Privacy policy
Effective October 27, 2026. This policy covers the Hilitely extension for Google Chrome.
What the extension stores
When you highlight text, the extension saves a record on your computer:
• the quoted text and about 100 characters before and after it, so the highlight can be found again;
• the page address, its canonical address if the page declares one, and the page title;
• the color, and any note or tags you type;
• when the highlight was created and changed, and whether it was found on the page the last time.
Settings stay on this computer too: the last color you picked, whether the cursor goes to the note field, how the library sorts sites, and which enabled sites you switched off.
Where it goes
Nowhere. Highlights stay in the browser, in the extension's own database on this computer. The extension has no server, no account, no analytics, and makes no network requests. We, the developers, never receive your highlights, notes, or the addresses of the pages you read.
Which sites it can read
The extension does not ask to read every site. It runs only on sites you switch on from the toolbar icon, one site at a time, through Chrome's own permission dialog. Until you do, it adds nothing to the page.
Switching a site off pauses it. Highlights disappear from that site's open tabs, and the script does not start there again until you switch it back on. Chrome's permission stays, so turning it back on does not ask a second time. "Remove access to this site" takes the permission away. The next time you switch that site on, Chrome asks again. Saved quotes stay in the library either way.
Backups
A backup file is created only when you choose Download backup. It is saved where your browser saves downloads. Importing a backup reads a file you choose. Neither is uploaded anywhere.
Deleting your data
Delete a highlight from the page or from the library, or use Delete all on this site in the library. Removing the extension deletes all of its local data with the browser's usual cleanup.
Limited Use
The data is used only to show your highlights again and to list them in your library. It is not sold, not transferred to anyone, not used for advertising or to judge creditworthiness, and no person reads it. The use of this information complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/webstore/program-policies/limited-use
Changes and contact
If a later version starts sending data anywhere, this policy will say so before that version ships, and the extension will ask you first. Questions: hilitely.dev@gmail.com.