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Zeedonk
Participant
May 30, 2016
Answered

Acrobat DC Highlighting- How to highlight in a straight line...?

  • May 30, 2016
  • 12 replies
  • 139349 views

Hi all-

Our office recently installed Acrobat DC and we are becoming more familiar with it as we go...

For me, I receive large scanned document files that I have to read, highlight, redact, sometimes edit and comment.

I am able to use the highlight tool fairly easily, but is there a way to highlight in a straight line, rather than to have the shake of a hand make my document look unprofessional?  The highlighter gives me a circle for a cursor and it does not hug the text line at all.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Frank

    Correct answer try67

    The highlighter tool only works on actual text, it's not a free-form tool. If it allows you to select non-text or moves around when you move the mouse then it's not the highlight tool that you're using, but something else.

    12 replies

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    Thwack Digit
    Participating Frequently
    June 19, 2016

    If you are using the "comment" tool and have permission to edit then change to the "edit" tool and try highlighting from there.

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    May 30, 2016

    The highlighter tool only works on actual text, it's not a free-form tool. If it allows you to select non-text or moves around when you move the mouse then it's not the highlight tool that you're using, but something else.

    Jon_AK
    Jon_AK
    Participant
    June 3, 2016

    I am having the same issue as well.  Just last week the highlighter tool had a verticle bar as the selection tool and that would highlight in a perfectly straight line the same height as the text.  I didn't make any changes to the way Acrobat DC (latest version) operates but now the highlighter tool is a circle and wobbles all over the place making the document look crummy.  So...  there should be a setting to switch between free form and static but I cannot find it.

      ~graffiti
      ~graffiti
      Legend
      June 3, 2016

      Like try67 mentioned already, that is not the highlighter tool. In order to use the highlighter, you need a document with live text and not a scan.

      If you have no way to convert the scan to a text document, you can fake it a bit by using the "draw rectangle" tool. Draw your rectangle around the text,, select the rectangle, right-click and choose "properties then adjust the fill color and opacity until you get what you want. Then you can click "Make properties default" so you don't have to do that for every box.

      For the original commenter, it sounds like you have Acrobat if you can redact items. If that's the case, run Optical Character Recognition on the document. Then you can use the highlight tool.

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