Marks: Text Highlighter User Guide

Thank you for using Marks: Text Highlighter. This extension allows you to easily highlight, save, and manage text on web pages.

Note A short getting-started guide is also built into the extension. Open it from the "View Usage Guide" button on the settings screen, or from the "See the full guide" link that appears in the popup when the page has no highlights yet.

How to Add Highlights

There are three ways to add highlights to selected text on a web page.

1. Using the Selection Icon

When you select text, the pen-shaped selection icon appears near the selection. Click it to open the color palette, then click a color to apply the highlight.

Note On desktop the selection icon appears while 'Show Selection Icon on Text Selection' is on in settings; on mobile it always appears, and it is the primary way to highlight there. On mobile, the ⋮ (More) button at the end of the palette opens a menu with Add Color, Highlighted Pages List and Settings.

2. Using the Right-Click Menu

Select text and right-click to open the right-click menu. Navigate to "Marks: Text Highlighter" and select a color to highlight.

Limitation Highlighting from the right-click menu is not supported on Firefox for Android.

3. Using Shortcuts

Select text and use keyboard shortcuts to quickly apply colors. There are 5 shortcut slots, and you can choose which color each slot uses on the settings screen.

  • Ctrl + Shift + 1 : Slot 1 (Default: Yellow)
  • Ctrl + Shift + 2 : Slot 2 (Default: Green)
  • Ctrl + Shift + 3 : Slot 3 (Default: Blue)
  • Ctrl + Shift + 4 : Slot 4 (Default: Pink)
  • Slot 5 (Default: Orange) : has no key combination assigned by default. Assign one yourself in the browser's shortcut settings before it will work.
Note On macOS the combination is Command + Shift + number. The key combinations themselves are changed in the browser's shortcut settings (Chrome: chrome://extensions/shortcuts, Firefox: about:addons).

Moving between highlights

There are also shortcuts that move between highlights, so you can read a long page by following them like a table of contents.

  • Ctrl + Shift + ↓ : Jump to next highlight
  • Ctrl + Shift + ↑ : Jump to previous highlight

The next or previous highlight is found from where you are currently looking. The page scrolls to it and briefly emphasizes it. Going next from the last highlight returns to the first, and going back from the first returns to the last.

Note These are the Firefox defaults; on macOS they are Command + Shift + ↓ / ↑. Chrome lets an extension suggest default keys for only 4 shortcuts, so these two have none there. Assign them yourself at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.
Limitation Shortcuts are not supported on Firefox for Android.

How to Delete Highlights

You can remove unnecessary highlights using the following methods:

  • Individual Delete (Color Palette): Click on an existing highlight to open its color palette. Click the Trash icon at the start of the palette to delete it.
  • Individual Delete (Popup): Click the extension icon in the toolbar to open the Popup menu. In the "Current Page Highlights" list, click the X button next to the item you want to remove.
  • Clear Page (Popup): Click the "Delete All Highlights On Page" button at the bottom of the Popup menu to remove all highlights on the current page.
  • Delete Page (Pages List): In the Highlighted Pages List dashboard, click the "Delete" button on a specific page card to remove all data for that page.
  • Delete All Data (Pages List): Click the Trash icon (Delete All Pages) in the top toolbar of the dashboard to delete all saved highlight data.

Custom Colors

Adding and Changing Colors

You can add your own colors in addition to the 5 default ones (Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, Orange). Add them straight from the page, or manage them on the settings screen.

  1. Select text and press the selection icon to open the color palette, or click an existing highlight to open its palette.
  2. Click the + button at the end of the palette. (On mobile, choose Add Color from the ⋮ menu instead.)
  3. Pick a color from the selector and click "Apply".
Note If you add a color from the palette opened for selected text, that text is highlighted in the new color right away.

Managing Colors in Settings

Colors you add are managed in the "Custom Colors" section of the settings screen (popup's settings (⚙) icon → Custom Colors).

  • Add: Use the "+ Add Custom Color" button to open the color picker.
  • Rename: Click a color's name to edit it in place.
  • Change color: Use the "Change" button. Highlights already painted with that color are not affected.
  • Reorder: Press "Reorder" at the top right of the section, drag colors by their handle (⠿) or move them with the ▲ ▼ buttons, then press "Save" below the list. The color palette and the right-click menu show the colors in this order.
  • Delete one: Each color has its own "Remove" button.
  • Delete all: The "Remove All" button at the top right of the section deletes every added color, leaving the 5 defaults.

Hiding the Default Colors

If you only want to use the colors you added, turn on the "Hide Default Colors" switch in the "Custom Colors" section of the Settings page. It is off by default.

The switch hides the defaults only from the color palette and the right-click menu. The default colors are not deleted and do not stop working.

