[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-article-how-to-highlight-pdfs-using-web-highlights":3},{"meta":4,"html":33,"authorName":34,"authorFacebookUrl":35,"authorProfileImage":36,"authorWebsite":37,"authorJobTitle":38,"authorTwitterUrl":39,"wordCount":40,"recommended":41},{"id":5,"slug":6,"type":7,"title":8,"excerpt":9,"metaTitle":10,"metaDescription":10,"canonicalUrl":10,"featureImage":11,"publishedAt":17,"createdAt":18,"updatedAt":19,"featured":20,"readingTime":21,"tags":22,"author":32,"recommendedSlugs":10},"6311d47fdd1b4f6c7a6f9fa0","how-to-highlight-pdfs-using-web-highlights","post","How to Highlight PDFs in Your Chrome Browser","Easily highlight local and online PDFs in Chrome, Edge, and Brave using Web Highlights. Keep your research organized and accessible on any device!",null,{"url":12,"alt":13,"caption":14,"width":15,"height":16},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FArticle-Thumbnails.png","Thumbnail showing Macbook, Cup of Coffee and a Tablet with the overlay saying: How to Highlight PDFs in Your Chrome Browser","\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Photo by \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@curvd\">\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">CURVD® \u002F Unsplash\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>",1200,630,"2022-09-02T10:08:36.000+00:00","2022-09-02T10:01:35.000+00:00","2026-07-01T09:44:15.000+00:00",false,9,[23,26,29],{"name":24,"slug":25},"FAQ, Tutorials, and Help","faq",{"name":27,"slug":28},"PDF","pdf",{"name":30,"slug":31},"Tutorial","tutorial","marius-bongarts","\u003Cp>You open a PDF in Chrome, find the one sentence that actually matters—and realize you can't highlight it. The built-in viewer is fine for reading, but it won't let you mark a single line.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Good news—you're in the right place! All you need is a free Chrome extension, and you'll have your first highlight saved in about 30 seconds.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>In this guide, I'll show you how to highlight a PDF in Chrome—both online PDFs and local files—using \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002F\">Web Highlights\u003C\u002Fa> , a free \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fhighlight-pdfs\">PDF highlighter\u003C\u002Fa> I built that lets you \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-use-web-highlights-to-highlight-text-take-notes-on-the-internet\u002F\">highlight text on any website or PDF \u003C\u002Fa>. We'll start with the 30-second version. Then we'll add notes and tags, download or print the PDF with your highlights embedded, and even import highlights you've already made in Adobe Acrobat.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>So, let's dive in—it's really easy!\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"highlight-your-first-pdf\">Highlight your first PDF\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Three steps, no sign-up required. Here's the quickest way to highlight a PDF in your browser:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"step-1-install-the-pdf-web-highlighter-extension\">Step 1: \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fbrowser-tools\u002Fextensions\u002Fweb-highlights\u002Finstall\">Install the PDF & Web Highlighter extension\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Web Highlights is a simple tool for highlighting text on any website or PDF. It's loved by over 100,000 users, \u003Cstrong>free\u003C\u002Fstrong>, and you can use it \u003Cstrong>without signing up\u003C\u002Fstrong>.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002Fimage-15.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Web Highlights - PDF & Web Highlighter web-highlights.com Featured 4.8 (2.4K ratings) Extension Workflow & Planning 100,000 users\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1578\" height=\"406\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002Fimage-15.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002Fimage-15.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002Fimage-15.webp 1578w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fchromewebstore.google.com\u002Fdetail\u002Fweb-highlights-pdf-web-hi\u002Fhldjnlbobkdkghfidgoecgmklcemanhm\">\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Web Highlights Chrome Extension\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>The browser extension is available in the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fchromewebstore.google.com\u002Fdetail\u002Fweb-highlights-pdf-web-hi\u002Fhldjnlbobkdkghfidgoecgmklcemanhm\">Chrome Web Store \u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmicrosoftedge.microsoft.com\u002Faddons\u002Fdetail\u002Fweb-highlights-pdf-we\u002Fghdpaajjhmlfkogblgeibaabcpjfgldn\">Microsoft Edge Store \u003C\u002Fa>, and \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Faddons.mozilla.org\u002Ffirefox\u002Faddon\u002Fweb-highlights-pdf-web-highlig\u002F\">Mozilla Firefox\u003C\u002Fa>. It also works on any other Chromium-based browser like Brave or Vivaldi.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>You can \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fbrowser-tools\u002Fextensions\u002Fweb-highlights\u002Finstall\">install Web Highlights on most browsers using this link.\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-bookmark-card\">\u003Ca class=\"kg-bookmark-container\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fbrowser-tools\u002Fextensions\u002Fweb-highlights\u002Finstall\">\u003Cdiv class=\"kg-bookmark-content\">\u003Cdiv class=\"kg-bookmark-title\">Install Web Highlights on Your Browser\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003Cdiv class=\"kg-bookmark-description\">Web Highlights is available for Chrome Web Store, Microsoft Edge Store, Brave, Vivaldi, and Opera Add-ons Store. Choose your platform and install Web Highlights - PDF & Web Highlighter today!