Explain selected text
Highlight a paragraph, legal clause, exam question, email, or document snippet. Right-click and ELI5 turns it into plain language.
ELI5 Chrome extension
Explain anything on the web.
ELI5 turns selected text, screenshots, clipboard text, and copied images into simple explanations you can read, hear, save, and revisit. It is built for students, busy readers, language learners, and anyone who wants the web to feel less dense.
- Text, image, screenshot
- Read explanations aloud
- Save notes and audio
- Driving-school mode
article.example/technical-section
Selected text
"The policy introduces a deferred vesting schedule with a one-year cliff and monthly vesting thereafter."
Explain Like I'm 5
Credits: 18,420
Explanation
Think of it like earning pieces of a prize over time. You get nothing at first, then after one full year you unlock a big first piece, and after that you keep getting small pieces every month.
Four ways to ask. One clear answer.
Use whichever input matches the moment: selected text, a screenshot, the clipboard, or a copied image.
Explain screenshots
Capture the visible tab when the text cannot be selected, such as charts, courseware, locked PDFs, or image-heavy pages.
Explain the clipboard
Copy text or an image from anywhere, then use the popup or context menu. ELI5 detects the clipboard type and chooses the right explanation path.
Hear it aloud
Turn any explanation into audio. Useful when you are tired, multitasking, revising, or learning in a second language.
Save notes and clips
Keep useful explanations in the popup, rename them, download text notes, or save audio clips for later revision.
Choose explanation language
Keep answers in the source language or set a preferred output language for study, translation, and multilingual reading.
Built for quick access, not app switching.
The extension lives where your confusion happens: inside Chrome.
- 1
Right-click text
For normal web pages, docs, emails, articles, and selected paragraphs.
- 2
Capture the tab
For non-selectable content, screenshots, diagrams, and course pages.
- 3
Use the clipboard
For text or images copied from another app, PDF viewer, chat, or learning platform.
- 4
Save what matters
Turn the answer into a note, audio clip, or quick revision item.
Driving-school mode
Special help for theory exam questions.
ELI5 can switch into a driving-theory tutor. It explains what the question is really asking, gives a memory trick, and walks through why the right answer is right.
- Auto-activates on supported driving practice sites.
- Adds "What's the trick?" to reveal the trap in the wording.
- Adds "Why it's correct" for answer-by-answer reasoning.
- Supports text questions, screenshots, and copied question images.
Less friction. More understanding.
Learn faster
Get the simple version immediately, then return to the original with better context.
Reduce overload
Dense legal, technical, academic, and exam text becomes easier to process.
Study anywhere
Works across ordinary web pages, practice portals, screenshots, and copied content.
Remember more
Saved notes, audio clips, and driving-school memory hooks turn answers into revision material.
Stay private
No analytics or trackers. Content is sent only when you ask for an explanation.
You choose what ELI5 sees.
ELI5 is designed around explicit actions. It does not watch pages in the background or scrape your browsing history.
Explicit trigger only
Selected text, screenshots, and clipboard items are processed only after you click a menu item or popup button.
No trackers
No analytics, ad networks, fingerprinting, or hidden third-party scripts inside the extension.
API key based
Your extension talks to the MicroTTS backend using your own API key and credit balance.
Local saved notes
Saved notes and audio clips live in Chrome extension storage on your profile.
Clipboard on demand
The clipboard is read only when you choose Explain Clipboard.
Screenshot on demand
The visible tab is captured only when you choose Explain Screenshot.
Questions before installing.
What can ELI5 explain?
Selected text, visible screenshots, clipboard text, and copied images. It is useful for articles, emails, course material, exam questions, documents, charts with labels, and image-based text.
Does it read the page automatically?
No. ELI5 works only after an explicit user action such as right-clicking Text Explanation, Explain Screenshot, Explain Clipboard, or pressing a popup button.
Why does it need screenshot and clipboard permissions?
The screenshot permission lets ELI5 capture the visible tab when you ask it to explain a screenshot. Clipboard access lets it read copied text or images when you ask it to explain the clipboard.
Does it work with copied images?
Yes. If the clipboard contains an image, ELI5 sends the image to the image explanation endpoint and explains the readable text inside it.
Can it speak the explanation?
Yes. Use Read aloud after an explanation, or choose Verbal Explanation from the context menu for selected text.
Does it support languages other than English?
Yes. You can leave output language on auto or choose a preferred language in the extension options.
Make the hard parts of the web easier to understand.
Install ELI5, add your MicroTTS API key, and explain selected text, screenshots, or clipboard images without leaving Chrome.