  • Hidden from: the color palette opened from the selection icon, the color palette opened by clicking a highlight, and the right-click menu.
  • Unchanged: highlights already made in a default color keep their color and stay in your lists. Default colors assigned to shortcut slots keep working.
  • One-click highlight: if the color you used last is a hidden default, the first custom color in the list is used instead.
  • To paint with a default color again: it is not in the list, so turn the switch off for a moment or use a shortcut assigned to that color.
When you have no custom colors Even with the switch on, the default colors stay visible while you have no custom colors, because there would be nothing left to pick. A note under the switch on the Settings page says so. The defaults are hidden as soon as you add a color, and come back if you delete all your custom colors.

Minimap

A Minimap is displayed on the right side of web pages that have highlights.

  • The minimap visually indicates the location of highlights relative to the entire page length.
  • Clicking a marker on the minimap instantly scrolls to that highlight's position.
  • You can hide it by turning off the "Show Minimap" switch on the settings screen.

Settings Screen

Open it with the settings (⚙) icon at the top right of the popup. The switches and buttons that used to sit in the popup have all moved here.

General

  • Show Minimap: Toggles the display of the minimap on the right side of the page.
  • Show Selection Icon on Text Selection: Toggles whether the selection icon automatically appears when you select text. With it off, clicking a highlight still opens its color palette. Mobile has no such switch; the selection icon always appears there.
  • One-Click Highlight: When on, pressing the selection icon highlights straight away in the color you used last, without opening the palette. Off by default; to use a different color, click the highlight it creates and pick from the palette.
Note One-click highlighting needs the selection icon to exist, so while "Show Selection Icon on Text Selection" is off this row is dimmed and cannot be used.

Custom Colors

Rename a color, change its color, and delete colors one at a time or all at once. See Custom Colors for details. The "Hide Default Colors" switch in the same section limits the color palette and the right-click menu to your custom colors; see Hiding the Default Colors for how it behaves.

Cloud Sync (Beta)

Issue a sync code, pair devices, and sync on demand. See Cloud Sync (Beta) for details.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Choose which color each of the 5 shortcut slots applies. The defaults for slots 1-5 are Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink and Orange, and custom colors can be assigned too. The key combinations themselves are changed in the browser's shortcut settings. Below the slots, the two highlight navigation shortcuts are listed with the keys currently assigned to them. Default colors assigned to slots keep working even with Hide Default Colors turned on.

Help

The "View Usage Guide" button opens the getting-started guide built into the extension.

Highlighted Pages List

A dashboard where you can view and manage all saved highlight information at a glance.

  • Search: Search saved records by page title or highlight text. Matching text is highlighted in the results.
  • Sort: Sort the list by newest, oldest, etc.
  • Expand/Collapse All: Click the toolbar button to expand or collapse the highlight details of all visible pages at once. Its tooltip switches between "Expand all highlights" and "Collapse all highlights" depending on the current state.
  • Open a highlight: Click a highlight's text to open its original page and scroll to that highlight. If the page is already open in a tab, that tab is used.
  • Copy: The copy button on a page card copies every highlight from that page. While searching, the copy button next to the result count copies only the matching highlights. Highlights are copied as Markdown quotes.
  • Delete: Delete individual pages or use the top toolbar button to clear all data.
  • Export/Import: Backup or restore your data via the More actions (…) menu in the toolbar.

Synchronization

Syncs highlight data across devices via your logged-in Google (Chrome) or Firefox account.

How it Works

Adding or deleting highlights on one device automatically reflects on other devices logged in with the same account. In case of data conflicts, the most recent change is preserved.

Limitations

  • Storage Limit: Sync storage has a total limit of 100KB, and a single highlight item cannot exceed 8KB.
  • Eviction Policy: When storage is full, sync data for the oldest updated pages is automatically removed to make space. (Local data is preserved.)
  • Mobile Unsupported: Sync is not supported on Firefox for Android.

Cloud Sync (Beta)

A separate feature for environments that don't support browser-native sync, such as Firefox for Android. Devices are linked using a sync code instead of an account login, and highlight data is encrypted on your device before upload, so the server never has access to the actual content.

How to Use

  1. Click the extension icon in the toolbar to open the Popup, then click the Settings (⚙) icon.
  2. In the "Cloud Sync (Beta)" section of the Settings screen, click "Generate New Code" to create a sync code.
  3. On the other device you want to sync, open the Settings screen and enter the same code in the "Enter sync code from another device" field, then click "Connect".
  4. Syncing starts as soon as a code is generated or connected, and the "Cloud Sync" switch turns on by itself. From then on the extension syncs automatically about every 15 minutes, or you can click "Sync Now" to sync immediately. Turn the switch off to pause syncing on that device.
Caution If you lose your sync code, data backed up to the cloud cannot be recovered. The code is partially masked on screen by default — use "Show" to reveal it in full or "Copy" to copy it to the clipboard. Keep it stored somewhere safe.

Disconnecting: Clicking "Forget Code" in the Settings screen disconnects sync on this device and forgets the sync code.

Note Using browser-native sync and Cloud Sync at the same time is not guaranteed to work correctly. We recommend using only one of the two.

Import & Export

Useful for safely backing up data or moving to another browser.

  • Export: Download all currently saved highlight data as a JSON file.
  • Import: Restore data by selecting a previously exported JSON file.