To highlight text in PDF online, you can use pdf.net or your browser. To do this, upload your document, use the option to mark up the text, pick the right color, and download your document.
PDF text highlighting draws the reader’s attention to important text parts and elements and facilitates referencing while also making research much easier. Plus, it enhances collaboration between colleagues, students, or any individuals using the same PDF file, as it helps them spot parts that may need clarification or discussion.
If you are looking for an easy and quick way to highlight texts in PDF, this article can help. We share the steps on how to highlight text in PDF online, as well as tips to increase efficiency and edit or remove highlights.
Key Takeaways
- Highlighting text in PDFs improves readability, facilitates research, and boosts collaboration by drawing attention to important information and key concepts.
- You can highlight text in PDF online using an online annotator like pdf.net or your browser.
- Effective highlighting involves using color strategically, marking only essential words and phrases, and keeping your highlights clean and uniform.
- Always check the final file in the PDF reader you or your recipients use, as some readers may not display highlights.
- Password-protected or restricted PDFs require unlocking before you can highlight them.
How to Highlight Text in a PDF File Online with pdf.net
To highlight text in a PDF file online, you can use pdf.net. Our PDF text marker can help you streamline this process, and all you need to do is take the following steps:
#1. Upload Your Document
First, go to pdf.net and click Annotate in the header. You will see a box that says “Drop file here to annotate.” Drag your file into the box, or click Choose file and select it from your computer.
You can upload a PDF, a Word document, or an image (JPG or PNG) of up to 500 MB.
#2. Choose the Highlight Tool and Color
After your file opens, click Draw (the pencil icon) in the top toolbar. A menu opens with the Pen, the Highlighter, and the Eraser. Choose the Highlighter, or press H on your keyboard. Then pick a color from the left menu or create your own shade, and use the slider to set the line width.
To highlight text, move the cursor to the part you want to mark and drag across it. Turn on the straight-line lock for even, straight highlights, or leave it off to highlight freehand. Zoom in on small text so each highlight lines up with the words.
#3. Finalize and Download Your File
Review the page to make sure you marked everything you wanted. If you make a mistake, click the undo arrow in the top-right corner or remove it with the Eraser. When you’re done, click Download in the top-right corner and choose the format to export your file.
Undo and delete work only until you download the file. Because highlights are PDF annotations, open the downloaded file in the PDF reader you or your recipients use to confirm the highlights display correctly.
How to Highlight Text in PDF Online Using Your Browser
You can also highlight text in PDF files online with a browser such as Chrome or Edge, just follow these three steps:
#1. Open the PDF in Your Browser
Open Chrome/Edge, then drag your PDF into the browser window or press Ctrl+O and select the file from your computer. PDFs from the web open in the same viewer automatically.
#2. Select the Text and Choose the Highlight Option
Click the highlight option in the PDF toolbar, pick a color from the menu, and select the text you want to mark. Repeat this for each part of the text you want to highlight. Using different colors helps you organize your notes.
#3. Save Your Highlighted PDF
Use the Download option in the PDF toolbar so your highlights are preserved in the file. Then open the saved PDF to make sure the highlights display correctly.
Keep in mind that browser viewers offer only basic markup, and the options vary by browser and version. If you don’t see a highlight option, or you need an eraser, adjustable line width, and other annotation tools, use the pdf.net steps above.
How to Highlight Text in a Scanned PDF
You can highlight a scanned PDF using either of the two methods above. A scan is an image of a page, so there is no text to select, but you can still mark the area you need.
If you also want to select, search, or copy the text, use OCR (optical character recognition). OCR turns the scanned image into text a computer can read. A PDF-to-Word converter with OCR can give you editable text that you can save as a PDF again and highlight.
Why Highlighting Text in PDFs is Important
Knowing how to highlight text in a PDF is important because it involves quick detection of the most important text elements. Spotting the main sections in reports, academic papers, and legal documents quickly can vastly improve your focus.
Additionally, taking notes when checking a PDF document with highlighted text is much easier and can enhance your studying process. Similarly, the highlighted text helps you expedite your research.
Highlighting text can also help you address the main concepts when reviewing and preparing the document for other parties and for further use. This automatically enhances the collaboration between the individuals using the same file.
Moreover, the highlighting process for digital PDF documents boosts digital efficiency and is eco-friendly. Last but not least, highlights in PDF files make it time-saving when referencing the same document in the future.
