How to Highlight Text in a PDF Document

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The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work.

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Need to make a certain line of text stand out in your PDF document? This wikiHow article will show you how to highlight text in a PDF on your PC or Mac using Adobe Reader DC and Preview.

Method 1 of 2:

Using Adobe Reader DC

Step 1 Open a PDF document in Adobe Reader.

Step 2 Click on the highlighter tool.

Click on the highlighter tool. It's the marker icon on the right side of the toolbar at the top of the window.

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Step 3 Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.

Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.

Step 4 Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.

Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.

Step 5 Release the click when you are done.

Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.

Step 6 Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu.

Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu. Doing so saves your highlighting. Advertisement Method 2 of 2:

Using Preview on Mac

Step 1 Open a PDF document in the Preview app.

Step 2 Click on the highlighter tool.

Step 3 Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.

Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.

Step 4 Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.

Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.

Step 5 Release the click when you are done.

Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.

Step 6 Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu.

Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu. Doing so saves your highlighting. Advertisement

Community Q&A

How can I highlight text in a PDF on a mobile device? wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor Staff Answer

One easy way to do it is to download a PDF highlighter or note-taker app. Try an app like PDFelement, PDF Expert, or Highlighter.

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Is there a way to highlight text in a scanned PDF document? wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor Staff Answer

You wouldn’t be able to use the highlighter tool in Acrobat Reader for this unless you first OCR the document (that is, run software that converts the images to text). You can do this with Acrobat Pro, or use a program like ExportPDF to turn the file into a text document.

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How do I erase the highlight on text? Community Answer

The best way to do this is to highlight the highlighted text using your cursor. After that, you will see that there will be an 'h' icon which will already be selected. Simply click that to get rid of the highlight.

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About This Article

Co-authored by: wikiHow Staff Writer

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 2,084,739 times.

How helpful is this? Co-authors: 46 Updated: July 28, 2022 Views: 2,084,739 Categories: Editing PDF Documents | Reading PDF Documents

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Reader.
2. Click the highlighter button.
3. Click and hold the mouse before the text.
4. Drag the cursor to the end of the text.
5. Release the mouse button.

Did this summary help you? Yes No Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 2,084,739 times.

Is this article up to date?

Advertisement Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Co-authored by: wikiHow Staff Writer Click a star to vote % of people told us that this article helped them. Co-authors: 46 Updated: July 28, 2022 Views: 2,084,739

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