How to Select and Highlight Text in a PDF Document

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Highlight text in Adobe Acrobat and other programs

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: December 20, 2024 Tested

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• Using Adobe Reader DC
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• Using Preview on Mac
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• Q&A

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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.

Highlighting PDF Text

Open the PDF in a PDF reader like Acrobat. Then, click and drag your cursor over the text you want to highlight. Select the "Highlight" tool in the toolbar to highlight the text. You can also customize the highlight color with this tool.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using Adobe Reader DC

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1. 1
   Open a PDF document in Adobe Reader. Do so by opening the red Adobe Reader app with the stylized, white A icon. Then click on File in the menu bar at the top of the screen, click on Open..., select the PDF document you want to type on and click on Open.

   • If you don't already have Adobe Reader, it's available for free from get.adobe.com/reader and can be used with Windows, Mac, and Android operating systems.
2. 2
   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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3. 3
   Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.
4. 4
   Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.
5. 5
   Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.
6. 6
   Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu. Doing so saves your highlighting.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Preview on Mac

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1. 1
   Open a PDF document in the Preview app. Do so by double-clicking on the blue Preview icon that looks like overlapping snapshots, then clicking on File in the menu bar and Open... in the drop-down menu. Select a file in the dialog box and click on Open.

   • Preview is Apple's native image viewer app that's automatically included with most versions of Mac OS.
2. 2
   Click on the highlighter tool. It's the marker icon in the right-center of the toolbar at the top of the window.

   • To change the color of the highlighting tool, click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the marker icon and click on the color you prefer for highlighting.
3. 3
   Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.
4. 4
   Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.
5. 5
   Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.
6. 6
   Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu. Doing so saves your highlighting.
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Community Q&A

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• Question

  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.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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  Not Helpful 0 Helpful 3
• Question

  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.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  Yes No

  Not Helpful 4 Helpful 4
• Question

  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.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  Yes No

  Not Helpful 8 Helpful 1

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