🖍️ Highlight-It: VS Code Highlight Extension
This extension allows you to highlight text in your editor using multiple colors, helping you mark important code areas, annotate sections, or visually separate logic blocks.
✨ Features
- Highlight selected text using customizable colors.
- Choose from Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, and Orange.
- Toggle highlights on/off by selecting the same region.
- Multiple colors can exist simultaneously in a file.
- Highlights persist per file during the session.
- Automatically adds a blank line if needed for proper display.
- Clear highlights for the current file or stop highlighting completely.
📘 Usage Instructions
- Open the Command Palette:
Ctrl + Shift + P
- Run one of the following commands:
Command |
Description |
Highlight: Start Highlighting |
Enables highlight mode. Start selecting text and it will be highlighted. |
Highlight: Set Highlight Color |
Pick a color for future highlights. |
Highlight: Clear Highlights |
Clears all highlights for the current file. |
Highlight: Stop Highlighting |
Disables highlighting mode and clears all highlights from all files. |
Start Highlighting
Run the Highlight: Start Highlighting
command, then select text in your editor. The selected text will be highlighted with the currently selected color.

Set Highlight Color
Run the Highlight: Set Highlight Color
command to choose a color for your highlights. You can select from Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, and Orange.
The selected color will be used for all new highlights.

Clear Highlights
Run the Highlight: Clear Highlights
command to remove all highlights from the current file. This will not affect highlights in other files.

Stop Highlighting
Run the Highlight: Stop Highlighting
command to disable highlighting mode. This will clear all highlights from all files and stop the extension from highlighting any text.

Video Guide
For a complete walkthrough of the extension, check out this video guide: Complete Guide
🧑💻 Developer Guide
Source Code
The source code for this extension is available on Highlight-It.
Commands
Ensure the following commands are defined in your package.json
:
{
"contributes": {
"commands": [
{
"command": "extension.highlightSelection",
"title": "Highlight: Start Highlighting"
},
{
"command": "extension.setHighlightColor",
"title": "Highlight: Set Highlight Color"
},
{
"command": "extension.clearHighlights",
"title": "Highlight: Clear Highlights"
},
{
"command": "extension.stopHighlighting",
"title": "Highlight: Stop Highlighting"
}
]
},
"activationEvents": [
"onCommand:extension.highlightSelection",
"onCommand:extension.setHighlightColor",
"onCommand:extension.clearHighlights",
"onCommand:extension.stopHighlighting"
]
}
Contributing
- Fork the Highlight-It Repository
- Create a new branch for your feature or bugfix
- Submit a pull request with a clear explanation
Suggestions for new color options, persistent highlight storage, or UI enhancements are welcome!
⚠️ This extension is licensed under the MIT License, but commercial use is not permitted without explicit written permission from the author.
👤 Author
Created and maintained by Sarvesh Mankar
GitHub
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