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Can't select block of text

Community Beginner ,
Jul 29, 2015 Jul 29, 2015

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I have updated to Adobe Acrobat DC and can no longer select blocks of text in pdfs. I have the select tool active, I am trying to select a whole sentence to highlight. I am using a pdf in which I have previously been able to perform this function. I am trying to place the curser at beginning of sentence and drag to the end of the sentence to select whole sentence before I highlight it.  I can no longer do this WHY? It's driving me mad.

Hoping someone can help

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

New Here , Jan 25, 2018 Jan 25, 2018

Hi All

I had exactly the same problem but I believe I found a solution!

Windows 10 64-bit,  Adobe Reader DC

Problem: I suddenly discovered that could not use the cursor to drag cursor over text within a PDF either. This prevented me from, e.g., highlighting, selecting and inserting a digital signature (which is executed by drag command).

And yes:   Select tool ACTIVATED.  Copy text ALLOWED in document security settings.

For weeks I tried all kinds of things - reinstalling, repairing. What bugged me i

...

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 30, 2015 Jul 30, 2015

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Hey lindad34092833,

We would help you definitely.

I suppose you are using Acrobat Reader DC and not Acrobat software as both are different software.

Also, confirm that you have selected the Select tool sc33.pngand not hand tool for the same.

Right-click anywhere in the PDF document and choose Select Tool, you must be able to select the text again.

Please ensure that you are trying to select the original text and not the images of text which cannot be selected.

Try repairing Reader from the Help menu and check.

If the issue persists, try uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe Reader DC version from the below mentioned link:

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Install for all versions

Let me know how it goes.

Regards,

Anubha

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 30, 2015 Jul 30, 2015

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Thank you. I am using adobe acrobat Reader DC. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it already.  I am using the select tool which looks like an arrow, and not the hand tool. I have tried moving from the select tool to the hand tool and back again to make sure it is definately in the select mode.

I am trying to select the original text and not a picture of the text.  I have double checked this in a number of pdfs and have tried to use select in freshly downloaded pdfs as well as pdfs I have saved on my computer.  The saved pdfs I used were ones where I had already selected and highlighted in my older version of reader, but can no longer

Linda

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 30, 2015 Jul 30, 2015

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Hi lindad34092833,

Can you share a link to the file so that we can replicate the same at our end?

Moreover, Are you able to select and highlight text in other pdf files or do you face the same issue?

Regards,

Rahul

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 30, 2015 Jul 30, 2015

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I have the same issue with every psf file I try to highlight. I study and read/highlight lots of PDFs. Since AR DC I havene't been able to. I can double click on one word at a time and highlight this, but you may appreciate this is far too slow for my purposes.

I have the pdf saved on my computer and can't seem to paste it in to here. How do I do that?

I'm not sure that you will be able to open this link, you may need special permissions

Individual differences in ideological attitudes and prejudice: Evidence fro...: EBSCOhost

Linda

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LEGEND ,
Jul 31, 2015 Jul 31, 2015

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What is your operating system?  What is your Reader DC version?

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 31, 2015 Jul 31, 2015

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Windows home premium 7

2015 Release, Version 2015.008.20082

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New Here ,
Sep 03, 2021 Sep 03, 2021

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Perfect answer. Thanks for sharing (btw it's 2021 and I see someone asked this in 2015, I'm 6 yrs late!)

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Community Expert ,
Jul 31, 2015 Jul 31, 2015

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Go to Edit - Preferences - General and make sure that "Touch Mode" is set to "Never".

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 31, 2015 Jul 31, 2015

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Tried that, it made no difference

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New Here ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

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Worked for me, thank you

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 31, 2015 Jul 31, 2015

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Note for old players!  Found out today that the insert key on my laptop had been deselected, selected it and problem solved. (Computers no longer have any indicators that insert is on or off).

Do I feel silly? A small amount.

Thank you to all who tried to solve my problem, much appreciated.

It was this simplest of solutions. Occam's Razor comes to mind.

Linda

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New Here ,
Dec 18, 2019 Dec 18, 2019

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Thank you so much for sharing this!

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New Here ,
Oct 28, 2021 Oct 28, 2021

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Thank you soooo much !!!

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 19, 2022 Jan 19, 2022

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Thank You

 

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 31, 2015 Jul 31, 2015

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It's stopped again. Maybe it's something wrong with my hardware?

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New Here ,
Mar 17, 2016 Mar 17, 2016

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The "insert" key worked for me.  Thanks a lot.

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New Here ,
Mar 17, 2016 Mar 17, 2016

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No, it stopped again.  "insert' key is no longer working.

Solution:  install "Foxit pdf reader" ... unfortunately.

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New Here ,
Jun 07, 2016 Jun 07, 2016

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Hi all
I've got the same issue, I'am using windows 10 64 bit, French version for Adobe reader DC.

We are in June 2016 and it is not solved yet, hey Adobe team ! ?

Regards

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New Here ,
Sep 10, 2016 Sep 10, 2016

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Yep. Sept 2016 and still no fix. Adobe Reader isn't a super high tech program. There's not a lot of things you can do with it. But there's not a lot of things you NEED to do with it. However, one VERY important thing is to be able to select text from the PDF document! Without this function this software is USELESS to me. I have invested in another reader (that edits as well).

What the heck!?

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New Here ,
May 17, 2022 May 17, 2022

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The tricks of changing the Security (Enhanced) didn't work for me and I think I may have just found a solution. In Acrobat DC, the toolbar along the right side shows a "Scan and OCR" tab. Click on that and a toolbar will come up, then click "Recognize Text"...."In this File" and click the "Recognize Text" button. Give it a second to load and text can now be selected.

I have been unable to solve this problem for years. Didn't have this issue on my laptop, but my desktop wouldn't recognize the text....outside my pay grade as to why that is.

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New Here ,
Aug 22, 2022 Aug 22, 2022

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This did the trick - thank you!!!!

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New Here ,
Feb 05, 2024 Feb 05, 2024

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LATEST

in large files, this takes a really long time, but may be worth if you're wanting to use these files over time as we are, and extract/abstract a lot of information from them (and for non-technical reasons, can't provide them forms to fill out which would make extract so much easier).

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New Here ,
Sep 26, 2016 Sep 26, 2016

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I too have had to give up on Adobe Acrobat DC after a frustrating session trying to select a block of text. I've switched to foxit.

The weird thing is that sometimes I can select blocks of text, but most times I can't. For example, I opened a pdf just now and was able to select a block of text with my mouse over 2-3 lines no problem after the pdf had been opened 10 minutes.. But I tried again a couple seconds later and suddenly it's gone back to being unable to select any text (by clicking and dragging the mouse cursor). No changes were made to any settings or options. No toobar icons were clicked. It just suddenly stopped working. I can select a word or a whole line by double-clicking, but that's no good for my needs.

I'm using a WIndows 10 PC. Never had this problem on WIndows 8 with earlier versions of Acrobat.

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New Here ,
May 04, 2017 May 04, 2017

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I believe it's the security settings of the document.  I can select text on many but others like Google I can't select any.  You will have to check the properties of the document

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