adobe acrobat standard 2020 - cannot highlight - tool settings

Report · Dec 27, 2020

OK....been a long-time Acrobat user (since 2000).....and upgraded from Acrobat X to Acrobat Standard 2020.
When I try to highlight a sentence or paragraph....unlike previous experience, the highlight tool captures a whole are....and creates a large vertical area.
Even when I set the document as "scan and OCR"....it doesn't work. Same weird result - the large vertical oval.
I have tried and tried...and even searched Google and YouTube....but all I get are instructions for Acrobat DC.
So...if someone has an answer, much appreciate it!
Happy Holidays!
John

Report · Dec 28, 2020

Please check for any pending updates of Acrobat Pro DC(if any) from Help>Check for updates and reboot the machine after the installation of updates.

You can also repair the installation files of Acrobat Pro DC from Help>Repair installation(only for Windows), Reboot the machine after the repair.

If the issue persists, please reset the preferences of Acrobat, to reset the preferences refer to How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to default.

If the issue is specific to one PDF, please check the PDF properties once from File>Properties>Security and see commenting is allowed or not. If it's a secured PDF, you will not be able to add comments.

You may also try to disable the Enhanced security option once only for testing purpose but enable it back after checking the functionality. To disable the enhanced security option, refer to Enhanced security setting for PDFs, Adobe Acrobat

If the issue persists, please use Acrobat cleaner tool to remove the Acrobat Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool - Adobe Labs Reboot the machine and install the Acrobat Pro DC from Download Pro or Standard versions of Acrobat DC, 2017, XI, or X

Report · Dec 28, 2020

Hi,
Thank you for your suggestions.

I am on Adobe Acrobat Standard 2020 (Windows 64-bit OS).

Have created (printed) the .pdf (more than one over the past few days) from Microsoft Edge on-line pages - various - Economist magazine, other news outlets, even during testing from a MS Word document. There are no security settings on any of the MS Word-source or .pdf documents.

Before posting here I did do the steps you recommended (repair, etc.)

I do not want to go with the DC subscription version as I paid $299 for the Standard 2020 version.

Thanks again...

John

Report · Dec 28, 2020

How have you created the document?

Report · Dec 28, 2020

Hi,

Thanks for your question...

The various .pdf files were created by: "Save As" and "Print" from MS Word (all updates from Windows 10) and the same with MS Edge (again, all updates) printing from various news websites.

The problem is with Adobe Acrobat Standard 2020....

As noted above, all suggested "repair" steps were taken prior to posting here.

Thanks...John

Report · Dec 28, 2020

Export the pages as TIFF images
Combine the TIFF images in a new PDF file
Run OCR on the new PDF file

Report · Oct 15, 2021

Hi Bernd. I'm having the same issue John is having, only mine is on scanned documents I receive. I'm using ADOBE ACROBAT STANDARD 2020 -- NOT Acrobat DC Pro or otherwise. I too paid $299 for my licensed version believing it would serve my purposes of receiving files, running Scan & OCR to enhance (clean up) the scan and to convert it to editable text. I get an error stating, "Acrobat has detected that this page doesn’t have editable text. If it was a scanned page, convert it to another format is in the export PDF tool."

When I scan a document using the Tools/Create PDF/Scanner/Recognize Text (OCR)/settings, the ONLY options are to select the language and "searchable image". It does NOT give the option to create editable text as advertised by the retailer I bought it from nor as Adobe describes it online.

This is a critical issue for my work. How may I use the program as depicted, or what settings do I use so I can enhance a scan and use the Recognize Text option? Again, I am NOT using Acrobat DC. I am using Acrobat STANDARD 2020.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Having to export the pages as TIFFs then converting them back to PDF is cumbersome and time consuming, not to mention it's not the way the program is supposed to work.

Report · Oct 16, 2021

Can you highlight text or not?

Report · Oct 16, 2021

I do not need to highlight text. That's not the problem I have.