" popup or click the extension icon.
For local PDFs:
1. Open the PDF in Chrome (right-click > Open with > Chrome)
2. Allow Web Highlights to access file URLs (one-time setup)
3. Click the extension icon or "Highlight this PDF" popup

Once loaded in the Web Highlights viewer, you can highlight text, add notes, and organize with tags just like on websites. The PDF viewer makes it easy to read and annotate your documents and to take notes on the go. Read our complete guide to PDF highlighting →

Is Web Highlights really free?

Yep, most of the features are free! The main highlighter application is totally free. You can make as many highlights, notes, tags, and bookmarks as you want, and the web app stays free too. What the paid plans add is syncing across devices — free for 7 days, and after that your highlights stay where they are and only the syncing stops. You never need to pay to use the basics.

What makes Web Highlights different?

I built Web Highlights to be simple but powerful. Unlike most highlighter applications, you get things like cloud sync, formatted highlights, and easy export to second brain apps. Lots of users say it helps them keep their research and notes organized, whether they're reading for fun, studying, or working. It's all about making it easy to save and find what matters to you—without any fuss.

View all frequently asked questions →

Highlight any website

One highlighter for everything you read