\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003Cdiv class=\"kg-bookmark-metadata\">\u003Cimg class=\"kg-bookmark-icon\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Ffavicon.ico\" alt=\"\">\u003Cspan class=\"kg-bookmark-author\">Install Web Highlights on Your Browser\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003Cdiv class=\"kg-bookmark-thumbnail\">\u003Cimg src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F7re654cz\u002Fproduction\u002Fe4e78bf3943167b27db487dc3b6d982c293bf049-1280x800.png?rect=0,64,1280,672&w=1200&h=630\" alt=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display = 'none'\">\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\u003C!--kg-card-begin: html-->\n\u003Ch3>Step 2: Open a PDF and click \"Highlight this PDF\"\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fpdfobject.com\u002Fpdf\u002Fsample.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u003C\u002Fh3>Go to any PDF in your browser, such as \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fpdfobject.com\u002Fpdf\u002Fsample.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">this sample PDF\u003C\u002Fa>. You'll see a popup in the top right corner saying \"Highlight this PDF\".\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C!--kg-card-end: html-->\n\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-20.48.28.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Popup in Web Highlights saying ""Highlights this PDF" enabling you to highlight PDF in your browser\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1910\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-20.48.28.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-20.48.28.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-20.48.28.webp 1600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-20.48.28.webp 1910w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">\"Highlights this PDF\" popup\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Click it, and Web Highlights opens the PDF in its own viewer, formatted and ready for highlighting. This step matters because Chrome's built-in viewer can't save highlights—the Web Highlights PDF viewer is what makes everything in this guide possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"step-3-click-the-highlight-this-pdf-popup\">Step 3: Click the \"Highlight this PDF\" popup.\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Once you click the popup to highlight the PDF, Web Highlights will format it for you, and you can start highlighting. \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>💡 Tip: Alternatively, you can also click the Web Highlights extension icon from your extension toolbar to open the Web Highlights PDF viewer.\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>You should now see the Web Highlights PDF editor, which has turned the PDF into a document ready for highlighting with our new tool. \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.06.56.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Web Highlights PDF Viewer & Editor\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1020\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.06.56.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.06.56.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.06.56.webp 1600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.06.56.webp 2400w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Web Highlights PDF Viewer & Editor\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>You can also see the Web Highlights sidebar, where your highlights, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Ftags-and-organization\">tags\u003C\u002Fa>, and \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fnotes\">notes\u003C\u002Fa> will be stored.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>The Web Highlights sidebar is the heart of the productivity tool, letting you search through all your highlighted content in one central place.\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>Now, let's finally highlight & annotate some text in our PDF. \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"step-4-select-text-and-highlight-it\">Step 4: Select text and highlight it.\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Within the Web Highlights PDF viewer, we can select any PDF text and save it to our sidebar.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Select some text and create a highlight by:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>Clicking the highlighter popup or choose from one of the colors\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>Right-clicking the selected text\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>Using a keyboard shortcut (Mac: ⌥ + S, Windows: ALT + S)\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-21.47.51.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Highlight Text & Take Notes in the PDF\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1366\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-21.47.51.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-21.47.51.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-21.47.51.webp 1600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-21.47.51.webp 2258w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Highlight Text & Take Notes in the PDF\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Once you've created a highlight, you can add your own thoughts by making a note or adding a tag to easily find it later.