Tired of searching for key information in long web pages? Hilight Lens is a powerful and lightweight browser extension designed to help you instantly lock onto keywords.
Whether reviewing massive documents, tracking technical terms, or marking names and places in foreign books, it helps you build a visual index within the chaotic information flow, offloading cognitive burden and making deep reading effortless.
Automatically recognizes and matches words with accents or diacritics (e.g., searching "cafe" highlights "café"), with a smart toggle in advanced settings.
Organize keywords into custom groups and toggle individual terms on or off without deleting them, switching seamlessly between reading scenarios.
Support for unlimited keywords with distinct color coding. Add keywords on any page and instantly sync them across all websites and tabs.
Export and import keywords, color settings, and grouping info as plain text files for easy cross-device backup and instant migration.
Select any text on a webpage and right-click to instantly add it to your highlight list across all open sites.
Built-in aesthetic color palettes with automatic rotation, plus full customization of background and text colors.
All processing occurs locally in your browser. Keywords are saved automatically to local storage with zero data collection or upload.
Interface supports English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese.
Click the extension icon in the toolbar, enter a keyword in the management panel, and add it instantly.
Select any text on a webpage, right-click, and choose "Highlight..." to apply it across all sites immediately.
Modify colors, toggle keywords on/off, or delete them directly in the popup panel to build your visual map.
Once added, highlights are automatically applied to all open or newly opened tabs across the web.
Click the puzzle icon 🧩 in the top-right corner of your browser, find 'Hilight Lens', and pin 'Hilight Lens' to the toolbar. Then, click the icon on any webpage and enter the words you want to highlight. Alternatively, select text on any webpage, right-click, and choose 'Highlight Selection...', for a faster Hilight Lens shortcut.
Hilight Lens is based on the logic of "Cognitive Unloading," converting "logical identification" into "visual intuition" through color coding. Hilight Lens frees your brain from the low-level task of identifying keywords, allowing you to focus on higher-level logical thinking.
Hilight Lens excels in professional work (reviewing documents), language learning (marking new words), deep reading (tracking relationships), and information tracking (capturing specific metrics) where filtering key content from massive information is required.
Please check: ① Is the 'Group' containing the keyword active in Hilight Lens? ② Is the specific keyword toggled off in the Hilight Lens management panel? ③ Try refreshing the page to see if Hilight Lens takes effect.
Yes. You can add and highlight an unlimited number of keywords simultaneously in Hilight Lens, with independent color definitions for each keyword or group to build a clear visual index.
Currently, only one group's highlights can be active at a time in Hilight Lens. If you need to track multiple types of keywords simultaneously, we suggest placing them in the same group within Hilight Lens.
Yes. Hilight Lens supports 'Web-wide Synchronized Highlighting'. Keywords added or modified on any page in Hilight Lens will instantly apply to all open websites and tabs without needing a manual refresh.
Yes! Hilight Lens uses efficient algorithms and instant response technology. Whether it's dynamically loaded content on sites like Twitter or Reddit, or real-time tab updates, Hilight Lens keyword highlighting takes effect in milliseconds.
Absolutely. Hilight Lens comes with beautiful preset color schemes that rotate automatically, and you can also freely define custom background and text colors for each keyword group in the Hilight Lens management panel.
By default, Hilight Lens is case-insensitive. Whether you enter a keyword in uppercase or lowercase, Hilight Lens will automatically match all forms of the word on the page (e.g., 'Apple' and 'apple') to ensure no key information is missed.
Yes. Hilight Lens introduces a 'One-click Keyword Toggle'. You can quickly hide or restore specific keyword highlights in the Hilight Lens management panel, perfect for decluttering your view without losing your Hilight Lens settings.
You can use the Hilight Lens 'Keyword Grouping' feature. Organize your keywords into custom groups (e.g., 'Work', 'Study', 'News') and activate only one group at a time in Hilight Lens. This allows you to switch contexts seamlessly and keep your focus on the current task.
You can use the 'Import/Export' feature in the Hilight Lens management panel. Simply click 'Export' to save all your Hilight Lens keywords, colors, and groups as a plain text file. To sync Hilight Lens to another device, just click 'Import' on that device and select the file.
Yes! Unlike many technical tools that use complex JSON or databases, Hilight Lens exports a human-readable plain text format. The Hilight Lens backup file includes clear comments and instructions, so even users without a technical background can easily add, delete, or modify keywords using a simple text editor (like Notepad).
Yes, but you need to enable Hilight Lens permission manually. Go to your browser's extension management page, find 'Hilight Lens', click 'Details', and check 'Allow access to file URLs' to use Hilight Lens on local files.
Completely. Hilight Lens adheres to the principle of 'Local Processing'. All your Hilight Lens keywords and settings are stored only locally in your browser. Hilight Lens does not collect or upload any user data.
Not at all. Simply put, the Service Worker is like the Hilight Lens 'background butler.' It goes to sleep to save your computer's memory and power when there's no work to do. As soon as you use Hilight Lens, it wakes up instantly. The 'inactive' status just means it's currently napping, not broken. It doesn't affect any Hilight Lens functionality.
This usually happens when Hilight Lens is updated and requires new permissions (e.g., to support a new AI platform domain). This is to add new features for a better user experience. Our privacy policy remains unchanged, and you can safely accept the permissions to continue using Hilight Lens. You just need to go to your browser's extension management page, find Hilight Lens, and click 'Accept permissions' or re-enable Hilight Lens.
Yes, our Hilight Lens roadmap includes: introducing regular expressions for advanced fuzzy matching and adding site-specific blacklists/whitelists to Hilight Lens.
🎉 New in v1.3.0: Accent-Insensitive Matching
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Transcending language and spelling nuances for a more intuitive and flexible highlighting experience:
✨ Accent-Insensitive Matching: Automatically recognizes and matches words containing accents or diacritics (e.g., typing "cafe" highlights "café"; typing "resume" highlights "résumé"), eliminating the need to manually manage multiple spelling variations.
✨ Smart Toggle: A new "Ignore Accents" toggle has been added to the advanced settings (disabled by default), balancing the need for precise matching with the flexibility of broader searches.
DATA BACKUP & SHARING (IMPORT/EXPORT): Manage your keyword library across devices and preserve your knowledge assets forever.
🌟 KEY FEATURES
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✨ TEXT-BASED IMPORT/EXPORT: Export all keywords, color configurations, and grouping info to a plain text format for easy manual editing and sharing.
✨ FAST DATA MIGRATION: One-click import for backup files to restore your personalized configurations instantly, supporting cross-device synchronization.
✨ SMART ANNOTATIONS: Exported files include format guidelines and automatically append the product source and export timestamp for clearer management.
KEYWORD VISIBILITY & GROUPING: Manage your highlights with more flexibility and focus
🌟 KEY FEATURES
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✨ HIDE/SHOW KEYWORDS: Temporarily toggle specific keywords on and off without deleting them. Perfect for decluttering your view.
✨ KEYWORD GROUPING: Organize keywords into custom groups. Switch between different reading contexts by activating only one group at a time.
Initial release of Hilight Lens.
🌟 KEY FEATURES
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● Web-wide Highlighting: Synchronize keywords across all websites and tabs.
● Visual Intuition: Offload cognitive burden with smart color coding.
● Instant Response: Highlights apply in real-time without page refresh.
● Privacy First: 100% local processing with no data collection.
This extension is open source and the code is available on GitHub. Contributions are welcome!
View Source Code on GitHub