Notestark

Support

Something not working, or an idea for it? Everything goes through one place, and it is read every day.

GitHub Issues — open the tracker, press New issue, and describe what happened. A GitHub account is free and takes a minute to make.

One thing to know before you write: issues are public. Anyone can read them. So describe the problem, but do not paste the contents of the document you were reading — a screenshot with the passage blurred, or a small file that reproduces it, tells us the same thing without publishing your work.

What to include in a bug report

The more of this you can give, the faster it gets fixed:

Common questions

My highlights do not work on local files

Chrome keeps access to local files behind its own switch, and no extension can turn it on for you. Open chrome://extensions, find Notestark, press Details, and turn on Allow access to file URLs. Then reload the file.

Nothing happens when I select text on a website

Website access is optional and off until you grant it — which is why installing the extension shows no permission warning. Click the toolbar icon and choose Enable on this site or Enable on all sites, then reload the page.

It does not work on this particular page

Chrome does not let any extension run on chrome:// pages, the Chrome Web Store, or other extensions’ pages. That is a browser rule, not a Notestark limitation, and there is no way around it.

A highlight disappeared after the document changed

Each mark remembers about 32 characters on either side of itself, so it survives most edits. If the passage itself was rewritten or deleted, there is nothing left to match and the mark cannot be placed.

My marks are not on my other computer

By design. Marks live in local storage, not Chrome’s sync storage, so they are never copied to your Google account. Carrying them between machines is what the app is being built for.

Where did my highlights go after I reinstalled?

Uninstalling removes the extension’s storage area, and Chrome deletes it with the extension. There is no copy anywhere else, because nothing was ever sent anywhere. This is the same property that makes the privacy policy short.

The translate button says it is unavailable

Translation uses the translator built into Chrome, which needs Chrome 138 or newer on desktop. On older versions, or on mobile, the feature reports that it is unavailable rather than failing when pressed.

Do you collect anything at all?

No. No account, no server, no analytics, no network request anywhere in the extension. The source is public under GPL-3.0, so this can be checked rather than believed — see the privacy policy.

Response times

Notestark is built by one person. The tracker is read every day, though a fix can take longer than a reply. If something is broken badly enough to lose your marks, say so in the title and it jumps the queue.