How to Annotate Webpages in Safari with Markup

Safari is not as popular as Google’s Chrome, but it does come with really useful features that aren’t available on popular browsers; for instance, support for browser extensions on mobile can extend your browser functionalities, useful AI features, part of iOS 18, which help you to summarize web pages easily without quota limits and more.

One such useful feature is the ability to annotate webpages directly using a built-in markup tool. It lets you highlight important points, add quick notes, hide unwanted elements and insert your signature. In addition to this, Safari has recently gained a popular copy link with highlight features inspired by Chrome. It allows you to highlight and share a specific part of the website. In this Guide, you will learn about how to annotate webpages using Safari on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

How To Annotate Webpages in Safari

Using Safari’s Built-in Tools (Mac, iOS, and iPad OS)

You can annotate web pages directly using Safari’s built-in markup tool without installing third-party apps or switching to other apps to create annotations.

It is available for all devices using Safari. However, the markup feature works differently on macOS. You have to manually convert the web page into an image or a PDF to annotate.

How to Annotate Safari Web Pages on Mac:

• Visit the webpage you want to annotate. On Mac, you have to convert the webpage into an image or a PDF to annotate. To convert it into an image, you can use the built-in screenshot shortcuts.
• Use Command+Shift+4 to select the specific area or Command+Shift+3 to capture the entire screen.
  
• To annotate, click on the screenshot (located in the bottom right corner of the screen once captured) and click on the markup icon on the top; here, you can get access to all the markup tools, including the highlight, add text, shapes, and more.
• If you want to annotate an entire webpage and want to share or store it as a PDF, click on the file option in the Safari menu and click on the export as a PDF.
• Now locate the PDF using Finder and double-click on it. It will open the PDF file. Click on the markup tools from the toolbar, and here you can highlight text, add comments, draw, or insert shapes using annotation tools and create or share the page to store it on your device with the changes.
  

How to Annotate Webpages on iOS Using a Built-in Markup Tool:

Unlike macOS, you don’t need to manually convert the webpage into an image or PDF. The moment you click on the markup tool, the webpage will be converted into a PDF. You can annotate using the different markup tools.

• Open Safari on your iPhone and visit the webpage you want to annotate.
• Click on the share icon, scroll down, and select Markup.
• This will open the preview of the page. Select the tool and annotate the webpage. For more tools, click on the plus icon on the right and get access to Add Sticker, Text, Signature, and Shape.
• To scroll down the page, click on the edit icon with three horizontal lines and then scroll down the page. To annotate again, click on the Markup icon and annotate the webpage.
• Click on Done. You can save the file to your device. To share the file, click on the share icon in the screen’s bottom left corner and then share the file.

Using a Browser Extension

While the built-in markup tool can be pretty handy, you have to convert the webpage into an image or a PDF before annotating on Mac. This can be inconvenient since, if you want to annotate or highlight important points while reading the page, this is where third-party extensions can come in handy.

However, the majority of annotation extensions for Safari are premium, costing between $1-$2. After extensive research, I found a free Markup extension that lets you highlight important points while reading the page. For premium options, you can consider Highlighter for Safari ($2.99).

How to Add Extension to Safari:

• Open Safari on your Mac.
• Go to Safari > Settings > Extensions, or you can visit the Mac App Store and search for Markup extension.
  
• You can install any annotated extension that I have listed above. All the extensions work great for annotating webpages in Safari and on mobile devices. In this case, I am using Markup.
  
• Once you have added the extension, Open Safari, click on the Safari tab, and then Settings.
  
• Go to the Extensions tab and enable the extension.
  
• To annotate a webpage, visit the webpage and click on the extension. Depending on the extension, it will bring annotation tools. Using these extensions, you can highlight the important points.
  
• For Markup, once you create an account, you can also store your highlights online for easy reference.
• If you want to share it with others, you can export the file as a PDF. Click on the file, tap on Save As, and then export the file as a PDF. All the highlights will be retained in the PDF file, and you can share it with others.
• You can also use Markup on your iPhone. It is available as a standalone app to highlight web pages. It comes with a built-in web browser where you can access webpages and built-in annotation tools.
• Download using this link. Open the app and sign in with your account.
• Since the save article feature isn’t working on Markup currently, you can store the article, highlight it, and share it with others. The current method requires additional steps since the save article feature is not working.
• Open Safari, go to the webpage you want to annotate and share it with the Markup. Click on the share icon at the bottom and share it with Markup. This will open the webpage in a preview in the Markup app. Click on the download icon.
  
