How to highlight in solid color instead of a circle around the text?

[An5FE6]

Hello everyone!

I just found that the highlighting tool is working differently recently on my computer. It usually highlights the text with solid colors, like in pic 1. But now it can only highlight the text with a circle around the text, like in pic 2. I wonder if anyone has the same problem and how to change it back.

Thanks!

Pic 1

Pic 2

[try67]

Does it allow you to select each letter individually, or can you only do a "free form" selection?

[An5FE6]

I can select each letter individually.

[Document Geek]

That looks too precise to be the freeform highlighter tool. Indeed, it looks like the regular highlighter tool is behaving unusually. I'm not experiencing that same behavior.

What version of Acrobat are you using? 

[An5FE6]

I'm not sure how to check its version. It seems to be "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (20.012.20048).

[Thom Parker]

Looks like either some of the Highlight property defaults are set improperly, or it's a bug in Acrobat. Can you post a file with the hollowed out highlight?     

[An5FE6]

I'd love to, but it seems I cannot upload a file to this comment area... Any idea of how I can share it?

[try67]

You can attach it to the original message using the tiny paperclip icon at the bottom when you edit it, or upload it to a file-sharing website (like Dropbox, Google Drive, Adobe Cloud, etc.), generate a share link and then post it here.

[An5FE6]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yh1Wn445_B0M2rWsIzy3RPM6x2ljSIxT/view?usp=sharing 

Try this link! But in the google drive, the highlighting looks different than in Adobe reader... Let me know how it appears on your computer. Thanks!

[Thom Parker]

On my system on both Reader and Pro, the highlights all look normal and have normal properties. 

There must be something wonky with the Acrobat install on your system. 

[An5FE6]

Alright. Thank you! maybe I should try to reinstall it.

[Thom Parker]

Try a repair first. You could also try rebooting your system, that used to be the universal fix. A full reinstall is painful. 

Good Luck.

[An5FE6]

Will try it. Thanks!

[arvindy]

Hi,
We tried but not able to reproduce the issue in-house.
Could you please provide the following info?
-Does it occur with all files or specific to some files?
-Is it always reproducible or intermittent?
-Is it possible to provide some sample files ?

Regards,
Arvind

[planttax]

Not OP but experiencing the same issue. Not specific but rather occurring with all files opened in adobe reader. So far it has been always reproducible, though this appears to be a new issue because last week it was working fine. Attached two sample files in which the highlights appear to be circles in my version of adobe, as well as a screen capture so you can see how it looks if it doesn't show the error in those files. 

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:063e303e-5c78-4c98-8ccb-3fd99eec68a5

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:545ac94e-7ce5-42fb-96d0-118a1cfe96a7 

[planttax]

Also it is functioning normally on my Lenovo laptop but not on PC

[An5FE6]

Hi Arvind,

Thanks for reaching out.

Yes, it occurs to all the documents I open in Adobe and has been like this since I posted this issue. The previously highlighted areas are shown normally in a solid color, but when I want to create new highlights, they are all in circles.

You can try this document to see the issue - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yh1Wn445_B0M2rWsIzy3RPM6x2ljSIxT/view?usp=sharing 

Thanks!

[defaultkjq9pm36d5bl]

Hi,

I have the same problem. Any solutions yet? Tried to repair installation, it did not help. It's really annoying, as this "highlight" is not really helping me see any part of the text better...

[defaultkjq9pm36d5bl · Accepted solution]

Hi again - as I wrote this comment, it started working again. The only thing that I did in between was to log in to Adobe, in order to post here. Maybe that's the problem? Have you tried logging in? 

[arvindy]

Hello,

I tried in signed-in/signed-out state, works fine for me in both cases.

Regards,

Arvind

[Arash2236152261z0]

Yes! it's really funny, but I was signed in, so I signed out and then signed in again and the highlighting is back to normal! Thanks.

[An5FE6]

Hi! Thanks for the reply. I tried to log in and it works! Now it has solid highlighting as normal.

[Thom Parker]

That sounds like a bug to me. 

[TOGIII]

Same problem, balloon highlights, Help; Check for Updates; Install updates; restart with or without signing in. Fixed it.

[kathy_inga]

I had the same issue.... i quite out of Adobe Acrobat and restarted it was working properly again.