Step 1: Set Up Your Study Workflow

Install the Glasp browser extension and create a dedicated tag for your current study topic — for example, “bio-101-exam” or “machine-learning-midterm.” This tag will collect all highlights relevant to your exam preparation in one place. Create a consistent highlighting strategy: use yellow for key definitions, green for important processes or sequences, and blue for concepts you find difficult and want to review more frequently.

Step 2: Highlight Study Materials Systematically

As you read textbooks, lecture notes, research papers, and online resources, highlight key information systematically. Focus on definitions, formulas, cause-and-effect relationships, and comparison points — these are the types of information that make effective flashcards. Add a brief note to each highlight explaining why it’s important or how it connects to other concepts. This note becomes the “answer context” on your flashcards, providing deeper understanding than a simple Q&A format.

Step 3: Generate AI Flashcards

After accumulating highlights from a study session, navigate to your Glasp profile and click the “Flashcards” tab. Select the tag for your current study topic and click “Generate Flashcards.” Glasp’s AI analyzes your highlights and creates flashcard pairs — a question on one side and the answer on the other. The AI extracts key concepts from your highlights and formulates questions that test understanding rather than just memorization. Review the generated flashcards and edit any that are unclear or incorrectly formulated.

Step 4: Review Flashcards with Spaced Repetition

Glasp’s flashcard system includes a built-in spaced repetition scheduler. After reviewing a card, rate your confidence level (Easy, Good, Hard, or Again). Cards rated as difficult will appear more frequently in future review sessions, while easy cards are shown less often. This algorithm ensures you spend more time on the material you haven’t mastered yet, optimizing your study efficiency. Aim for daily review sessions of 10-15 minutes to maintain retention without overwhelming your schedule.

Step 5: Create Thematic Flashcard Decks

For comprehensive exam preparation, organize your flashcards into thematic decks. For example, if you’re studying biology, create separate decks for “Cell Biology,” “Genetics,” and “Ecology.” Use Glasp’s tag system to filter highlights by theme before generating flashcards. This thematic organization makes it easy to focus your study sessions on specific topics and track your progress by subject area. You can also merge decks for comprehensive review sessions as the exam approaches.

Step 6: Collaborate with Study Groups

Glasp’s social features extend to flashcards. Share your flashcard decks with study group members by clicking “Share” on the deck and sending the link. Your group members can review the same flashcards, add their own highlights and flashcards, and build a collaborative study resource. This is particularly effective for courses where different students focus on different aspects of the material — the combined deck covers more ground than any individual could create alone.

Best Practices

• Highlight with flashcard creation in mind — focus on self-contained facts and concepts that can be formulated as clear questions.
• Review AI-generated flashcards before studying — the AI sometimes misinterprets context or creates ambiguous questions.
• Maintain a daily review habit — spaced repetition is only effective when reviews are consistent.
• Use the difficulty rating honestly — marking everything as “Easy” defeats the purpose of the algorithm.

Step 1: Install the Glasp Browser Extension

Visit glasp.co and click “Install for Chrome” or “Install for Safari” depending on your browser. The extension adds a highlighting toolbar to every web page you visit. After installation, create your Glasp account and complete the brief onboarding — select your interests and topics to help Glasp tailor your social learning feed. The extension icon in your browser toolbar shows your highlight count and provides quick access to your Glasp profile.

Step 2: Highlight Your First Article

Navigate to any article or blog post. Select any text on the page, and you’ll see the Glasp highlight toolbar appear with color options. Choose a color to highlight the text — different colors can represent different categories (e.g., yellow for key insights, green for quotes, blue for questions). Each highlight is automatically saved to your Glasp profile with the source URL, page title, and date. You can also add a note to any highlight by clicking the “Add Note” button that appears after highlighting.

Step 3: Organize Highlights with Tags

Tags are the primary organization system in Glasp. After creating a highlight, add tags by clicking the tag icon. Use consistent, descriptive tags that match your knowledge management system — for example, “machine-learning”, “productivity”, “design-principles”, “leadership”. Glasp suggests tags based on your existing library and the article’s content. Over time, your tag system creates a navigable taxonomy of your reading interests that makes it easy to find related highlights across different sources.

Step 4: Use AI Summaries for Quick Review

After highlighting an article, click the Glasp extension icon and select “AI Summary.” Glasp’s AI generates a concise summary of your highlights, distilling the key points into a few sentences. This is invaluable for quickly reviewing articles you’ve read without re-reading the entire source. The AI summary is saved alongside your highlights and can be accessed from your Glasp profile at any time. Use summaries to create weekly review notes or to prepare for discussions and presentations.

Step 5: Explore the Social Learning Feed

Glasp’s social feature is what makes it unique. Click on your Glasp profile to see your highlights feed, and navigate to the “Community” tab to see what others have highlighted. When you visit an article that others have highlighted, you’ll see their highlights alongside yours — this provides alternative perspectives and highlights you might have missed. Follow users whose reading interests align with yours to build a curated knowledge network. This social layer transforms Glasp from a personal tool into a collaborative learning platform.

Step 6: Export to Your Knowledge Management System

Glasp integrates with popular note-taking apps to ensure your highlights flow into your existing workflow. Connect Glasp to Notion, Obsidian, or Roam Research through the integrations settings. Once connected, your highlights are automatically synced to your chosen app in a structured format — typically organized by source article with tags and notes preserved. You can also export highlights manually in Markdown format by clicking “Export” on your profile page. This ensures your Glasp highlights become part of your broader knowledge management system rather than existing in isolation.

Best Practices

• Develop a consistent color-coding system for different types of insights and stick to it across all articles.
• Add tags immediately after highlighting — it’s much harder to organize retroactively.
• Use AI summaries for weekly reviews to reinforce learning and identify connections between different articles.
• Follow experts in your field to discover high-quality content and insights you might otherwise miss.