Highlight Text in a PDF Document

PDF is widely regarded as the standard for file sharing and transferring. While PDFs have a variety of advantages over other document formatting options, it can be a bit tricky to manipulate and/or modify them. Read on to find out how to highlight a PDF.

Steps

Web Browser

  1. Open the website with the PDF document you want to modify. Keep in mind that PDFs can't be manipulated from within the browser. Once you've opened the document, you'll have to save it onto your computer in order to perform certain functions, such as highlighting text[1].
  2. Save the online PDF version to your computer. Go to the upper left hand corner of your computer screen, and select File. You'll see a scroll down menu with various options. Select the option Save As, and choose a location for the file on your computer that's easy to remember.
  3. Open the saved document. Once you open your saved PDF, find the portion(s) you want to mark through highlighting[2].
  4. Click on the built in highlighter. Go to the upper right hand corner of your document. You'll see a few icons designed to help you manipulate the document. Go the first icon from left. It'll look much like a highlighter pen with a downward pointing arrow next to it. Click on the pen icon.
    • The highlighter will change its color from black to blue when you click on it. This means it has been activated.
  5. Select the text you want to highlight. All you need to do now is drag your cursor over the text you want to work with. It'll highlight automatically since you've already activated the highlighter[3].
    • You don't need to take the extra step of saving your modified document. Simply close it when you're done, and all changes will be automatically saved.

Adobe Reader

  1. Download Adobe Reader. This is a free version of Adobe Acrobat that enables you to make smaller modifications on PDF documents. The download process is easy, with step by step instructions.
    • Once the application has downloaded, it'll ask you if you'd like to make it your default. Macs have Preview, which works well, but you can choose to make Acrobat Reader your default for PDF modifications. Simply click on Yes when prompted. Anytime you open a PDF from that moment on will automatically open Adobe Reader.
  2. Open Adobe Reader. Unless you've selected Adobe Reader to be your default for PDFs, you'll have to manually open it. Go to the location where you saved the application and open it.
  3. Open the file you want to modify. Go to the upper left hand corner of your Adobe Reader screen and select File. The first option is Open. Click on it and you'll see all of the drives and folders contained in your computer. Select the desired document.
  4. Click on the highlighter in the upper right hand corner of your Adobe Reader screen. You'll see three options on the very right hand side: Tools, Fill and Sign, Comment. To the left of the Tool option you'll see the icon to expand the page. Right next to it you'll find the highlighter.
    • The highlighter looks like an actual highlighter pen.
  5. Drag your cursor over the text portion you wish to highlight. That's all it takes. You'll see the text highlighted in yellow.
  6. Save the modified document. Simply go to the left hand corner of the Adobe Reader screen and choose the icon that looks like a floppy disk. Click on it, and the file be saved in its original location.

Foxit Reader

  1. Download, install and run Foxit Reader.
  2. Click on the "File" menu to start working with PDF files.
  3. Click on "Open" option from the menu and then on "Computer" to open Windows Explorer and select the needed PDF file.
  4. After the file is added, pay attention to the "Comment" menu on the top of Foxit Reader's window. Click on “Highlight” option that is located there to start highlighting text of your PDF. Highlighter tool appears with highlighted “abc” letters to the left of the mouse's cursor.
  5. Hold the left button of your mouse and drag your cursor over the text you want to highlight. Release the left button to apply the highlighting to the chosen text.
  6. Save the changes of the document. You can simply press Ctrl+S keyboard combination and the changes will be applied to your PDF file.

Preview (OS X)

  1. Open your PDF. If you're working from a Mac, just opening a PDF will activate Preview which is the built-in PDF function for Macs[4].
  2. Go to the highlighter on your PDF Preview screen. Much like highlighting a PDF from a browser, the highlighting tool is clearly displayed on the upper right hand side of the screen. Simply click on it to activate it.
    • You can also go to Tools, choose Annotate and the Highlight Text option. The result is the same as clicking on the highlighter pen icon described above.
  3. Highlight your desired text or text portions. Drag your cursor over the text you want to highlight. Since you activated the highlighter by clicking on it, no further action is needed. You'll see yellow highlighting over the text.
  4. Save your document. No specific action needs to be taken to save your modified PDF. You can close your document.

Tips

  • 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.
  • You can extract and summarize highlighted text in Acrobat or PDF-XChange by going to Edit>Preferences>Comments>Copy selected text into Highlight, Cross-Out, and Underline comment pop-ups.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/highlight-underline-and-cross-out-text-in-pdf-docu.html
  2. ↑ http://www.iceni.com/blog/how-to-highlight-text-in-a-pdf/
  3. ↑ http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/adobe-acrobat-6-pdf-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html
  4. ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/2045686/editing-and-annotating-pdf-files-with-preview.html
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