A Highlighted Text Extractor is a tool that parses webpage HTML to find and collect visually highlighted or marked text. It identifies <mark> tags, CSS-classed highlights, inline background colors, and annotation metadata — then compiles them into a clean list you can copy, quote, or export. This is especially useful for researchers gathering citations, students collecting study notes, and writers compiling references from multiple sources.

There are three easy methods:
1. Paste HTML Source: Right-click any webpage → "View Page Source" (Ctrl+U) → copy all → paste into the textarea above → click Extract.
2. Use the Bookmarklet: Drag our bookmarklet to your browser's bookmarks bar, then click it on any webpage to instantly collect all highlighted text.
3. Inspect Element: Right-click a specific highlighted section → "Inspect" → right-click the element in DevTools → Copy → Copy outerHTML → paste here.

We support a wide range of highlight formats: HTML5 <mark> tags, CSS classes like .highlight, .hl, .highlighter, inline background-color styles, data-highlighted attributes (used by Hypothesis), custom annotation elements, and any user-defined CSS selector. This covers highlights from Google Docs, Notion, Hypothesis, Diigo, Liner, Microsoft Word HTML exports, and most browser highlighter extensions.

Yes! Both Google Docs and Notion use inline background-color styles for highlighted text when exported as HTML. Enable the "Inline bg-color" preset above, then export your document as HTML (Google Docs: File → Download → Web Page; Notion: Export → HTML) and paste the source here. Our extractor will identify all highlighted passages automatically.

The bookmarklet is a small JavaScript program saved as a browser bookmark. When clicked on any webpage, it scans the live DOM for highlighted elements (using the same detection logic as the main tool) and displays extracted text in a popup window. You can then copy the results instantly — no need to view page source or leave the page. Drag the yellow "Extract Highlights" button above to your bookmarks bar to install it.

Absolutely secure. All HTML parsing and text extraction happens entirely in your browser using the DOMParser API. No data is sent to any server, uploaded, or stored. Your clipboard contents, pasted HTML, and extracted citations remain completely private on your device. We never track, log, or transmit your content.

You can export extracted citations in CSV (great for spreadsheets), JSON (for developers & data analysis), Plain Text (one highlight per line), and Markdown (with blockquote formatting). The "Copy as Quotes" button formats all highlights with > prefixes ready for academic writing. When a Source URL is provided, exports include provenance metadata.

Common reasons:
• The highlights use a CSS class or attribute not covered by the default presets — try adding a Custom CSS selector.
• The HTML was copied from a rendered view rather than the source — use View Page Source (Ctrl+U) to get raw HTML.
• Highlights are applied dynamically via JavaScript and aren't present in the static HTML — use the Bookmarklet on the live page instead.
• The background color syntax doesn't match — try enabling more presets or inspect the element to find the exact selector.