How to highlight, underline and strike through text in a PDF
Markup tools help you point out what matters when you review a document. Highlight (H), Underline (U) and Strikethrough (Shift+S) all work the same way: pick the tool, then select text.
Step by step
Pick a markup tool
Press H for Highlight, U for Underline or Shift+S for Strikethrough, or choose them from the tool rail.
Select the text
Drag across the words you want to mark to apply the highlight, underline or strikethrough.
Or use the mini toolbar
With any tool, select text and a floating mini toolbar appears with highlight, underline, strikethrough, redact and copy.
Remove a mark
Click a mark to select it and press Delete or Backspace, or press Ctrl/Cmd+Z right after adding it.
Tips
- Use strikethrough together with a comment to suggest deletions to a co-author.
- If you cannot select text on a scanned page, run OCR first.
- The mini toolbar's Copy button is a quick way to copy a quote from the PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Why won't my text highlight?
The page is probably a scan without a text layer. Run OCR (O) and then select the text again.
Can other people see my highlights?
Yes. Highlights are saved as standard PDF annotations and show up in other PDF readers. Flatten on download to make them part of the page.
Can I highlight an area instead of text?
Text markup follows selected text. To mark an area, draw a rectangle with Shapes (R) and use a light fill with low opacity.
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