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marks58080857
Participant
August 28, 2018
Answered

Not able to highlight with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro with Scanned Document

  • August 28, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 12400 views

I have taken a chapter from my textbook and scanned it into my computer in PDF format from a flatbed photo scanner.  The document is in PDF format, not JPEG.  When I open the document in Acrobat Reader Pro on my iPad Pro I am not able to highlight with my Apple Pencil.  Trying to highlight with my finger does not work either.  I can tap on the pencil icon and draw lines.  I can tap on the comment icon and leave comments, but highlighting does not work at all.  Has anyone had a similar experience and have any ideas as to how this can be corrected?  Thank you. 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer AnandSri

    Hello Marks,

    We're sorry for the trouble you had while highlighting the PDF, sometimes the scanned PDF document does not contain a real text and this is the reason you are not able to highlight the text.

    Try selecting text instead of highlighting text.  If you cannot select text at all (no matter how hard you try), your PDF document is likely a scanned PDF.  You can only add Text Markup annotations (Highlight, Underline, Strikeout) to real text, not to the image of text.  You need to run OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to turn images of text into real text.

    You can also refer and try the suggestions from the following Adobe article which discusses the similar scenario highlighter

    Highlighting text using Adobe Reader on IPad ??

    Let us know how it goes and share your observation.

    Thanks,

    Anand Sri.

    [moving from Acrobat Reader to Acrobat Reader for iPhone and iPad ]

    2 replies

    N
    Naveen36051407a3pz
    Participant
    March 13, 2024

    Found a trick that solves this. Scratch(up and down) the apple pencil on the first letter(you want to highlight) to start highlighting. A simple bug usually takes 100 years for Adobe to solve. So best to use this trick.

    S_S
    Community Manager
    S_SCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    March 25, 2024

    Hi @Naveen36051407a3pz,

     

    Thanks for writing in!

     

    Have you tried using the feature "Recognize Text" on scanned documents? This should make the text scan file readable and editable.

     

    Hope this helps.


    -Souvik

    AnandSri
    Community Manager
    AnandSriCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    August 28, 2018

    Hello Marks,

    We're sorry for the trouble you had while highlighting the PDF, sometimes the scanned PDF document does not contain a real text and this is the reason you are not able to highlight the text.

    Try selecting text instead of highlighting text.  If you cannot select text at all (no matter how hard you try), your PDF document is likely a scanned PDF.  You can only add Text Markup annotations (Highlight, Underline, Strikeout) to real text, not to the image of text.  You need to run OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to turn images of text into real text.

    You can also refer and try the suggestions from the following Adobe article which discusses the similar scenario highlighter

    Highlighting text using Adobe Reader on IPad ??

    Let us know how it goes and share your observation.

    Thanks,

    Anand Sri.

    [moving from Acrobat Reader to Acrobat Reader for iPhone and iPad ]

    M
    marks58080857Author
    Participant
    September 23, 2018

    Thank you. I have been able to convert the images into real text and now I

    am able to highlight, underline and make notes on the documents.

    Thank you for your help.

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