Tutorial

A comprehensive guide to making the most of Annote’s features.

1. Your First Annotation

After installing the extension, visit any webpage and select some text. You’ll see the yellow Annote button appear next to your selection. Click it, or just press the A key, to create your first highlight.

The A shortcut is the fastest way to annotate: select, press A, and keep reading. Type right after highlighting to attach a note in your own words.

Power Tips

A handful of habits that make Annote feel like magic. Each one looks like this in the app:

Press A to annotate. Select text anywhere and press A. No menus, no clicking, no leaving the sentence.

Select any sentence that stops you, press A, and it is saved to your notes.

Talk back in the margins. Type right after highlighting and your note attaches inline, in your own handwriting-style text.

Notes are a conversation with what you read. yes! argue with the author 

Link everything with [[. Type two square brackets in any note to connect it to another card. Links are where insights come from.

 ideas compound when they connect. goes with how to take smart notes and #zettelkasten

Drag cards to connect them. Drop one card onto another to link them. Your notes become a web, not a pile.

Ask Anni. Annote’s assistant can summarize, write, or explain across your notes and articles, and suggest connections you might have missed.

Search everything. Find any note by its content, tags, or source. The more you save, the more useful search becomes.

Types of Annotations

  • Highlights: Quick markers for important passages
  • Notes: Add your thoughts and commentary
  • Questions: Mark things you want to explore further
  • Tags: Organize by topic or project

2. Organizing Your Notes

Collections

Group related notes together:

  1. Open the Annote dashboard
  2. Click “New Collection”
  3. Drag notes into collections

Find notes instantly:

  • Search by content, tags, or source URL
  • Filter by date, collection, or type
  • Use boolean operators for advanced queries

Graph View

Visualize connections between your notes:

  • Click the graph icon in the dashboard
  • Zoom and pan to explore relationships
  • Click any node to jump to that note

3. Linking Notes

Create explicit connections:

  1. Open a note
  2. Type [[ to search for other notes
  3. Select a note to link to it

See what links to the current note:

  • Every note shows its backlinks automatically
  • Click to navigate between connected ideas

AI Suggestions

Let Annote suggest connections:

  • Based on semantic similarity
  • Discovers non-obvious relationships
  • Helps identify gaps in your knowledge

4. AI Features

Summarization

Get quick summaries of long articles:

  • Click “Summarize” on any annotation
  • AI generates a concise overview
  • Great for reviewing later

Find notes by meaning, not just keywords:

  • Natural language queries
  • “Show me notes about habit formation”
  • Understands context and relationships

Connection Suggestions

Discover related ideas:

  • “Notes similar to this one”
  • Finds connections you might have missed
  • Builds your knowledge graph automatically

5. Writing from Your Notes

Export Options

Get your notes out of Annote:

  • Export to Markdown
  • Generate bibliographies
  • API access for custom integrations

Integration

Connect with your writing tools:

  • Obsidian
  • Notion
  • Roam Research

6. Mobile & Sync

  • Sign in to sync across devices
  • Mobile app coming soon
  • Offline access to your notes

7. Advanced Features

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Cmd/Ctrl + E: Open Annote
  • Cmd/Ctrl + /: Search notes
  • Cmd/Ctrl + K: Quick capture

Bulk Operations

  • Tag multiple notes at once
  • Move notes between collections
  • Export filtered sets

API Access

Programmatic access to your notes:

  • REST API for all operations
  • Webhooks for automation
  • See API docs for details

8. Privacy & Data

  • Your data is encrypted at rest and in transit
  • You own your notes - export anytime
  • No tracking, no ads
  • GDPR compliant

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