PDF Highlighter

Highlight and annotate PDFs in your browser

Select a passage, pick a color, add a note. Glasp keeps the page, the source and the date — and gets it out again as Markdown, Notion or CSV whenever you want it.

4.5 on Chrome Store2,000,000+ highlightersChrome · Safari · Edge · Firefox
In short

What is the Glasp PDF highlighter?

Glasp is a free browser extension that highlights and annotates PDFs the same way it highlights a webpage. Select a passage, pick one of four colors, and add a note; Glasp stores it with the document, the page number and the date. One click copies every highlight from the PDF, and exports go to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Markdown, HTML, CSV or JSON. A PDF you open locally never has to be uploaded.

Price
Free — no credit card
Where
In-browser, no upload required
Exports
Notion, Obsidian, MD, CSV, JSON
Reading a paper should leave something behind

How to highlight a PDF, in three steps

  1. 01

    Open the PDF

    Open any PDF in your browser, or upload one to your Glasp library if it is not on the web.

  2. 02

    Select and highlight

    Select a passage, pick a color, and add a note. Glasp keeps the page number and the surrounding context with it.

  3. 03

    Copy, export or ask

    Copy every highlight from the document in one click, export to Notion, Obsidian or Markdown, or ask the PDF a question.

What you get

Built for documents you actually have to read twice

Highlight PDFs where they already are

Glasp works on a PDF open in your browser — a paper, a spec, a contract, a course handout. Four colors, notes on any passage, and the page number recorded with every highlight so a citation is one click away.

  • No upload needed for a PDF you open locally
  • Page numbers kept with every highlight
  • Same extension highlights webpages, YouTube and Kindle
Highlighting a passage in a PDF with the Glasp extension

Copy a PDF's text as Markdown, XML or plain text

Copying out of a PDF normally produces one long line with the hyphenation still in it. Glasp copies the passage with its structure intact, in the format you are going to paste into.

Copying selected PDF text as Markdown, XML or plain text in Glasp

Organize by tag, find it years later

Tag highlights as you make them and every PDF, article, video and book you have read becomes one searchable library rather than a folder of files you will never open again.

Organizing highlights and notes with tags in Glasp

Export to the app you already write in

Send PDF highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or mem.ai, or download as Markdown, HTML, CSV, plain text or JSON. Nothing you highlight is locked into Glasp.

Exporting Glasp PDF highlights to Notion, Obsidian and Markdown
2,000,000+

researchers, students, and lifelong learners highlight with Glasp.

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What readers say

  • I love Glasp! I use it every time I read online articles. Highlighting with Glasp enforces me to actually read rather than scan through an article. I retain so much more info and can easily revisit my previously read articles to recall details and notes I've made.
    Olive
    Product Designer
  • I've researched every highlighting tool from Liner and Hypothesis to Instapaper and Pocket, and Glasp is the best hands-down. First, it creates a whole category of its own with social highlighting. This is important because it helps learners get recognized for finding amazing highlights, and it helps them connect with others who are learning the same thing at the same time. Also, it has the best highlighting workflow. While reading an article, you can select text in order to highlight and annotate without having to go to a different page. Furthermore, all of your highlights for a specific article appear on a right sidebar as you're reading, and they're easy to copy and paste into another note-taking app.
    Michael Simmons
    Bestselling Author
  • I used Instapaper but ended up hating it and stopped. There just wasn't a tool for me to continue using until Glasp. I was hooked immediately for the ease of use (highlight directly on the article web page), organized feed, and learning from others' highlights and notes. It makes sticking to learning something so easy and you can no longer find any excuses. Highly recommended to anyone who loves reading awesome articles or want to start forming such habit.
    Puppy Tsai
    Product Manager
Answers

Frequently asked questions

What is the Glasp PDF highlighter?

Glasp is a free browser extension that highlights and annotates PDFs the same way it highlights a webpage. Select a passage, pick a color, add a note, and Glasp saves it with the document, the page and the date. You can copy every highlight from a PDF in one click and export them to Notion, Obsidian, Markdown, CSV or JSON.

Is the PDF highlighter free?

Yes. Highlighting PDFs, taking notes, tagging and exporting are free with no credit card. Glasp Pro adds unlimited private highlights.

Do I need to upload my PDF anywhere?

No. Glasp highlights PDFs that open in your browser directly, so a document on your own machine never has to leave it. If you want the PDF in your Glasp library — to read it on another device, or to chat with it — you can upload it, and that is your choice rather than a requirement.

Can I copy the text out of a PDF?

Yes. Glasp can copy a PDF's text as Markdown, XML or plain text, which is the part most PDF readers make painful. Selected passages keep their structure instead of arriving as one run-on line.

Can I export PDF highlights to Notion or Obsidian?

Yes. Export to Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research and mem.ai, or download as Markdown, HTML, CSV, plain text or JSON.

Can I ask questions about a PDF?

Yes. Glasp's PDF chat answers questions about the document you have open and cites the pages it drew from, and it can use the passages you highlighted as extra context. See the Chat with PDF page.

Which browsers does the PDF highlighter work in?

Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox have their own extension listings, and Brave and Opera install the Chrome build. The Safari extension also works on iPhone and iPad.

Do my PDF highlights sync across devices?

Yes. Highlights are stored in your Glasp account and appear in every browser you sign into, and in the Glasp mobile app.

Can I keep my PDF highlights private?

Yes. Any highlight can be marked private so it is visible only to you. Glasp Pro removes the limit on how many private highlights you can keep.

More questions? Read the docs or email hi [at] glasp.co.

Stop re-reading the same PDF

Add Glasp to your browser and keep what the document actually said. It's free.