US Patent 9223766 Preserving formatting of content selection through snippets

An e-reader application preserves formatting of a selection through a snippet. The application determines a format of a portion of content in response to a user action selecting the portion. The formatted portion is stored in the snippet. The source code of the portion is extracted from the content and stored in the snippet to preserve its format. The snippet is displayed in a navigation pane using the format. The snippet is resized according to the defined format to fit available space in the navigation pane. The application is enabled to navigate to a location of the portion within the content in response to detecting another selection activating the snippet.