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Chr>\u003Ch2 id=\"highlight-local-pdfs-from-your-computer\">Highlight local PDFs from your computer\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>You can highlight PDFs stored on your computer, too—no Adobe Acrobat needed. There's just one small Chrome setting to flip the first time.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"step-1-open-the-local-pdf-in-chrome\">Step 1: Open the local PDF in Chrome\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Right-click the PDF file, choose \"Open With,\" and select Chrome—or simply drag the file into a Chrome tab.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn-images-1.medium.com\u002Fmax\u002F1600\u002F1*0cfAd42fdVtYdgBA5VcRDQ.png\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Screenshot: Open local PDF file with Google Chrome Browser\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1522\" height=\"488\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Open local PDF file in Chrome\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Ch3 id=\"step-2-click-the-web-highlights-extension-icon\">Step 2: Click the Web Highlights extension icon\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Once the PDF is open, you'll notice a small PDF icon next to the Web Highlights extension icon—that means the PDF was detected. Click the extension icon to proceed.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.22.08.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Click the Web Highlights extension icon in the toolbat\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"765\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.22.08.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.22.08.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.22.08.webp 1600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.22.08.webp 2000w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Chrome blocks extensions from reading local files by default, so Web Highlights will show you a screen asking for one permission:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.38.41.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Web Highlights needs permission to access file URLs\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1110\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.38.41.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.38.41.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.38.41.webp 1600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.38.41.webp 2000w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Web Highlights needs permission to access file URLs\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Ch3 id=\"step-3-allow-access-to-file-urls\">Step 3: Allow access to file URLs\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>This is a one-time setting, and Web Highlights shows you built-in instructions. In short:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>right-click the Web Highlights icon\u003C\u002Fstrong> in the toolbar\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>choose \u003Cstrong>\"Manage extension\"\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>then \u003Cstrong>enable \"Allow access to file URLs\"\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cfigure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.30.39.webp\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"Turn on "Allow access to file URLs"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1938\" height=\"558\" srcset=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.30.39.webp 600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.30.39.webp 1000w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.30.39.webp 1600w, \u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2024\u002F09\u002FScreenshot-2024-09-26-at-22.30.39.webp 1938w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\">\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cspan style=\"white-space: pre-wrap;\">Turn on \"Allow access to file URLs\"\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Now reopen your PDF and click the \"Highlight this PDF\" popup—from here, everything works exactly like with online PDFs.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>One thing to know: highlights on a local file are tied to the file's location on your computer, so keep the PDF in the same place to see them again. You'll find all the details in the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fhighlight-pdfs\u002Fhighlight-local-pdfs\">local PDF documentation\u003C\u002Fa> .\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"use-colors-with-intent\">Use colors with intent\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Once highlighting takes no effort, the next step is making your highlights mean something. The trick is to stop asking \"is this important?\" and start asking \"what \u003Cem>kind\u003C\u002Fem> of important is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>A simple system that works for most people:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Yellow\u003C\u002Fstrong> — key points and main arguments\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Red\u003C\u002Fstrong> — questions, doubts, things to verify\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Green\u003C\u002Fstrong> — definitions and terms worth remembering\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>You can pick a color right from the highlighter popup, and the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fhighlight-webpages\u002Fmultiple-color-highlighting\">color picker\u003C\u002Fa> lets you create custom colors—your most recent ones stay one click away.