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August 3, 2012
Answered

how the hell do you turn off "highlighting"? help function is utterly unhelpful!

  • August 3, 2012
  • 17 replies
  • 124873 views

how do you turn off highlighting so you can, for instance, copy text?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer barbarag11653730

Are you ready for this? I looked for the answer everywhere and I JUST found it (I had to make a friggin Adobe account so I could post here, so I hope it's useful to someone at some point!)

Two quick things: first, I'm working on a Mac, so it might be different for you, if you're not. Second, I'm more or less computer illiterate, so bear with me!

In the bar at the top of the screen the you see Adobe Reader File  Edit  View  Window  Help

Click on View to get the drop down menu.

One of the options should say Show/Hide. Hover over that to see the menu that pokes out to the side.

From there hover over Toolbar Items. Hover over that to see another menu that pokes out to the right.

In that menu you should see Select & Zoom. Hover over it for the next side menu.

You will see the option Select Tool (it's next to the little symbol that looks like the mouse pointer).

Click that!!

Hopefully at the tool menu above your Adobe document, you will see the same little symbol pop up (for me it's between the page count and the zoom). It looks like the mouse pointer. Click that and the highlight and/or comment thing should go away.

Hope it works for ya'll!! Good luck!

17 replies

Participant
October 7, 2022

Barbara, thank you for taking the time to post this. It worked for me! Cheers, Teresa

Participant
August 13, 2021

A simple undo function would fix most of the highlighting issues.   I cringe every time I have to make notes inside a file in adobe.  Oh, if you right click cell that you didn't mean to highlight, it will unhighlight if you click delete.  

Participant
April 24, 2020

Yes!  You saved my day!  Much love ❤️

Participant
April 12, 2020

Thank u

Participant
January 20, 2020

so i just discovered that i am not able to turf off highlighter.

what i did was close the adobe window, it asked if i wanted to save changes, i clicked no.

reopened the document in adobe.

selected the text i needed to highlight.

clicked on highlighter.

and done.

again for next text select text click highlighter.

this way it wont follow you through every word you accidently click on.

vonnebon
Participant
September 14, 2017

HI- Just hit ESC and it goes back to normal.

TomesOfTomes
Participating Frequently
November 30, 2017

Yep, The ESC key is the easiest way, but I just wouldn't have known without hitting it by accident after I had come here and found other methods. Then I came back just to make sure someone knew this, but it was already posted as an answer as well. Thanks vonnebon​!

Participant
April 12, 2020

yeah

 

barbarag11653730Correct answer
Participant
April 14, 2017

Are you ready for this? I looked for the answer everywhere and I JUST found it (I had to make a friggin Adobe account so I could post here, so I hope it's useful to someone at some point!)

Two quick things: first, I'm working on a Mac, so it might be different for you, if you're not. Second, I'm more or less computer illiterate, so bear with me!

In the bar at the top of the screen the you see Adobe Reader File  Edit  View  Window  Help

Click on View to get the drop down menu.

One of the options should say Show/Hide. Hover over that to see the menu that pokes out to the side.

From there hover over Toolbar Items. Hover over that to see another menu that pokes out to the right.

In that menu you should see Select & Zoom. Hover over it for the next side menu.

You will see the option Select Tool (it's next to the little symbol that looks like the mouse pointer).

Click that!!

Hopefully at the tool menu above your Adobe document, you will see the same little symbol pop up (for me it's between the page count and the zoom). It looks like the mouse pointer. Click that and the highlight and/or comment thing should go away.

Hope it works for ya'll!! Good luck!

Known Participant
September 15, 2017

I give you an A+ for Attitude Barbara!!

Participant
June 2, 2016

There are a lot of comments here for this question. This question may have already been answered. There is a "properties" tool that can be selected that allows you to only use the highlight tool once and then it turns off until you need it again. Right click on the highlighter icon and then select the Properties tool bar. Once that bar appears, there is a box that says "keep tool selected" that allows you to turn the highlighting tool off.

Participant
March 18, 2016

My question now is, how do I copy text that is already highlighted???

Chronarchs2
Participant
January 20, 2016

Attentiveness to users concerns is apparently not valued here.  Maybe I do need to cancel my subscription to Adobe as my husband has suggested.  As a handicapped user, usability is the up-most importance to me and it is clear, that is not an issue for Adobe.   Since you are taking the stance as their representative here and just want to argue instead of taking note of honest complaints and concerns, there is no point in my continuing.  This is clearly a problem shared by many users, I would think that would be something to be understood, not attacked, but, I was terribly mistaken.  I will not continue here but will write formally write to Adobe.

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 20, 2016

Just to clarify, I don't work for or represent Adobe.