Back in February, Google updated the Chrome 80 with a new capability called Scroll to Text Fragment. It’s a feature that enables deep links to a web document, and it doesn’t require an anchor.
Thanks to Scroll to Text Fragment, anyone can create a link to a specific piece of text on a document. So, users will be able to link to portions of a page without an author annotation.
The feature is not particularly new. However, previous versions require the page author to code an anchor into the page that others can link to.
Scroll to Text Fragment quickly became subject to controversy, with privacy pundits arguing that bad actors can exploit the feature. Despite these concerns, the Chrome browser continues to support the feature.
Now, Google has taken the support a step further with a new extension.
Scroll to Text Fragment Gets Chrome Extension Support
Before now, users creating a link that utilizes Scroll to Text Fragment capabilities had to do it manually. As a result, the process was more complicated than it should.
Now, Google has introduced a Chrome extension to help users create a link to any piece of text on any page. And it’s calling the extension Link to Text Fragment.
The official page on the Chrome Web Store reads:
“This extension allows for easily creating a special link to the currently selected text on a page via the context menu. When opening such a special link, a compatible browser will scroll the selected text into view and highlight it.”
Here’s how to use the new chrome extension.
Upon installing Link to Text Fragment, highlight the portion of a text that you intend to link to. Then, right-click on the text and select “Copy Link to Selected Text” from the context menu.
A yellow highlight should appear briefly on the text to indicate a successful link creation. After that, you can paste your link wherever you want to share.
Google Chrome is the only browser that supports the feature at the moment. So, if you open a text fragment link on another browser, it’ll act as a regular link.
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