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Quick Highlighter ​

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Video transcript
  • 0:02 Quick highlighter. Here is how to use the quick highlighter in Web Highlights, which lets you highlight a long article in no time.
  • 0:08 Turn it on. Open the sidebar with the extension icon in your browser toolbar, then click the highlighter button in its header. While the quick highlighter is on, the button is filled with your current color.
  • 0:17 Your cursor is a pen. As you can see, your cursor turns into a highlighter pen, and a small bar at the bottom of the page shows your colors.
  • 0:23 Select to highlight. Now simply select any text, and it is highlighted right away, without the popup. I personally love this for long articles, because I can mark every key sentence while I keep on reading. Each one appears in the sidebar at once.
  • 0:33 Switch colors. To switch colors, just click another one in the bar at the bottom, or press its number from one to five. Your pen changes instantly, and the new color also becomes your default highlight color.
  • 0:41 Stop with Esc. When you are done, press Escape or click the x to stop.
  • 0:44 Use the shortcut. And next time it is even faster with the keyboard shortcut. Option Q on a Mac, or Alt Q on Windows, turns the quick highlighter on and off.

Highlighting a long article? Turn on the quick highlighter and every text you select is highlighted right away in your current color. No popup, no extra click. Your mouse works like a text marker on paper: select a sentence, and it's saved.

Where you find it

The quick highlighter is part of the Web Highlights browser extension and of the reader in the Web Highlights app on your phone. In phone browsers that run extensions, like Edge or Kiwi on Android, you start it from the highlight bar. See On your phone. It is not available in the web app on a computer yet.

Turn on the quick highlighter ​

You can switch it on in two ways: with the highlighter button in the sidebar, or with a keyboard shortcut.

With the sidebar button ​

  1. Open the sidebar: Click the Web Highlights icon in your browser toolbar.

  2. Click the highlighter button in the sidebar header. It's the highlighter icon whose tip shows your current highlight color. Hover it and you see "Quick highlighter: highlight text as you select it".

With the keyboard shortcut ​

Press Alt + Q on Windows and Linux, or Option + Q on Mac. You don't need to open the sidebar for this. Press it again to turn the quick highlighter off. In the sidebar's shortcut list, the command is called Toggle quick highlighter. You can change the key at chrome://extensions/shortcuts, see Keyboard Shortcuts.

How you know it's on ​

The highlighter button in the sidebar is filled with your color, your cursor turns into a highlighter pen, and a small bar at the bottom of the page shows five color tiles, numbered 1 to 5. Your current color is the one with the white ring.

Highlight as you read ​

Once it's on, simply select text the way you always do:

  • Your cursor turns into a highlighter pen in your current color, and the text you drag over is colored as you go.
  • Every selection is highlighted at once. You don't see the highlighter popup, and you don't have to click anything.
  • New highlights show up in the sidebar right away, so you can keep the sidebar open while you read.
  • Existing highlights still work as usual. Click one to open its toolbar, for example to add a note, add a tag, change its color or delete it.

Links, text fields, editors and the Web Highlights sidebar keep their normal cursor. Text you select inside the sidebar or in a text field is never highlighted.

Change the color ​

The quick highlighter uses your current color, which is your default highlight color. The small bar at the bottom of the page puts five colors one click away: the five colors you used last, the same row you see under your recent colors in the color palette. Until you have used five colors, the pastel colors fill the rest.

  • Click a tile. The next selections are highlighted in that color.
  • Or press its number, 1 to 5, on the keyboard (the number row or the number pad). While the quick highlighter is on, the page doesn't react to these keys, so a video won't jump, for example. Typing a number into a text field still just types it.
  • Need another color? Click the rainbow tile next to the numbers to open your full color palette, including your own colors. A color you pick there takes the place of tile 5 while you use it, and it comes first the next time you turn the quick highlighter on.

The color you pick becomes your default highlight color. So the highlighter popup and the Alt + S shortcut use it too, even after you turn the quick highlighter off.

Sort by color 💡

Using one color per topic? Press 1, 2 or 3 whenever the article moves on to the next topic. Later you can filter your highlights by color in the sidebar and in the dashboard.

Turn it off ​

You can turn the quick highlighter off in four ways:

  • Press Esc.
  • Click × in the small bar at the bottom of the page.
  • Click the highlighter button in the sidebar header again.
  • Press Alt + Q (Option + Q on Mac) again.

After that, selecting text opens the highlighter popup again, as usual, and the number keys work on the page again.

Where the quick highlighter works ​

  • In the tab where you turned it on. It stays on when you reload the page or open another page in the same tab, until you turn it off. Your other tabs are not affected, and closing the tab turns it off.
  • On web pages and PDFs. It also works in the Web Highlights PDF viewer. A selection that spans several PDF pages is not highlighted. Highlight such a passage page by page instead.
  • On your phone. In the app's reader and in phone browsers with the extension. See On your phone.

On your phone ​

On a phone you select text with a long-press, so the quick highlighter works a little differently there.

Turn it on ​

  • In the Web Highlights app: open a page or a PDF in the reader and tap the highlighter button at the bottom, left of the notebook button. Its tip shows your current color.
  • In a phone browser with the extension (Edge or Kiwi on Android): select some text, then tap the highlighter button in the highlight bar, next to the note button. The text you selected is highlighted right away.

The buttons at the bottom of the screen make room for a bar with the five colors you used last. Your current color has a ring around it.

Highlight as you read ​

  1. Long-press a word to select it. To select more, drag the selection handles, just like you always do.
  2. Let go. A ring fills around your current color, and then the text is highlighted. After a long-press the ring takes a little longer, so you still have time to grab a handle.
  3. Need to adjust? As long as you hold or move a handle, nothing is saved. The ring starts again when you let go.

The usual copy and share menu doesn't pop up while the quick highlighter is on. The number on the highlighter in the bar shows how many highlights you made.

Change the color and turn it off ​

  • Tap a color in the bar to use it for your next selections. The + lets you pick any other color. Like on a computer, the color you pick becomes your default highlight color.
  • Tap × to turn the quick highlighter off. The buttons at the bottom come back. In the app, leaving the reader turns it off too.

Common Questions ​

How is this different from the Alt + S shortcut?

With Alt + S (Option + S on Mac), you select text and then press the shortcut for each highlight. With the quick highlighter, you only select text. Every selection is highlighted right away until you turn it off. Learn more about all the ways to highlight.

Can I use different colors?

Yes. Click another tile in the small bar at the bottom of the page, or press its number 1 to 5. Every selection after that is highlighted in the new color. The rainbow tile opens all your colors. You can also change the color of a single highlight later: click it and pick a color in its toolbar.

I selected text by mistake. How do I remove the highlight?

Click the highlight to open its toolbar and delete it. You can also delete it from the sidebar.

The keyboard shortcut does nothing. What can I do?

Another extension or your browser may use the same keys. Open chrome://extensions/shortcuts, find Web Highlights and set a different key for Toggle Quick Highlighter. You can always turn the quick highlighter on from the sidebar header, too.