How to Highlight Text in a PDF Document

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
Method 1 of 2:

Using Adobe Reader DC

  1. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 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. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 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. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 3
    3
    Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.
  4. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 4
    4
    Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.
  5. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 5
    5
    Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.
  6. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 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

  1. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 7
    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. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 8
    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. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 9
    3
    Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.
  4. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 10
    4
    Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.
  5. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 11
    5
    Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.
  6. Image titled Highlight Text in a PDF Document Step 12
    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

  • Question
    How can I highlight text in a PDF on a mobile device?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    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
    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.
  • Question
    Is there a way to highlight text in a scanned PDF document?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    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
    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.
  • Question
    How do I erase the highlight on text?
    Community Answer
    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

wikiHow Staff
Co-authored by:
wikiHow Staff
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 2,051,697 times.
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Co-authors: 46
Updated: July 28, 2022
Views: 2,051,697
Categories: Editing PDF Documents | Reading PDF Documents
Article SummaryX

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.

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