diff --git a/apps/client/src/widgets/sidebar/HighlightsList.tsx b/apps/client/src/widgets/sidebar/HighlightsList.tsx
index 401554203d..580591bd63 100644
--- a/apps/client/src/widgets/sidebar/HighlightsList.tsx
+++ b/apps/client/src/widgets/sidebar/HighlightsList.tsx
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 import { CKTextEditor, ModelText } from "@triliumnext/ckeditor5";
 import { createPortal } from "preact/compat";
-import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "preact/hooks";
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "preact/hooks";
 
 import { t } from "../../services/i18n";
+import math from "../../services/math";
 import { randomString } from "../../services/utils";
 import { useActiveNoteContext, useContentElement, useIsNoteReadOnly, useNoteProperty, useTextEditor, useTriliumOptionJson } from "../react/hooks";
 import Modal from "../react/Modal";
+import RawHtml from "../react/RawHtml";
 import { HighlightsListOptions } from "../type_widgets/options/text_notes";
 import RightPanelWidget from "./RightPanelWidget";
 
@@ -84,20 +86,11 @@ function AbstractHighlightsList<T extends RawHighlight>({ highlights, scrollToHi
                     {filteredHighlights.length > 0 ? (
                         <ol>
                             {filteredHighlights.map(highlight => (
-                                <li
+                                <HighlightItem
                                     key={highlight.id}
+                                    highlight={highlight}
                                     onClick={() => scrollToHighlight(highlight)}
-                                >
-                                    <span
-                                        style={{
-                                            fontWeight: highlight.attrs.bold ? "700" : undefined,
-                                            fontStyle: highlight.attrs.italic ? "italic" : undefined,
-                                            textDecoration: highlight.attrs.underline ? "underline" : undefined,
-                                            color: highlight.attrs.color,
-                                            backgroundColor: highlight.attrs.background
-                                        }}
-                                    >{highlight.text}</span>
-                                </li>
+                                />
                             ))}
                         </ol>
                     ) : (
@@ -112,6 +105,43 @@ function AbstractHighlightsList<T extends RawHighlight>({ highlights, scrollToHi
     );
 }
 
+function HighlightItem<T extends RawHighlight>({ highlight, onClick }: {
+    highlight: T;
+    onClick(): void;
+}) {
+    const contentRef = useRef<HTMLElement>(null);
+
+    // Render math equations after component mounts/updates
+    useEffect(() => {
+        if (!contentRef.current) return;
+        const mathElements = contentRef.current.querySelectorAll(".math-tex");
+
+        for (const mathEl of mathElements ?? []) {
+            try {
+                math.render(mathEl.textContent || "", mathEl as HTMLElement);
+            } catch (e) {
+                console.warn("Failed to render math in highlights:", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }, [highlight.text]);
+
+    return (
+        <li onClick={onClick}>
+            <RawHtml
+                containerRef={contentRef}
+                style={{
+                    fontWeight: highlight.attrs.bold ? "700" : undefined,
+                    fontStyle: highlight.attrs.italic ? "italic" : undefined,
+                    textDecoration: highlight.attrs.underline ? "underline" : undefined,
+                    color: highlight.attrs.color,
+                    backgroundColor: highlight.attrs.background
+                }}
+                html={highlight.text}
+            />
+        </li>
+    );
+}
+
 //#region Editable text (CKEditor)
 interface CKHighlight extends RawHighlight {
     textNode: ModelText;
@@ -201,9 +231,23 @@ function extractHighlightsFromTextEditor(editor: CKTextEditor) {
         };
 
         if (Object.values(attrs).some(Boolean)) {
+            // Get HTML content from DOM (includes nested elements like math)
+            let html = item.data;
+            const modelPos = editor.model.createPositionAt(item.textNode, "before");
+            const viewPos = editor.editing.mapper.toViewPosition(modelPos);
+            const domPos = editor.editing.view.domConverter.viewPositionToDom(viewPos);
+            if (domPos?.parent instanceof HTMLElement) {
+                // Get the formatting span's innerHTML (includes math elements)
+                html = domPos.parent.innerHTML;
+            }
+
+            // Skip if we already have this exact content (same parent element)
+            const prev = result[result.length - 1];
+            if (prev?.text === html) continue;
+
             result.push({
                 id: randomString(),
-                text: item.data,
+                text: html,
                 attrs,
                 textNode: item.textNode,
                 offset: item.startOffset