Summarize articles in Chrome.

Choose the passage you want to understand. Distl turns it into a shorter summary on the same page, while the original stays available for the evidence and detail.

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How to summarize an article in Chrome

1. Open the article and highlight the text you want summarized.
2. Click Summarize, or press Alt + Shift + S.
3. Read the short version. Choose More detail when the argument needs more explanation.

Summarize a paragraph

For one paragraph, highlight the complete paragraph and click Summarize. For several passages, use paragraph selection instead of dragging through the whole article. Both methods use the text you choose; neither rewrites the original page.

Pick paragraphs from different parts of a page

Open Distl from the Chrome toolbar and choose Pick paragraphs to summarize, or press Alt + Shift + P to start.

Use paragraph selection when the useful material is spread across several paragraphs. Pick the passages you need, then press Enter to summarize them. Press Escape to cancel. Include the surrounding explanation and limitations so the summary has enough context.

Article summary or paragraph summary?

Choose the full relevant section when you need an argument and its conclusion. Choose a paragraph when you only need to understand that passage. Leaving out a qualification can change the meaning, so include nearby context when the author refers to an earlier result.

Summarize research article text

A research report's finding and its limits belong together. If a result comes from a small pilot, a useful summary should keep that qualification rather than present it as a settled conclusion. Return to the original for methods, figures and citations. Distl does not independently verify an author's claims.

Will it bypass a paywall or read a scanned PDF?

No. Use text you can access and select in a supported web page. This flow does not unlock paid articles or perform OCR on images. For long reports, choose a section within your plan's character limit.

Credits and privacy

Free includes 50 credits each month. One credit covers up to 5,000 characters; longer text uses more credits. Selected text is limited to 15,000 characters on Free and 60,000 on paid plans. Email summaries use the same character-based credits, with a 60,000-character hard limit.

Text you ask Distl to summarize is sent to its server and enabled AI providers. This is not an offline summarizer. Read the privacy policy before submitting sensitive information. AI can miss details: check the original before acting.