3 Tips for Effective PDF Text Highlighting
You can highlight text in your PDF files, make them neat, and prepare them for various uses by paying special attention to the technical and logical steps that would make this process easier.
Let’s examine the top three tips we have for you:
#1. Choose the Right Color
Color highlighting in PDFs helps you organize the key topics, facts, and figures in texts. This is why it is important to use different colors for different parts of the text you want to highlight.
For instance, you can use yellow to cover the main ideas in a text and highlight all examples in red and small details in blue. This will help you and other readers filter and categorize the most essential text aspects easily.
#2. Highlight Key Sections
Another tip on how to highlight text in a PDF efficiently is to highlight key sections only. Highlighting entire paragraphs may bring confusion, as you cannot select the main points and minor details this way. Also, overdoing the highlighting process can make your PDF text look messy and unreadable.
That said, we recommend carefully reading your target text and identifying the key phrases and sentences within paragraphs. Later, you can narrow everything down and identify the main ideas.
For highly readable texts, you should consider the following highlighting rules:
- One sentence per paragraph
- Highlighting keywords instead of full sentences
- No more than three highlighted words in a row
- Not more than 1/3 of a page highlighted
In addition, you need to ensure that you use the online PDF annotation tools correctly to avoid aesthetic and technical issues.
#3. Ensuring Technical Correctness
Making your highlights in PDF texts perfect also implies being well-versed in using PDF annotation features or other tools for this purpose. Before all else, your highlights should look uniform.
This means that they should not cross the lines within a paragraph and that you should not highlight half of the words or half of the phrases. Zooming in on the text and using a suitable tool (freehand or straight-line) can help you achieve uniformity.
Furthermore, choosing the wrong color may affect the text's aesthetics and make it unreadable. This is why we advise you to tweak your nuances while considering the font and background color. You can even use the fill color option to adapt the background to the existing font color before highlighting your text.
Finally, using some of the best PDF highlight tools that do not downgrade file quality can prevent you from fixing blurry text in PDFs or from having your file corrupted.
Why Can’t I Highlight Text in a PDF?
If the highlighter doesn’t work as expected, check these common causes:
- The PDF is password-protected. You can’t annotate password-protected or encrypted PDFs. If you have the password, unlock the PDF first, then highlight.
- The PDF has restrictions. Some files limit editing or commenting. You need to change PDF permissions if you own the document before highlighting text.
- The highlights don’t show after download. Some PDF readers don’t display annotations. Open the file in another reader, such as your browser.
- The highlight covers the text. Lower the highlight opacity or choose a lighter color.
- The file is damaged or too large. Try re-saving the PDF from its original program, and keep files under the upload limit.
How to Remove or Edit Highlights in a PDF
If you haven’t downloaded the file yet, click the undo arrow in the top-right corner to step back. Otherwise, use one of these two methods:
- Select and delete: Pick the Select tool, click the highlight, and press Delete or click the remove button.
- Eraser: Open the Draw menu, choose the Eraser, and click or drag over the highlight.
To edit a highlight, select it and adjust its color and opacity in the annotation menu, or erase it and highlight the text again in a different color.
Keep in mind that PDF editing and annotating are different. Highlights mark text without changing it. To change the wording itself, use a PDF editor or convert the file to Word first.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to highlight text in PDF online helps you read, study, and review documents faster. Whether you use an online annotator or your browser, the process is simple: choose the highlight option, mark the key parts, and download your file.
To get the best results, keep your highlights short, use colors consistently, and check the finished document before you share it.
How to Highlight Text in PDF FAQs
#1. Can I highlight multiple sections of text in one PDF?
Yes. You can highlight as many sections as you like, on any page of the same PDF. Just keep dragging the Highlighter over each part of the text. Our online annotator has no page limit for annotating, only a 500 MB file size limit.
#2. How do I highlight text in a scanned PDF?
To highlight text in a scanned PDF, you can use online PDF annotation software tools like pdf.net. You can also convert your scanned PDF file to Word with the OCR technology and add highlights after conversion.
#3. Can I change the color of the highlight in PDF.net?
You can change the color of the highlight in pdf.net by loading your document, selecting the parts of text you want to change, and changing its border color and opacity with this online software.
#4. Why can't I select text in a PDF?
Most often the PDF is password protected, restricted, or damaged. To fix this, unlock protected files if you have the password, or try re-saving the PDF.
#5. Will my highlights show in other PDF readers?
Usually, but not always. Some PDF applications don’t support standard markups and highlights, so check the downloaded file in the reader your audience will use.