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Edited by Charlie J, Sondra C, Nicole Willson, Tom Viren and 29 others

Four Methods:From a BrowserAdobe Reader (Free)Adobe Acrobat ProPreview (for Mac users)

While you are reading a PDF document, you may want to highlight text just as you would in a hard-copy document. To highlight a PDF from a browser, Adobe Reader or Acrobat or Preview (for Macs), follow these instructions.

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EditMethod 1 of 4: From a Browser

  1. 1
    Click on Save. Since most PDFs can’t be modified from within web browsers, you’ll have to save a copy to your computer to highlight.
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  2. 2
    Save the file in an easy-to-find location, open it, and highlight using a method below.

EditMethod 2 of 4: Adobe Reader (Free)

  1. 1
    Open your PDF using Adobe Reader. This is the free edition of Adobe Acrobat that allows you to preview, fill out, and make other small modifications to PDF files. Double-clicking a PDF file in Windows will usually open it in Reader as the default (unless you have a professional or alternative version).
  2. 2
    Click the Highlight Text button. This shows the letter “T” (for “text”) highlighted in yellow.
  3. 3
    Click and drag your mouse over the text you wish to highlight.

EditMethod 3 of 4: Adobe Acrobat Pro

  1. Open with acrobat.png
    1
    Open your PDF using Acrobat.
  2. 2
    Click the Highlight Text button. This shows the letter “T” (for “text”) highlighted in yellow.

    Highlight tool.png
  3. Screen Shot 2014 05 04 at 4.34.22 PM.png
    3
    Click and drag your mouse over the text you wish to highlight.

EditMethod 4 of 4: Preview (for Mac users)

  1. Screen Shot 2014 05 04 at 4.35.30 PM.png
    1
    Open your PDF using Preview
  2. Screen Shot 2014 05 04 at 4.41.04 PM.png
    2
    Go to Tools>Annotate>Highlight Text or press ^ Control+⌘ Command+H
  3. Highlighted in preview.png
    3
    Click and drag your mouse over the text you wish to highlight.
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EditTips

  • Digitally highlighting text is similar to highlighting in real life; click where you want to begin, drag over the desired text, and release when you’ve reached the end of the desired text. Repeat over other lines as desired.
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EditSources and Citations

Article Info

Featured Article

Categories: Featured Articles | Using PDF Files

Recent edits by: John_Rey, Amy K. Jones, Maluniu

In other languages:

Español: Cómo resaltar texto en un documento de PDF, Deutsch: Wie man Text in einer PDF Datei markiert, Português: Como Realçar Texto num Documento PDF, Italiano: Come Evidenziare Testo in un Documento PDF, 中文: 让 PDF 文档中的文本高亮显示, Русский: выделить текст в PDF документе

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