LuceVoce

Highlight text and add notes

How to highlight a passage in a named colour, write a note on it or on any word, and find your notes again in the margin and the notes panel.

Windows
Yes
Mac
Yes
iPad
Yes
iPhone
Yes
Show steps for

Select text in the reading view to highlight it in one of five colours, each with a meaning of your own, or add a note to it. You can also leave a note on a single word without highlighting anything. Every note shows as a marker in the margin and in the Notes panel.

Highlight a passage

Windows

  1. Drag over the text you want to keep. A small bar appears above the selection.
  2. Click one of the colour dots to highlight the selection in that colour. You can also press 1 to 9 to pick a colour by its position.
  3. To highlight the sentence being read, press H. LuceVoce uses the colour you picked last.

You can also click a word and choose Highlight sentence.

On a touch screen in the touch layout, follow the iPhone and iPad steps.

Mac

  1. Drag over the text you want to keep. A small bar appears above the selection.
  2. Click one of the colour dots to highlight the selection in that colour. You can also press 1 to 9 to pick a colour by its position.
  3. To highlight the sentence being read, press H. LuceVoce uses the colour you picked last.

You can also click a word and choose Highlight sentence.

iPhone and iPad

  1. Touch and hold a word, then drag the selection handles over the passage.
  2. In the bar that appears, tap a colour dot.

To highlight a whole sentence, touch and hold a word in it, tap More, then Highlight sentence.

Use the bar on a selection

When you select a passage, a bar appears with:

None of this moves the voice or interrupts it.

Add a note

A note can sit on a highlight, on a selection, or on a single word.

Windows

  • On a selection: select the text, then click Note in the bar, or press N.
  • On one word: click the word and choose Add note.
  • On the sentence being read: press N with nothing selected.

Type the note, choose a Highlight colour if you want one, then click Save or press Ctrl+Enter. Esc cancels.

Mac

  • On a selection: select the text, then click Note in the bar, or press N.
  • On one word: click the word and choose Add note.
  • On the sentence being read: press N with nothing selected.

Type the note, choose a Highlight colour if you want one, then click Save or press Cmd+Return. Esc cancels.

iPhone and iPad

  • On a selection: select the text with the handles, then tap Note in the bar.
  • On one word: touch and hold the word, tap More, then Add note.

Type the note, choose a Highlight colour if you want one, then tap Save.

Name your highlight colours

Each colour has a meaning you choose, such as Important, Definition, Example, Question and Review. The names show in the highlight bar, the notes panel and your exports.

  1. Open Settings and choose Study.
  2. Under Highlight colours, type a new name next to a colour.
  3. Click or tap a colour swatch to change the colour itself.
  4. Use the arrows to change the order, which also changes the 1 to 9 keys. Add colour adds another; the remove button takes one away.

Find your notes in the book

  • Margin markers: a marker beside the text shows how many notes are on that line. Click or tap it to open the notes panel at those notes.
  • On a highlight: with a mouse, point at a highlight to see its note, or click it and choose Open note. On a touch screen, tap the highlight.
  • The notes panel: open it with the Notes button in the top bar, or press Ctrl+Shift+N (on a Mac, Shift+Cmd+N). It lists the book's notes by chapter, with a search box and a chip for each colour to filter the list.

From a note in the panel you can use Go to to jump to its place, Edit note, Add a note to a bare highlight, Change colour or Delete note.

Undo a deleted note

When you delete a note or a highlight, a message appears with Undo. Use it straight away to bring the note back.

Good to know

  • On the Mac, iPhone and iPad you can also speak a note instead of typing it. See Record a voice note.
  • Notes stay attached to the right words even after you import a new copy of the same book. LuceVoce keeps the quoted text and a little text around it to find the place again.
  • Each note keeps the page number and chapter, which appear in exports and citations.
  • To copy a quote with its citation, select the text and choose Copy citation, or press C. See Export your notes.

Related

  • Record a voice noteHow to speak a note with the microphone in the bottom bar or on a word or passage, and how LuceVoce writes down your words on your device.
  • See all your notes in one placeHow to search, filter and edit the highlights and notes from every book in your library, and jump straight to the place where you made one.
  • Export your notes and cite your sourcesHow to export highlights and notes to Markdown, Obsidian, Word, PDF, Anki, CSV, JSON or BibTeX, and copy quotes with APA, MLA or Chicago citations.
  • Look up a wordHow to see a word's definition, pronunciation, examples and synonyms while you read, save it to your notes, and add dictionaries for other languages.
  • Translate a word or a passageHow to translate a word in its sentence or a whole passage on your device in LuceVoce, which languages it covers and how big each language download is.
  • Bookmark a place in a bookHow to add a bookmark at the sentence being read or at any word, write a note on it, and jump back to it later from the Bookmarks panel.
  • Sync your notes and bookmarksHow highlights, notes, bookmarks, tags, ratings and reading status reach your other devices once sync is on, and what happens when two devices change them.

Last updated 13 November 2026