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>When you come back to a 40-page paper weeks later, the colors alone will tell you where to look. That's the difference between a marked-up PDF and a useful one.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"add-notes-and-tags\">Add notes and tags\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Highlights capture what the author said. Notes capture what you thought—and that's where annotation really starts.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Click any highlight to \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fnotes\">add a note\u003C\u002Fa> : a thought, a counter-argument, a reminder for your future self. The note stays attached to the exact passage, so you'll never find a brilliant idea again without knowing what it referred to.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Ftags-and-organization\">Tags\u003C\u002Fa> work across documents. Tag highlights with things like \"thesis,\" \"statistics,\" or \"to-quote,\" and you can pull up every related highlight in one place—even when they're spread over a dozen PDFs and websites.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And if you remember only a single word from a passage, the search in the sidebar digs through all your highlighted content and finds it.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"everything-in-one-place\">Everything in one place\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>While you read, the Web Highlights sidebar keeps your highlights, notes, and tags right next to the PDF.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>The Web Highlights sidebar is the heart of the productivity tool, letting you search through all your highlighted content in one central place.\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>Beyond the sidebar, there's the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002F\">Web Highlights dashboard\u003C\u002Fa> —a web app where every PDF and webpage you've ever highlighted lives, searchable and organized into collections.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Create a free account, and everything syncs across your devices: highlight a paper on your work laptop, review it on your phone on the train. It works in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi—any Chromium-based browser.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"turn-highlights-into-knowledge\">Turn highlights into knowledge\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Here's the uncomfortable truth about highlighting: marking text doesn't make you remember it. Reviewing does.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>That's why Web Highlights has a built-in \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fspaced-repetition-learning\">learning mode\u003C\u002Fa> that turns your highlights into flashcards and quizzes you with \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fspaced-repetition-how-to-make-your-readings-stick-in-long-term-memory\u002F\">spaced repetition \u003C\u002Fa>—each card comes back right before you'd forget it.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>If you're a student working through lecture PDFs or a researcher reading papers, this is the difference between \"I read that somewhere\" and actually knowing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Chr>\u003Ch2 id=\"download-or-print-the-pdf-with-your-highlights\">Download or print the PDF with your highlights\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>This is the part I'm most proud of. For a long time, the question I got more than any other was: \"Can I download the PDF with my highlights still in it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Now the answer is yes.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Click the \u003Cstrong>Download\u003C\u002Fstrong> button in the Web Highlights PDF viewer, and the file you get contains your highlights as \u003Cstrong>real PDF annotations\u003C\u002Fstrong> —not flattened images. Each highlight becomes its own annotation in its original color, and your notes ride along as plain-text comments.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Open that file in Adobe Acrobat, macOS Preview, Microsoft Edge, or any standard PDF reader, and you can edit your highlights like comments made in those apps—while the document's text stays fully selectable.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Printing works just as well: hit the viewer's \u003Cstrong>Print\u003C\u002Fstrong> button (or your browser's print shortcut), and your highlights keep their colors on paper, with the text still readable beneath them. \"Save as PDF\" from the print dialog works too.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>So when your supervisor insists on Acrobat, or you need a marked-up printout for a meeting—your work travels with the file. \u003Cstrong>Your highlights belong to you, not to an extension.\u003C\u002Fstrong> The \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fhighlight-pdfs\u002Fdownload-print-pdf-with-highlights\">download & print documentation \u003C\u002Fa>has all the details.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"already-have-highlights-in-acrobat-import-them\">Already have highlights in Acrobat? Import them\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>It works in the other direction, too.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>If you open a PDF that already contains highlights—made in Adobe Acrobat, macOS Preview, or any PDF app that writes standard annotations—Web Highlights detects them and offers a small callout: \u003Cstrong>\"Found N highlights in this PDF.