Highlight tool not transparent and covers text.

Report · Oct 13, 2022

I've been using adobe acrobat pro on a windows pc for a few months now and the highlight tool had been working fine, and I assume, how it was intended. The properties have been set at 100% opacity the entire time but the text was still clearly visible behind the bright green color I use. However, recently I have been very frustrated because I did not change any settings and now my highlighter just covers up the text so it is unreadable. When I change the opactiy, the words become more visible as the opacity is lowered, but when the opacity is lowered, the color becomes very dull and almost unnoticable. This is clearly not how the highlight tool is supposed to work, since highlighters are obviously used to make certain text pop and attract eyes to that point. I do not want to lower the opacity because it was working fine at 100% opacity previously. My adobe acrobat pro is up-to-date, plus I have tried repairing installation and uninstalling then reinstalling the app and it is still not working correctly. Previously highlighted text looks perfectly fine still but this highlighter "glitch" occurs on every pdf that I open. The attachment I added shows numbers highlighted while it was working properly and how it is working now with the opacity starting at 100% and decreasing by 25% for the four that are clearly different. I would appreciate any suggestion that is not "lower the opacity".

Thank you.

Report · Nov 01, 2022

I am having this problem also. It worked perfectly a month ago. Now, I've got the same problem of highlighting covering up the underlying text. I contact support, and they just reinstalled Adobe Acrobat Pro. It works fine when the document is OCR'd, but doesn't when using the free form highlighting. This was not happening before! Please fix ASAP!

Report · Nov 07, 2022

I'm having the same issue as well and am glad to know it's not just me! I, too, use the highlight tool all the time so it's frustrating. I am hoping it will be resolved very soon.

Report · Nov 08, 2022

Im having the same problem.
I had it first on my desktop 2 weeks ago, didn't find any solution so went to work on my laptop which was fine (runing same version), but couple days ago had the same problem in my laptop also and its so frustrating.
tried deleting and re-installing but this courrupted some files on my desktop which made me cannot install acrobat on it again!

the selected highlighted text in the photo are new ones made now (left: 50% opacity, right: 100% opacity), while the upper 2 (100% opacity) was made before the issue. However, it works fine on actual text, it only covers texts inside pictures!

Report · Nov 11, 2022

Hi! I am having the very same issue. I also noticed that when I click, hold & drag across to select the text I want to highlight, the selection tool (which turns into a circle/oval tool) seems to cover the text in white so the text seems to disappear until I release the click. Then the text becomes visible again, but sort of grayed out due to the highlighting which turns muted and not the 100% opacity as I expected. I also use this tool all the time and this is frustrating.

Report · Nov 17, 2022

Hi All,

Thank you for being patient.

We have released an optional update that addresses this issue.

Please update the application and check if you still experience the same behavior. In the application, go to Help > Check for updates.

You may refer to the following page for more information on the latest updates: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Report · Nov 17, 2022

IT WORKED! THANK YOU!!

Report · Nov 17, 2022

Finally! Thank you.

Report · Nov 17, 2022

Super!!!

Thanks,

Dave

Report · Nov 17, 2022

It worked for me! Thank you!

Report · Nov 17, 2022

It works!!! Yeah. Please don't break it again.

Report · Jan 29, 2025

I have this problem. I am running Continuous release version 2024.005.20320

When I highlight text in Acrobat Pro, the resulting file will show as solid, non-transparent highlight when viewed in Preview.

Is this still a problem?

Is there a setting I can adjust to correct this?
Thank you.

Dave

Report · Apr 17, 2024

Can't believe this still happens in 2024, after I unshared the document from cloud.

It leaves me with no choice but to swap back to Edge for editing. Such a shame.

Report · Jan 29, 2025

It is like a frustrating issue, especially when it was working fine before. Have you tried checking if there are any conflicting settings or preferences within the "Accessibility" settings or graphics card drivers? Sometimes these can impact how highlights display. It might also be worth testing on a different device or profile to see if the issue persists Read more.

Report · Mar 04, 2025

Hi @Nolen_Alian9409,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble, and the delayed response.

We made many stability and performance enhancements with the subsequent releases.

Could you update the app to the latest version (2024.005.20241) and let us know if the issue is fixed for you?

To do so, go to Menu-> Help-> Check for Updates.

-Souvik