Highlighter · for readers & researchers
A quiet highlighter for any web page. Mark what matters, add a note, keep it, the way you once marked up a book. Your highlights stay on the page, survive reloads, and export to clean Markdown when you need them.
Not a video: the real thing
The tool below is the actual Highlighter, running on a sample article. It marks a few lines to start, then it's yours.
Desktop browsers only. The Highlighter is built for a desktop browser and is not supported on phones or tablets yet: the demo below needs one too.
Press ▶ to watch the intro, or dive straight in: drag across a sentence, pick a colour. Click a highlight to note or recolour it. Open the summary (☰) to see everything you've kept.
What it does
Everything happens on the page and in your browser. No servers, no sign-in, no syncing you didn't ask for.
✶
Mark in yellow, green, blue, pink, or purple, renaming any colour to your own scheme.
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Select straight across block boundaries: lists, quotes, multiple paragraphs. Every part gets marked, not just the ends.
✎
Attach a thought inline. A small star marks it; hover to read, click to pin.
◐
Reads the page's own theme and swaps to a higher-contrast palette. Manual toggle when you want it.
⌖
Highlights persist per page through reloads. If a page changes, layered re-anchoring finds them again, never misplacing one.
↧
Download or copy in page order, notes as sub-bullets, with an optional APA or MLA citation for the source.
Use it for…
Same highlighter, tuned to what you're doing. Pick your angle.
✶
Keep the lines that matter and build a second brain from what you save. You're here.
This page ●⌘
Point at exactly what's off on a page - a buried CTA, a confusing flow - and send the markup back.
Open feedback →✎
Line-edit posts and articles in place: flag a clunky sentence, suggest a rewrite, return your notes.
Open copy markup →How to use it
Paste the snippet into your browser's console, or add the bookmarklet below. Soon: one click inside the Reframe extension.
Select text, pick a colour, add notes. A frosted panel sits top-right and fades until you need it. Works on any page.
Your marks stay put: per page, through reloads. Export ordered Markdown or copy to clipboard to take them with you.
Drag “◐ Highlighter” to your bookmarks bar, then click it on any page and the panel drops in. If your browser won't accept the drag, use Copy and paste it into a new bookmark's URL.
Current version: v0.9.12. The chip is a frozen copy, so it does not update itself: open the panel’s settings to see which version you have, and drag a fresh one if it is behind.
Dragging it up or copying it means you accept the Highlighter terms of use. They are short, and they are the whole of it.
Desktop browsers only: a bookmarks bar is a desktop affordance; phone and tablet support is not there yet.
Add once · run on any page, anytime · done? reload the page and it's gone. Saved highlights return next time you click it.
Want to know when a new version lands? The chip you just took is a frozen copy and cannot update itself, so an email is the only way I can tell you. Optional, and the tool works the same either way.
Used only to tell you about Highlighter versions. Not shared, not sold, and not added to anything else. Terms of use and privacy.
Fair question to ask before you put something in your bookmarks bar. Yes: it is built and maintained by one person, me, and it changes often enough that the version number on this page is worth checking against the one in the panel.
One page holds all of it: what changed and when, what is known to be broken, what is coming next, and where to send a bug or ask for a feature. It goes to me, and I read it.
What you keep is yours
Every highlight and note exports as clean Markdown: in page order, with the source citation, your notes tucked underneath. Plain text you own, not a note locked in someone's app.
Drop your exports into your notes app or vault. Because every file carries its source and date, you can later ask across everything you've saved - "what did I flag about pricing?" - and get answers that link back to the page.
Reading something of mine? Highlight it, add a note in the margin, and send your markup straight back: a quiet way to think together. coming soon
Good to know
In your browser, tied to each page's address. Nothing is uploaded, and there's no account. Clear your browser storage and they're gone. Otherwise they wait for you.
Yes: any page, light or dark. It namespaces everything and guards against page and extension conflicts, so it stays out of the site's way.
It re-anchors in layers: the exact spot, then the text position, then the quote and its surrounding context. If a highlight truly can't be placed, it's kept as "unlinked" - never deleted, never dropped somewhere wrong - and re-checked on every reload.
Download them as Markdown (page order, notes as sub-bullets) or copy to the clipboard. Turn on an APA or MLA citation and the source reference rides along.
The Highlighter is the first of Reframe's scripts: a browser tool that reshapes any page from a plain-English instruction. The tool is free; a membership will unlock a growing, curated library of scripts. More soon.