\"\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>One click, and they all become Web Highlights highlights—colors preserved, notes imported as plain text, everything on the page and in your sidebar. No retyping years of annotations.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>And the import stays smart afterwards:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>Reopen the PDF, and nothing gets imported twice.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>Delete an imported highlight, and it stays deleted—even though the file still contains the annotation.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>Edit the file later in Acrobat, and the next time you open it, Web Highlights offers exactly what changed—\"N new, M updated.\"\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>Curious how it handles edge cases like conflicting edits? The \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fhighlight-pdfs\u002Fimport-pdf-annotations\">import documentation \u003C\u002Fa>covers them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"export-your-highlights-anywhere\">Export your highlights anywhere\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Once your PDF research lives in Web Highlights, you can send it wherever you actually work:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Notion\u003C\u002Fstrong> — \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-export-highlights-to-notion-with-one-click\u002F\">export your highlights to Notion \u003C\u002Fa>with one click, each highlight with its note and tags.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Markdown\u003C\u002Fstrong> — copy your highlights as clean Markdown and paste them into \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-export-your-research-to-obsidian-with-web-highlights\u002F\">Obsidian\u003C\u002Fa> or any note-taking app.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>More formats\u003C\u002Fstrong> — HTML, PDF, and \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-export-your-research-to-capacities-with-web-highlights\u002F\">Capacities \u003C\u002Fa>are built in as well.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Chr>\u003Ch2 id=\"faq\">FAQ\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Ch3 id=\"can-you-highlight-a-pdf-in-chrome\">Can you highlight a PDF in Chrome?\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Yes—but not with Chrome's built-in PDF viewer, which doesn't let you save highlights. Install a free PDF highlighter Chrome extension like Web Highlights, open the PDF, and click \"Highlight this PDF.\" From there you can select and highlight any text, in online PDFs as well as local files.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"how-do-i-highlight-a-pdf-for-free\">How do I highlight a PDF for free?\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Web Highlights is a free PDF highlighter: install it from the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fchromewebstore.google.com\u002Fdetail\u002Fweb-highlights-pdf-web-hi\u002Fhldjnlbobkdkghfidgoecgmklcemanhm\">Chrome Web Store \u003C\u002Fa>, open any PDF in your browser, select text, and click the highlighter popup. Highlighting, notes, and tags work for free—you don't even need to create an account to get started. Prefer not to install an extension? The free \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Ftools\u002Fpdf-highlighter\">online PDF highlighter\u003C\u002Fa> does the same right in your browser—upload a PDF and highlight it, no sign-up.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"can-i-download-the-pdf-with-my-highlights\">Can I download the PDF with my highlights?\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Yes. Click the Download button in the Web Highlights PDF viewer, and the downloaded file carries your highlights as standard PDF annotations—original colors, notes included as comments. They open editable in Adobe Acrobat, macOS Preview, Microsoft Edge, and any standard PDF reader. Printing keeps the highlight colors on paper, too.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3 id=\"does-it-work-with-scanned-pdfs\">Does it work with scanned PDFs?\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>Honestly—no. A scanned PDF is just a photo of a page, so there's no selectable text to highlight. You'd need to run it through an OCR tool first. Password-protected PDFs aren't supported either—you'd have to unlock the file before highlighting it.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2 id=\"final-thoughts\">Final thoughts\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>I hope this guide helps you highlight PDFs in Chrome with ease—from your first highlight to a fully annotated PDF you can hand to anyone, in any PDF app. If you want to dig deeper into any feature, the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ffeatures\u002Fhighlight-pdfs\">PDF highlighter documentation\u003C\u002Fa> covers everything in detail, and the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fdocs\u002Ftutorials\u002Fhighlight-and-annotate-pdfs\">step-by-step PDF tutorial\u003C\u002Fa> walks the whole workflow with screenshots.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>I am always happy to answer questions, and I am open to criticism. Feel free to contact me at any time 😊\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Get in touch with me via \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Fmarius-bongarts-6b3638171\u002F\" rel=\"me\">LinkedIn\u003C\u002Fa> or follow me on \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002FMariusBongarts\" rel=\"me\">Twitter\u003C\u002Fa> .