For me, browser bookmarks and scattered notes rarely capture the exact snippets that matter most. That’s where Glasp, a free Chrome extension, comes in. It turns your browser into a digital highlighter (and more). After using it in my writing workflow, I found it especially useful for capturing ideas on the fly.
How Glasp Lets You Save Highlights From Anywhere
InstallingGlaspis straightforward. After adding the extension from theChrome Web Store, you create a free account with Google or Apple. Once you add the extension, highlighting works just like in a Kindle or a PDF app.
The simplicity is nice. No clutter, no complex setup. Within minutes, I was clipping useful quotes from long-form articles, PDF papers, and web versions of eBooks and storing them in one place. The community behind the app refers to this verb as “glasped.”
Select any text on a webpage, and Glasp gives you color-coded options—yellow, pink, green, or blue. Each highlight is instantly saved to your Glasp profile, which acts like a public (free users) or private notebook (needs a subscription) of everything you’ve marked. I started using yellow for facts, blue for quotes, pink for personal inspiration, and green for miscellaneous/undecided stuff. This visual coding made my library far more scannable than a wall of plain bookmarks.
Glasp automatically creates a page for every article I highlight. Each quote links back to the specific source and location. This is critical to revisit the context or cite a webpage without hunting through bookmarks. A sidebar on the right holds your thoughts on anAtomic Note. You can export your highlights in several formats, from text files to copy-paste snippets, bringing them into your notes, research papers, or reading journals. Imanage all my tasks on Notion, so the ease of it should help.
For longer documents and online PDFs, Glasp asks you to upload the local files. Then, highlight as you normally would, and everything syncs to your Glasp dashboard. I don’t have to juggle multiple apps to keep my research organized.
I don’t usually bring an entire eBook into Glasp. Instead, I import my carefully curated Kindle highlights and attempt to connect them to other highlights.Tagson Glasp are one way to connect your thoughts. Also, all highlights are searchable from theMy Highlightspage. As every user has a public page, I also search there for more resources.
Glasp is a social highlighter.In the free account, all highlights are public. With Glasp’s built-in social feed and unlimited highlights, reading what others are clipping and commenting on can add perspective to your web wanderings. Sometimes, I have fallen into this rabbit hole while trawling for ideas. Maybe you canstart a common knowledge management systemwith others who want to stay in sync.
The Standout Features Of Glasp
Glasp stands out in acrowded field of highlightersbecause of its feature set and support for all browsers. Here’s where the extension shines, even in the free version:
If you bounce between large research projects, daily articles, and casual reading, there are enough options to work with. With the demise of Pocket, Glasp is more feature-rich thanalternative read-it-later apps for knowledge management.
Download:Glasp forChrome|Safari|Edge|Brave|Opera|iOS|Android(Free, subscription available)
Where the Glasp Free Extension Falls Short
The free version limits you to a few highlight colors and sometimes caps how many quotes you’re able to save each month. Advanced export formats, integration with note-taking apps, and some organizational features require a paid plan. Glasp only works with web-based articles and uploaded PDFs, so it won’t capture highlights from offline documents or eBook apps directly. If you mainly highlight web content and don’t need heavy customization, these limitations are easy to work around.
Despite the limitations of thefree plan versus the paid subscription, Glasp remains one of the best free highlighters for anyone who reads or researches online. It’s fast, easy, and packed with just enough features to make collecting quotes and ideas a daily routine.
