Highlight a PDF
Select the passages that matter and highlight them in the colors you choose; on scanned pages, drag a highlight box over the area.
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What it does
Highlight PDF, explained
To highlight text in a PDF, choose the highlighter, then drag across the words; the highlight follows each line of the selection, exactly like a marker on paper. PDFBetter opens with the highlighter ready and remembers your last color.
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On a normal digital PDF, highlighting is text-aware: it snaps to the selected words and wraps line by line, and the highlighted words are stored with the mark so they show up in comment lists. On a scanned page there is no text to select, so the highlighter switches to an area highlight — drag a rectangle over the region instead. If you want text-aware highlights on a scan, run OCR first.
Use colors as a code: yellow for key facts, green for figures to verify, pink for questions. Students do this with readings, lawyers with contracts, and reviewers with reports before a meeting. Highlights are translucent, so the text stays readable when printed.
Highlighting is for drawing attention, not for discussion. To add an explanation, attach a comment to the highlight (Add comments); for an overview of every review tool, see Annotate PDF.
How to do it
Highlight a PDF in 4 steps
1Your PDF
2Mark it up
3Notes on the page
- 1
Upload the PDF
The highlighter is selected when the editor opens.
- 2
Pick a color
Choose yellow, green, blue, pink, orange or any custom color and an opacity.
- 3
Drag across the text
On digital PDFs the highlight snaps to the words; on scans, drag a box over the area.
- 4
Download or share
Download with a free account, or share a link so others see the same highlights.
Example
Before and after
A 12-page commercial lease, digitally generated, that a small-business owner needs to review before signing.
Rent escalation and renewal clauses highlighted in yellow, the personal guarantee paragraph in pink with a comment asking for removal, and a scanned rider page area-highlighted in green.
Settings & formats
What you can control
- Color
- Preset highlighter colors or any hex color.
- Opacity
- How strongly the color tints the text; lower values keep dense text readable.
- Text or area
- Text-aware highlighting on digital pages; rectangle area highlighting on scans and images.
Input
Output
Good to know before you start
- Text-aware highlighting needs a text layer. On scanned pages only rectangular area highlights are possible until you run OCR.
- Multi-column layouts can make a drag select across columns in reading order; highlight each column separately if the selection jumps.
- Highlights do not change or protect text; they are for emphasis only.
If something goes wrong
If something goes wrong
- The highlight covers the wrong lines.
- Some PDFs store text out of visual order. Undo and highlight smaller pieces, or switch to an area highlight for that block.
Highlight PDF: questions people ask
Why can't I select text to highlight on my PDF?
The page is a scan or image. Drag an area highlight over it, or run OCR PDF first to make the text selectable.
Can I use more than one highlight color?
Yes. Change color at any time; each highlight keeps its own color.
Can I remove a highlight?
Yes. Click it and press Delete, or use Undo, at any point before you download.
Will highlights show in other PDF readers?
Yes. They are included in the downloaded PDF and display in standard PDF readers.
Can I list everything I highlighted?
Highlights on text keep the selected words, so they appear in the review panel with their page numbers.
Is highlighting the same as underlining?
They are separate marks. Underline and strikeout are in Markup PDF; highlight tints the background of the text.