Reading highlights, bookmarks and notes

Choose a highlight, a note or a bookmark

Each helps you return to a reading for a different reason. A highlight keeps the wording of a passage. A note records your own thought about it. A bookmark marks a place you want to revisit, even when there is nothing specific to quote.

While reading a chapter, you might highlight a definition, add a note asking how it applies to your work, and bookmark the longer example that follows. Keeping these purposes separate gives your saved material more meaning than a page covered in equally important marks.

Save a passage without leaving the Reader

Select a sentence and open Notes & highlights. Save the passage on its own when you only need the original words, or add a personal note before continuing. Your saved passage stays connected to the reading, so you do not have to copy the quotation into a separate document to keep its context.

Keep the note short enough to be useful when you return. “Use this example in the introduction” is more actionable than “interesting.” For a question, write what you still need to understand. For a disagreement, name the assumption you want to examine.

Build reading notes you can use later

A helpful note explains why you saved the passage. If you are studying, try restating the idea in your own words. If you are gathering material for a project, record how the passage connects to the question you are trying to answer. The quoted text and your interpretation then serve different roles.

For example, after reading an article about growing herbs, you could highlight its advice about light and add “Check the afternoon sun on the kitchen window.” The reading has given you something specific to investigate, and the note preserves that connection.

• A question: What evidence would help me check this claim?
• A connection: How does this relate to the previous chapter?
• A next step: Where could I use this example or idea?

Search highlights and notes across your readings

Highlights & notes gathers your saved passages in one place. Search the quotation, your own note or the reading title. Filter to a single source when you are reviewing one book, or show only entries with personal notes when you want to revisit your own thinking.

You do not need to remember the exact title of a source if you remember a phrase from the passage or the note you wrote. Use a specific word from the idea first, then narrow the results by reading. This makes reviewing saved material part of the reading process rather than a separate filing task.

Go back to the context before using a quotation

Open a saved passage in its source reading to see the surrounding argument again. A sentence may depend on a qualification in the paragraph before it or an example that follows. Returning to that context helps you decide whether the quotation still says what you remembered.

Notes belong to the edition where you saved them. If you replace the text with a new edition, existing annotations do not automatically move to matching words. For important reference material, check the edition before relying on an older note. For formal citations, also verify the author and page details in the original source.

Questions about reading annotations