How can i highlight a locked pdf document ?

Hi Adobe,

I've read this thread. Is it possible to introduce a way of annotating a 'Secured' document?

I understand why it is important for documents to be secured. People who create them need to be confident that it isn't possible for someone else to alter them, deliberately or accidentally, in a way which would distort the intended meaning.

But it is also important for people who receive and use those documents to be able to highlight passages. After all, that's why the highlighter (and other) tools are available. As more people turn to using PDFs on-screen rather than printing them out in hardcopy, that becomes more important. I'm a barrister so I often get legal documents which are 'Secured', but I then need to make my own annotations as I go along.

There is clearly a difference between altering a document in a way which could confuse people, and simply highlighting elements of that document. It must be possible to create a set of annotation tools which can be used on a 'Secured' document without the risk of confusion, whether by formatting the highlighting/notes in a particular way or by linking them to my account in the same way that MS Word shows who has edited a document with track changes enabled.

At the moment this is a serious functionality gap in Acrobat. Please could you find a way to sort it out?

Thank you

Freddy Simpson

If you are using Mac, open the file in Preview, highlight to your heart's content and then print or sending it as need it. It will save and the highlighting will be viewable when opened in Acrobat.

In Adobe Acrobat Reader DC two workarounds can be used:

1. Use a low opacity rectangle to cover the text:
   • Click on Comment icon to enable the tools.
   • Click on Draw Rectangle tool,
   • Click on Change Color tool, choose the color and set opacity to about 40%,
   • Click on Change Line Thickness tool and set to 0 pt,
   • Draw a rectangle around the text you want to highlight.
     
     

     If you are not satisfied with the color and opacity then right click the rectangle, click Properties and change its appearance.

     This will also highlight over the character itself and the effect is not as good as the real Highlight.
     
     

2. Print the PDF document as Image in a PDF file:
   • Open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and choose Print,
   • In (Windows OS) Print dialog box select the "Microsoft print to PDF" printer option, then click on Advanced,
   • In Advanced Print Setup check the box "Print As Image" and click OK.
   • In the Print dialog box click Print.
     
     The resulting file will be a PDF file not searchable but text highlight will be possible.

You can try to convert the file to word and later convert it back to pdf.

[link removed by mod]

That worked for me when the highlight option was blocked. 

Ok, understand thats protected. But. If I read a paper version I can also highlight simply with a highlighter pen. That is how people work through documents, protected or not. So maybe we can get a highlighter tool to highlight in protected pdf. Even if it is like a brush tool. This would not mean that we are changing the original document.

How do I unlock a locked PDF when I have the password?