Cannot seem to remove highlights from text

[Marty_Lush]

I have inherited a document library at my office.  There are tons of docs with highlighted text created by the previous person in charge of this library.  The documents have no security on them and they are not locked.  I'm running into a few problems:

1. In some documents I need to remove just the highlights from the text.  I'm not seeing any way to remove the highlights.
2. When viewing the comments in Acrobat XI Pro, the previous person's highlights are NOT showing in comment list even when I select "show call comments"
3. In some cases I need to delete the highlighted text also.  When I try deleting the highlighted text, the highlighted area still remains on the page (text gone).  So it looks like a yellow rectangle still there where the text used to be.  I cannot seem to find a way to select it.  Even when I reopen the doc, the leftover yellow highlight is still there.
4. The document properties show "PDF version 1.6 (Acrobat 7.x)".  I'm using Acrobat Pro XI on Windows to view and edit these docs.

Any help would be most appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

MARK

[try67]

The files were flattened and the highlights were therefore converted from comments to static contents. That will make it much more difficult to remove them. You can do so using the Edit Text & Images tool, or the Redaction tool, but you'll need to do it one at a time.

[Marty_Lush · Accepted solution]

Thank you Try67!

Your answer prompted me to do some more poking around and I found a possible solution:

If I go into Tools>Print Production and then select the Edit Object tool, I find that I can select the highlights as box objects left over after I delete the text.  This also lets me select the highlights as boxes that are behind the text I want to keep.

This may not be the most elegant or quickest solution but it seems to work ok.  And since I have to address each portion of the documents before removing the highlights, it isn't any slower for me.

Thanks for your help!.

MARK

[kellypardew]

I've tried multiple suggestions and this one is the only one to work so far. Thank you!

[Nancy25033353dtjn]

Thanks, Mark.  This was so frustrating and I finally was able to remove some highlighting that was stubbornly not budging!

Nancy

[SK SRRC]

Thank you Mark, your Tools>Print Production>Edit Object tool suggestion worked perfectly for me!  I only had a small amount of highlighting to deal with so it was quick and easy!

[Gary25919448edq2]

How do I remove yellow highlighted areas if I'm using an IPad or IPhone? I can't find anything to use from the menu. 

[defaultj9zju55isi94]

After a lot of tries, here is the easiest way I found to delete highlighting from text:

1. Right click on the highligting.  If the you do not see "Delete" as one of the options, select "Properties".

2. In the bottom left corner of the "Highlight Properties" popup UNCHECK the "Locked" checkbox.

3. Then CHECK the "Make Properties Default" checkbox. Select "OK"

Now right click on the highlighting.  You should now see "Delete" as one of the options.  Also, if you left click on the highlighting, you will see the Trashcan icon.  Clicking either Delete or the Trashcan should delete the highlighting, 

[try67]

The discussion above is about cases where this won't work, as the highlights have been flattened, not locked.

[Louise22458130i3wm]

Brilliant, thank you

[Maaike38181390bgky]

manually changing the properties for each highlight is the only possible way for me to delete them. there isn't a single delete option that is actually clickable. The default properties setting also doesnt do anything at all. everything is locked as soon as i highlight anything, which i cannot turn off... 

[defaultd4iw3tt1o36e]

I have been able to undo highlighting after saving a document. 

1. Go into Edit PDF

2. Select the text you wish to unhighlight.

3. Right click and choose properties.

4. Left click on the coloured square, which will appear as the highlight colour (in my case yellow).

5. Select white as the colour. This will revert to normal text (it does not whitewash it as I thought it might).

There was no need to revert to default, or anything else in this method.

[LilAnne5DB9]

EASY WAY - Click on the Highlight tool to select it.  Right click on the Color, change it to WHITE then select to highlighted text you don't want highlighted. It removes the highlight. SAVE the document, then change the highlight back to the color you want.

[meshep]

There are Action Wizard tasks for deleting highlights from PDFs.  If you go into Action Wizard, make a New Action.  Go to more tools and then select 'Execute JavaScripts' and click the plus sign.  Then on the right side click 'Specify Settings' and paste the code below into the box.  Uncheck the 'Prompt User' setting.  Click save and give the command a name like "Delete All Comments", and click save once more.  Then run the command from the 'Actions List'.  You will be prompted to proceed as this action cannot be undone.  

/*Delete All Comments, Annotations, and Markups */

if( app.alert({
cMsg: "Are you REALLY, sure you want to remove all annotations, comments, and markups from this PDF?\n\nClicking 'OK' will remove all annotation, comments, and markups and save (overwrite) the existing file.  If you want to save the comments in this file, click 'Cancel' and save your changes under a different file name.\n\n\tThis action cannot be undone.", // 2nd message to display
cTitle: "DELETE ALL ANNOTATIONS", // title for pop-up box
nIcon: 2, // question icon
nType: 2 // yes/no buttons
}) == 4) {

this.syncAnnotScan();
var tObj = app.thermometer;
var annots = this.getAnnots();
tObj.duration = annots.length;
tObj.begin();



//DELETE ANNOTATIONS////////////////////////////
if (annots!=null){


for (var i=annots.length-1; i>=0; i--) {

tObj.value=i;
tObj.text ="Remaining comments: " + i + " of " + annots.length;
annots[i].destroy();


}
tObj.text = ""
tObj.end();
}

}

[jonwia]

How can this be so difficult, yet such an easy solution exists?

1. Open the text for editing.

2. left click on the text box in which the colored marking is present

3. move the text box (I used the down arrow and counted 5 clicks)

4. right click on the colored box, which will not have moved and then click on "delete".

5. move your text box back to its´ correct position (opposite of 3. above).

[Peter285182201iux]

Thank youfor this....so obvious when you think aboit it!

[foxtrod89]

aha... I knew it was due to overlaping issue. Text window overlaps highlited zone which is itself separate window...

[defaultogpmr1ffw102]

I tried removing highlights in Edit mode and it simply didn't work. So frustrating!

[try67]

They are probably comments, which means you can't edit them in the regular Edit Mode, as they are objects, not static contents.

[defaultogpmr1ffw102]

No comments, just text with a highlight. I waste so much time trying to negotiate Adobe files.

[try67]

Well, PDF files were not meant to be edited extensively once they are created (except for things like adding comments, filling in form fields, etc.), which is why it can be difficult to do so.

If you can share a sample file we could look into what type of object those comments are, and how they can be removed (if at all).

[yvonned13305855]

I am having the same issue - I've tried adding lines so that the yellow box is readily accessible and I simply cannot highlight the box and delete it.  Also tried "Navigation / Layers" and it isn't in a "layer."