• Open the Markup app and click on the extensions tab.
• Click on the saved article. To highlight, select the highlight tool, and here, you can select the text to highlight.
  
• To share the file, click on the share icon, click on print, and then click on the share icon and share the PDF. Do this for all websites you want to annotate.
  

Using Note-Taking Apps

Notes-taking apps can be a great option for annotating web pages, especially if you want to store and organize all of them in one place and want a free and powerful notation on your device.

In addition to this, note-taking apps also come with collaboration, which means you can collaborate with the messages, and note-taking apps also support multi-device thinking, which means the web is created on the Mac, or one device can be accessed on another device.

I use the Notes app to highlight important points in the books. I convert the books into PDFs, load them into the Notes app, and use built-in features to annotate directly in the Notes app. All the annotation changes will be saved and synced with other devices if you have enabled sync.

If you have already used a note-taking app, you can integrate the web pages with the notes app. Apple offers a free note-taking app; you can also try free alternatives for the best experience,

You can directly share the webpage with the Notes app, or else you can convert it into a PDF and open the PDF in the Notes app. For the best experience, I would highly recommend you convert the webpage into a PDF and then share it to the Notes app. Here is how to share, edit, and annotate webpages on different devices.

On Mac and iPhone:

• You can use any web browser. Since we are using Safari here, open Safari and visit the webpage you want to annotate and convert it into a PDF. Click on the share icon and select Print. Now, again, click on the share icon and select Save to Files.
  
• Now go to Files, open the PDF file, and tap on it. Click on Share and then select the Notes app you are using. In this case, I am using the built-in Notes app on iOS.
  
• Open the PDF in the Notes app. Click on the Markup tool at the bottom and start annotating the webpage.
• Once you have made the changes, you can also share the highlighted and annotated PDF again with others. You can click on the share icon and share it with others along with the other notes.
  

Overall, compared to the built-in Markup tool and Safari extensions, using the Notes app gives you total control with additional functionality. You can also back up these notes and collaborate in real life.

On iPad:

If you are using an iPad for note-taking or annotating websites, you can use the default Notes app; however, with the Apple Pencil support and flexibility of highlighting precisely with your Apple Pencil, you can use third-party free notes-taking apps like Free Notes, which offers a better experience and also additional features compared to the default Notes app on your iPad.

I have used Notability, one of my best note-taking apps for iPad; however, the free version is very limited, and after using the premium version for a while, I recently shifted to the free app called Freenotes app on the iPad.

Compared to the built-in Notes app for iPad, Freenote’s user interface is significantly better and has better annotating and advanced tools for note-taking. Plus, it stores all your notes in one place for free and organizes them into Notebooks or folders.

To annotate webpages using Freenotes or any other Notes app, visit Safari and convert the webpage into a PDF. Then, share it to the Notes app. To convert the webpage into a PDF, go to the webpage, click on the share, and then select print. Now again, click on the share icon and select Save to Files.

To share, open the PDF, click on the share icon, and then select the Notes app. After that, you can edit the webpage in the Notes app using built-in annotation tools and also with the Apple Pencil.

You can also use PDF reader apps. Similar to Note-taking apps, PDF reader apps have advanced annotation tools to annotate webpages and share with others. A few of them also let you organize them for easy access.

Use the Latest Copy Link With Highlight Features on Safari 18.2 and Above

With the recent iOS 18.2, macOS 15.2, and iPadOS 18.2, Safari has gained the ability to highlight the specific parts of the website and share it as a link with others. This is a feature that Safari has requested the most. It makes highlighting and sharing immediately with others easy without going through all the annotation features.

However, it is not a complete solution since it requires an internet connection. Instead of the content, it is just a link that takes you to the webpage with the highlighted text. However, it can be very handy to quickly highlight and share text without requiring the use of an annotation tool.

How to use copy link with highlight feature on Safari:

You can use this feature on an iPhone running iOS 18.2, Mac with 15.2, and iPad with iPadOS 18.2.

• Open the website, select the text, and right-click.
• In the context menu, tap on the option that says Copy the link to highlight.
• Now, share the link with others.

FAQs on Annotating Webpages in Safari