How to highlight and annotate bookmarks

A bookmark folder called “Read later” can hold hundreds of links, each with a page title and a URL. Opening one a year later rarely explains why it was saved. The useful paragraph might be halfway down a long article, and the reason it mattered (a quote for a talk, a pricing example, a counterargument) was only ever in your head.

This guide covers how people usually add notes to bookmarks, where those methods fall short, and how to save links into Fabric so each bookmark keeps its own highlights, comments, and tags alongside a readable copy of the page.

How people usually keep notes on bookmarks

Browser bookmarks in Chrome, Safari, or Firefox are the default. They’re instant and sync across devices on the same browser. A bookmark stores a title and an address, so any note about why it matters has to go in the title or a folder name, and switching browsers splits the collection in two.

Read-it-later and bookmarking apps such as Raindrop or Instapaper let you save a page and, in many cases, highlight it. They work well as a reading list. The highlights tend to stay inside that app, apart from your notes, files, and documents on the same subject.

A common workaround is copying the useful paragraph into a notes app with the link underneath. That keeps the quote. It also loses the surrounding context, and the note and the bookmark drift apart over time. Bookmarking vs. saving looks at the difference between keeping a link and keeping the content.

Step 1: Save the link as a bookmark in Fabric

Paste a link into Fabric and it becomes a bookmark. The page is saved for reading and search, so the content stays available in Fabric. While browsing, the browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox saves the whole page in one step. On your phone, tap Share in any app and choose Fabric; the iOS and Android apps handle links from the share sheet.

Add a comment or tags as you save. A one-line comment such as “good example of usage-based pricing” is often the most useful annotation a bookmark gets, because it records the reason while you still remember it.

Step 2: Bring in the bookmarks you already have

Fabric can import a browser bookmarks file, so an existing collection doesn’t have to be pasted in one link at a time. How to import your browser bookmarks explains how to export the file from your browser.

If you already keep highlights in Readwise, it can come in through a connection as a one-way sync, so changes flow into Fabric. Connections need a paid plan.

Step 3: Open the bookmark in reader mode and highlight

Open a saved article and it displays in reader mode, which strips out ads, sidebars, and pop-ups and shows an estimated read time. Reading progress syncs across devices, so an article started on a laptop picks up where you left off on your phone.

Select a passage and highlight it. As with other annotations in Fabric, you can keep it as a simple highlight or add a comment explaining why it’s there. Comments stay attached to the highlighted text, so the note and the quote travel together.

It helps to decide what a highlight is for before you start. One reader might highlight only claims they want to check; another highlights examples to reuse in their own writing. A short comment like “use in onboarding doc” turns a highlight into something you can act on later.

Step 4: Organize annotated bookmarks lightly, or not at all

Fabric processes each bookmark as it arrives. It creates embeddings so search can match the page by meaning, writes a short summary, extracts attributes such as content type and topics, and suggests tags. You can accept the suggested tags, set up a smart collection that fills itself with, say, every saved article about pricing, or leave things unsorted.

Folders and tags are optional. Some people keep one folder per project and let everything else sit in the main library. Smart collections suit annotated reading well, since a collection built around a topic keeps picking up new bookmarks on that topic without you filing them.

Your own annotations add a second layer on top. A tag such as “quote” or “to cite” on the bookmarks where you highlighted something worth reusing makes them easy to pull together later with a tag filter in search.

Step 5: Find bookmarks and use what you highlighted

Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows) and describe the page. Search matches by meaning and by keyword, so “article about why freemium failed for a B2B tool” can find a bookmark whose title says something else entirely. How to find something you saved months ago has more techniques.

To find related reading, select one bookmark and use similarity search. Fabric finds other bookmarks, notes, and files like it. And when you need a synthesis rather than a list, put a set of bookmarks in a folder, open it, and ask the AI assistant a question. It answers from that folder with clickable references to each source, and you can save the answer as a note.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add notes to my bookmarks?

Yes. In Fabric you can add a comment or tags when you save a bookmark, and highlight and comment on the page itself in reader mode.

Can I highlight text on a page I’ve bookmarked?

Yes. Open the bookmark in reader mode, select the text, and highlight it. You can add a comment to any highlight.

What happens if the original web page changes or goes offline?

Fabric saves the page for reading and search when you bookmark it, so you read the saved copy inside Fabric without revisiting the original source.

Can I import my existing Chrome or Safari bookmarks?

Yes. Fabric can import a browser bookmarks file exported from your browser.

How do I bookmark a link from my phone with a note?

Tap Share in any app, choose Fabric, and add a comment or tags as you save it.

Do I have to sort my bookmarks into folders?

No. Fabric writes a summary and suggests tags for each bookmark, and search matches by meaning, so unsorted bookmarks are still easy to find.

Can I find bookmarks similar to one I’ve saved?

Yes. Select the bookmark and use similarity search to find related bookmarks, notes, and files.

Is bookmarking and highlighting free?

Saving links and the reader are available on the free plan, which includes limited AI use. Connections such as Readwise need a paid plan; see pricing.