Dear reader, for years, I have struggled to organize whatever I read online. There is no single app/software that can solve all of my reading material in one place.

Now that I read a variety of things on a regular basis — especially on a PC — I needed a useful extension that would take care of most of my online reading.

I have been using a free highlighting and note-taking extension for half a year now. It is working like a charm, so I thought to share it with you.

Important features

When I’m reading on a PC, I look for these three important features in any note-taker:

  • Adding thoughts: Also called note-taking. While reading, I want to comment on a specific portion of the text. You know the way we write in the margins of the books. I have tried many different software, but the major flaw is that I have to switch to some other screen or make sure I’m logged in and all that hassle. That’s a dealbreaker. I can’t keep up that practice. I don’t want to leave my current reading screen.
  • Tagging: I think I have covered this problem a guide that I’m writing right now. What’s the point of all notes and highlights if you haven’t organized them properly? I want to easily categorize whatever I highlight and note in different tags. For example, #business #marketing #culture #tech #management #writing
  • Context recall: It is helpful if the original source is easily trackable for each highlight and note. Suppose, I have marked five sentences in a 1000 words article. When I read it one month later, it would be helpful if I can just click on a link and visit the source to read the whole paragraph to get the context.

Web Highlights Extension

This extension works on most websites: news, social media, pdfs, research journals etc.

Similar to any Google Chrome extension, it runs in the background.

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