Highlighting Text Not Working Correctly

[Glenn2686370728tk]

I just upgraded to Acrobat Pro.  When I try to highlight text, it only draws a box around the text in the selected color rather than highlighting the text itself.   The example below shows what happened when I tried to highlight "false claims".

I didn't see any option to set a background color.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[ls_rbls · Accepted solution]

Hi @Glenn2686370728tk ,

Based on your screenshot, it looks like when you mention "trying to highlight text," you're actually accessing the Comment Tool and utilizing the Drawing Tools.

In this scenario, if you choose the Rectangle option from that menu, it will create an outline around the area of the text that you select when you hover the mouse pointer over it.

Would you mind describing in a little more detail what actions or steps are you performing when you try to highlight text on that document?

Normally, you should be able to highlight portions of text by long-pressing the left button of your pointing device and keeping it pressed as you move it  across the word(s) that you want to highlight in a line of text or paragraph.

Then as you release the left button of your pointing device, the slected word(s) will remain temporarily highlighted in light-blue color (to indicate the selection made); right-clicking with your pointing device on that selection will pop up a context menu; selecting "Highlight" from that context menu will execute the desired action.

If that is what you are already doing, Is this happening on Microsoft Windows or macOS?

Also, assuming that the text that you are trying to highlight is the product of a scanned document, did you employed character recognition on that scanned page? (just curious)

[ls_rbls · Accepted solution]

Hi @Glenn2686370728tk ,

Based on your screenshot, it looks like when you mention "trying to highlight text," you're actually accessing the Comment Tool and utilizing the Drawing Tools.

In this scenario, if you choose the Rectangle option from that menu, it will create an outline around the area of the text that you select when you hover the mouse pointer over it.

Would you mind describing in a little more detail what actions or steps are you performing when you try to highlight text on that document?

Normally, you should be able to highlight portions of text by long-pressing the left button of your pointing device and keeping it pressed as you move it  across the word(s) that you want to highlight in a line of text or paragraph.

Then as you release the left button of your pointing device, the slected word(s) will remain temporarily highlighted in light-blue color (to indicate the selection made); right-clicking with your pointing device on that selection will pop up a context menu; selecting "Highlight" from that context menu will execute the desired action.

If that is what you are already doing, Is this happening on Microsoft Windows or macOS?

Also, assuming that the text that you are trying to highlight is the product of a scanned document, did you employed character recognition on that scanned page? (just curious)

[Transient_Power8349]

I'm having the same issue with the highlight tool, not the rectangle option you suggest. Opacity is 100% and the box is empty. Attached are two snippets - before with the highlight filled in, opacity 60%. The other is current with opacity 100% and highlight box empty.

[ls_rbls]

Hi @Transient_Power8349 ,

Would you be able to share a copy of this file with no sensitive data on it?

Also, is this happening with every PDF or with just that particular document?

[Transient_Power8349]

It's with any PDF...company document, office doc converted to pdf, publicly available doc (i.e. FAA circular 90-120). I submitted a support ticket and we'll see what they discover/change. 

[Transient_Power8349]

Running a repair on the application resolved the problem. 

[AnandSri]

Hello @Transient_Power8349

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. 

We're glad to hear that running the repair fixed the problem for you. For future reference, please ensure that you have the latest build of the application installed along with the updates of the operating system. To check details of the app's available updates, refer to this article: Release Notes Home.

Please feel free to reach out if you need any assistance.

Thanks,
Anand Sri | Acrobat Community Team
Meet Acrobat Studio

[kevin_4931]

I'm having a problem highlighting. It workds for some pdf's and for others it doesn't work. These pdf's are academic articles, if that helps. Cna you please provide some assitance? Thank you 

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello @kevin_4931

I hope you are doing well, and thank you for reaching out. Could you please share more details? Are you on a Mac or Windows machine, and what is the OS version? 

• Check if text is selectable

  • Try selecting text with the cursor.

  • If you can’t select individual letters or words, the PDF likely needs OCR.

• Run OCR (Make the PDF searchable)

  • Open the file in Acrobat.

  • Go to All tools > Scan & OCR > Recognize Text.

  • After OCR completes, try highlighting again.

• Check document permissions

  • Go to Menu> Properties > Security.

  • Ensure that “Commenting” is allowed.

• Use highlighting for scanned pages

  • After OCR, use the Highlight tool from the All Tools> Comment menu.

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20997. Planned update: December 9, 2025. Check for any pending updates by navigating to Menu > Help> Check for Updates. Install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again. If OCR isn’t possible, you can use Drawing Markup tools (like rectangles with transparency) to mark text visually.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[kevin_4931]

Hi, I actually got it working by saving it to my google drive and then opening it from there and that worked. So I'm good. Thank you for your assistance. 

[AnandSri]

Hello @kevin_4931

I am glad that it worked for you. Thank you for your time and cooperation. Please feel free to reach out if you need assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.