\u003C\u002Fp>","Marius Bongarts","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002FMariusBongartsWeb","\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2022\u002F08\u002FIMG_7861_Square.jpeg","https:\u002F\u002Fmarius-bongarts.de\u002F","Founder & Software Engineer","https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002FMariusBongarts",1981,[42,71,87],{"id":43,"slug":44,"title":45,"description":46,"url":47,"publishedAt":48,"createdAt":49,"updatedAt":48,"featured":20,"readingTime":50,"tags":51,"imageUrl":52,"imageAlt":53,"faviconUrl":54,"publishedAtString":48,"category":55,"readTimeString":70},"6a44e3e8909b7209ced49a7e","free-online-pdf-highlighter-highlight-any-pdf-no-install","Free Online PDF Highlighter — Highlight Any PDF, No Install","You can't highlight a PDF in Chrome. You can open one and read it, sure. But try to mark a sentence, and there's nothing there to do it with.\n\nI built a PDF highlighter tool, so I hear about this one a lot. My usual answer was: install my browser extension, or install something like Acrobat. Fine advice — unless you've got a single PDF to mark up and no interest in installing anything for it.\n\nSo I built a version that skips all that. It's a web page: open it, drop in a PDF, and highlight away. ","https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Ffree-online-pdf-highlighter-highlight-any-pdf-no-install\u002F","2026-07-01T10:01:26.000+00:00","2026-07-01T09:54:48.000+00:00",5,[],"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2026\u002F07\u002Fpdf-upload-thumbnail.png","Free Online PDF Highlighter that works without installing any software right in your browser","https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Ffavicon.ico",[56,63],{"type":57,"title":58,"shortTitle":59,"icon":60,"description":61,"excerpt":62},"highlighting","Highlight Websites & PDFs in Chrome","Highlighting","mark-icon","From PDF highlighters to Chrome extensions—see how Web Highlights makes highlighting fast, colorful, and organized across the sites you read every day.","Highlighting should feel as natural as a physical marker, but with superpowers: multi-color marks, notes, tags, and sync. Web Highlights is built for both web pages and PDFs, so you can keep one workflow instead of juggling separate “PDF only” or “website only” tools.",{"type":64,"title":65,"shortTitle":66,"icon":67,"description":68,"excerpt":69},"annotating","Annotate the Web & PDFs with Web Highlights","Annotating","feather-edit-3","Annotating long texts is challenging. Learn techniques for better annotations and how Web Highlights helps you mark up articles and PDFs in the browser.","Annotation turns passive scrolling into real understanding. Whether you need marginal notes for research, structured tags for coursework, or quick highlights for newsletters, Web Highlights keeps every mark anchored to the source—so you can review, search, and export without losing context.","5 min read",{"id":72,"slug":73,"title":74,"description":75,"url":76,"publishedAt":77,"createdAt":78,"updatedAt":79,"featured":20,"readingTime":80,"tags":81,"imageUrl":82,"imageAlt":74,"faviconUrl":54,"publishedAtString":77,"category":83,"readTimeString":86},"69247fac2ed30b09fb978171","best-adobe-pdf-alternatives","10 Best Adobe PDF Alternatives","Looking for a lightweight Adobe PDF alternative? Compare the best tools for reading, annotating, editing, and summarizing PDF files in your browser.","https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fbest-adobe-pdf-alternatives\u002F","2025-12-01T07:21:55.000+00:00","2025-11-24T15:54:20.000+00:00","2026-06-11T12:33:47.000+00:00",11,[],"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1649734926700-8dfb770ffaee?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDJ8fGFkb2JlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc2NDU3MzYwM3ww&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000",[84,85],{"type":57,"title":58,"shortTitle":59,"icon":60,"description":61,"excerpt":62},{"type":64,"title":65,"shortTitle":66,"icon":67,"description":68,"excerpt":69},"11 min read",{"id":88,"slug":89,"title":90,"description":91,"url":92,"publishedAt":93,"createdAt":94,"updatedAt":95,"featured":20,"readingTime":21,"tags":96,"imageUrl":97,"imageAlt":98,"faviconUrl":54,"publishedAtString":93,"category":99,"readTimeString":108},"68aef936fe649d2cf780027d","how-to-highlight-in-obsidian-and-maximize-your-note-taking-experience","How to Highlight in Obsidian (and Maximize Your Note-Taking Experience)","Learn how to highlight in Obsidian using Markdown and Web Highlights. Add colors, tags, notes, and one-click export for faster, cleaner notes.","https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-highlight-in-obsidian-and-maximize-your-note-taking-experience\u002F","2025-09-01T12:42:09.000+00:00","2025-08-27T12:25:26.000+00:00","2026-04-09T12:54:14.000+00:00",[],"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-highlights.com\u002Fblog\u002Fcontent\u002Fimages\u002F2025\u002F09\u002Fhow-to-highlight-in-obsidian.webp","Person sitting at a desk using a tablet and laptop, with highlighted notes on the tablet screen.",[100,107],{"type":101,"title":102,"shortTitle":103,"icon":104,"description":105,"excerpt":106},"second-brain","Second Brain & PARA with Web Highlights","Second brain","brain","Build a second brain from what you read online. Connect PARA, progressive summarization, and exports into Notion or Obsidian with Web Highlights.","Your second brain is only as good as what flows into it. Web Highlights captures highlights and notes from the open web and PDFs in a format you can export and refine—so ideas from articles become durable notes instead of forgotten tabs.",{"type":57,"title":58,"shortTitle":59,"icon":60,"description":61,"excerpt":62},"9 min read"]