# Highlight This: finds and marks words

> Automatically finds and highlights words and phrases on the web page according to your list

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/highlightthis](https://chrome-stats.com/d/highlightthis)

## Overview

- **ID:** `highlightthis`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** Wim Deboel
- **Category:** search-tools,appearance
- **Daily users:** 2,635
- **Weekly downloads:** 103
- **Rating:** 3.99 / 5 (83 ratings)
- **Version:** 5.2
- **Last updated:** 2020-10-02
- **First published:** 2019-01-05
- **Size:** 1.53 MB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-06
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/highlightthis/)
- **Website:** [http://www.deboel.eu/HighlightThis2.html](http://www.deboel.eu/HighlightThis2.html)

## Description

Highlight This is a powerful Chrome extension that automatically finds and highlights defined words and phrases on any web page. Designed for easy use with no registration needed, it lets you organize keywords into color-coded lists and supports unlimited words. The extension refreshes highlights dynamically even on AJAX pages and offers advanced features like regex matching, case sensitivity, and clickable highlights.

All your data is stored locally for privacy, with options to import/export lists or use external sources like Pastebin or Google Sheets. Now with over 30,000 users and available on Firefox too, Highlight This helps you quickly spot important terms, making browsing and research more efficient and visually intuitive. It’s free and packed with flexible customization for personal or professional use.

## Rankings

- #1,866 — Overall
- #218 — Search Tools
- #301 — Appearance
- #10 — phrase
- #22 — highlighter
- #41 — delight

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `tabs`
- `contextMenus`
- `notifications`
- `alarms`
- `storage`
- `<all_urls>`

### Content script matches

- `<all_urls>`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** High risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Low risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
- This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

## Review summary

Users broadly praise Highlight This as an effective highlighter with clear visual cues, especially for ads. It is described as very useful and sometimes essential. However, recurring issues include backup/restore problems across Firefox and Chrome, cross-browser compatibility, occasional highlighting inconsistencies and color-mapping bugs with regex patterns. Usability and learning-curve concerns also surface, along with a few claims of intrusive behavior. Overall, the highlighting capability is valued, but reliability and cross-browser support need attention.

### Pros

- Effective highlighter that marks words as users need.
- Provides clear visual cues (e.g., highlighting ads and sponsored content) for quick scanning.
- Widely regarded as useful and positive by multiple reviewers (e.g., 'perfect', 'very useful', 'so good').
- Described by some users as must-have and highly valued for browsing experience.

### Cons

- Backup/import/export features do not work reliably in Firefox and are not compatible with Chrome backups; cross-browser/version issues.
- Highlighting can be inconsistent, missing or mis-marking certain words or patterns.
- Color assignment can break with complex regex patterns (Lookahead/Lookbehind).
- Not very intuitive; setup and list management can be confusing.
- Some users report intrusive ad behavior or ads injected by the extension.

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- [Multi-Keywords Highlighter](https://chrome-stats.com/d/multi-keywords-highlighter) — 693 users, 3.40 / 5
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- [Word Check List](https://chrome-stats.com/d/word-check-list) — 1 users, 5.00 / 5

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/highlightthis)