TextLighter Privacy

Last updated: 7 November 2026. This policy covers the TextLighter extension (version 1.7.26) and this website.

The short version

TextLighter stores your groups, words, descriptions and colours on your device, in your browser. It makes no network requests of its own, runs no analytics, shows no ads, and has no account. Nothing leaves your computer on its own — only your own Chrome sync, and files you choose to export or copy. This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics either.

What is stored

TextLighter stores your groups, words, word descriptions, colours, flags, per-word colour overrides, site-rule domains, settings, standalone highlights (this device only), and tombstone ids on your device, in your browser local storage. That is where they live. Tombstones keep only an id, never deleted word text.

If you remove a word or highlight from a page’s right-click menu, TextLighter keeps that one removed item briefly — for two minutes — on this device only, so the popup can offer Undo. It is never copied to Chrome sync, never included in an export, and is deleted when you undo it, dismiss it, or when the two minutes pass.

Where it is stored

Everything is stored on your device, in browser local storage. TextLighter works fully offline, with no account.

Sync

If you are signed into Chrome, TextLighter also copies the same list through your own Chrome sync, so it can appear on your other devices. That copy goes only to your Chrome sync account. It is never sent to a developer server, never sold, and never used for advertising. Sync is limited by Chrome quotas: the sync blob is capped at 102,400 characters in total, and if your list grows past 100,000 characters the manager shows “Too large to sync — your words are saved on this device only.” Local storage itself has no such cap in this extension, and manual export always works.

Theme

TextLighter can show its popup, manager, privacy page, and on-page controls in light mode, dark mode, or your system setting. System is the default. Your theme choice stays on this device only: it is not copied to Chrome sync and is not included in an exported file, so importing a file never changes your theme.

Deleting words and groups

Deleting a group or word removes it from this device and records a tombstone for sync, so other devices remove it too. Tombstones are pruned after 90 days. That is a trade-off: a device that stays offline for more than 90 days could miss a tombstone and keep a word you deleted elsewhere.

Export and import

Export and import are local files that you control. Export downloads a CSV file (textlighter-export.csv) to your computer, with everything you have, in the same format Import reads; “Export this group” exports just that group, not the whole library. Import accepts CSV, Excel (.xlsx), and legacy JSON backups. The file is one you choose to download or import — it is never stored by the extension — and the full Export contains your words, groups, colours, descriptions, standalone highlights, site rules and settings. Your paused state stays on this device only: it is never included in an exported file, so importing a file never changes whether highlighting is paused.

You can download a blank import template from this site to see the format before you import anything.

Right-click menu

TextLighter adds a TextLighter entry to the right-click menu. For selected text, you can add a word to a group or create a standalone highlight without opening the popup. For a highlight you right-click, the “This highlight” submenu offers Edit description (word and standalone highlights), Remove word (word highlights) and Remove highlight (standalone highlights). Link highlights show these actions even without a selection; other highlights need the word selected first, then right-clicked. Removals follow the deletion rules above. Removals from this menu offer Undo in the popup, for two minutes; nothing about a successful removal is shown on the page itself. If a right-click menu action has no highlight to act on, or targets the wrong kind of highlight, the page shows only a fixed notice (“No highlight here”, “Standalone highlight”, or “Grouped word”) with a Close button. The notice contains no word, description, or page address, and nothing is saved when it appears. The menu needs the contextMenus permission. It reads only the text you selected (or, for a right-clicked highlight, that highlight) and the page address for standalone highlights, and it sends nothing anywhere.

Descriptions

A description you write for a word is stored with that word and synced with it through your own Chrome sync, like the word itself. A description on a standalone highlight stays on this device with the highlight.

Standalone highlights

A standalone highlight records the page address (including the full query string) and the selected text, and up to 80 characters of text immediately before and after the selection (kept for finding a passage that spans parts of the page). It highlights every occurrence of the selected text on that page. Because a page address is part of your browsing history, standalone highlights are stored on this device only and are never copied to Chrome sync. You can move them to another device only by exporting a file yourself, and that file contains the page addresses.

Highlight strokes

The jagged highlight stroke wraps visible matched text in the page and unwraps it on repaint, and no page content leaves the device because of it. On a page, TextLighter shows only your highlights, a short description when you hover a described highlight, and the add/edit form when you choose it from the right-click menu — nothing else is added to the page, except for the fixed notice described above.

Permissions

TextLighter asks for exactly three permissions, and nothing else:

• storage — to keep your words, groups and settings on your device.
• activeTab — to count the matches on the page you are looking at, and to show the popup for that page.
• contextMenus — to add the TextLighter entry to the right-click menu.

It also asks for access to web pages (http and https) so it can highlight your words on the pages you read. That access is used only to paint highlights and read the text you select; it is never used to send anything anywhere.

What never happens

TextLighter makes no network requests of its own, runs no analytics, shows no ads, and contains no affiliate links. There is no account, no remote code, and no logging of your word lists.

Nothing leaves your computer on its own — only your own Chrome sync, and files you choose to export or copy.

Why there is no server

Words can reveal interests, health, job search, or politics in aggregate. That is why there is no server and no logging: your list stays yours.

This website

This website is a static site. It sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and collects nothing about you. The live demo on the home page runs entirely in your browser: the words you highlight there are never sent anywhere and are forgotten when you leave the page. The only thing your browser remembers from this site is your light/dark theme choice, stored locally on your device.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated date at the top will change with it. Because there is no account and no way to contact you, please check back here if you want to stay up to date.