Not able to highlight text using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC on Windows 10

[marilouneko]

Ok so, there is a freehand highlighting tool, and one for text.

My problem is that Adobe Reader wronfully analyses the PDF: it's a scan, but instead of showing me the freehand highlighting tool, it shows me the one for recognized text, but then it does not recognize any text, so i'm left not being able to highlight anything at all.

Is there a way to change from freehand highlight to text highlight??? pleaaaase i need this. Or any solution other than converting the PDF to text because i'm a poor ass student and i can't afford to pay every month.

I'm working on windows 10 and i have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Thanks!

[Title Edited by Moderator]

[Amal.]

Hi there, 

We are sorry for the trouble. As described above, you are not able to highlight the text on a scanned document.

We tried to reproduce the issue on our end, and its working fine. Would you mind sharing the workflow or steps you are doing to highlight the text?

What is the version of the Adobe Reader DC installed? To check the version of the application please use the link : https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/identify-product-version.html

Make sure you have the latest version 19.21.20056 installed. Go to Help > Check for Updates.

Have you got the scanned document from other user or have you created the scan document? If you created the scan document, what is the workflow or steps you did?

We are here for help, just need more information

Regards

Amal

[marilouneko]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, i have the latest update of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. To highlight the text, i simply press the highlighting tool, then click+drag the mouse wherever i want to highlight. 

The cursor automatically appears round (freehand) or square (for text) according to the type of document. However it appears like the wrong cursor appears sometimes, and so the wrong tool. I use documents from other people, either from online research or teacher submissions.

Let me know if there is any other information I can provide you with.

Thanks,

Marilou

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing the details. As described,  'it appears like the wrong cursor appears sometimes, and so the wrong tool'

Would you mind sharing the screenshot or a video recording of the same for a better understanding of the issue?

Please try the following steps and see if that helps

• Try to repair the installation. Go to Help > Repair Installation. 

If it still doesn't work , try to rest the preferences to default. Use the steps provided in the help article here (https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-default/td-p/4792...)

Let us know how it goes.

Regards

Amal

[marilouneko]

Hello again, 

Here's a screen recording of the problem. I tried to repair the installation, but it did not fix the problem. However i tried to find the ''preferences'' folder and i was not able to with the instructions you gave me. Here's a screenshot.

Wainting for your answer for the next step!

Thanks,

Marilou

[Amal.]

Hey Marilou

Thank you for sharing the video recording, it makes it much easier to understand the issue.

It seems like you have a scanned document. A scan is just an image of the piece of paper with no real text to select or highlight. For more information you may please refer to a similar discussion here: https://answers.acrobatusers.com/Why-won-t-highlight-text-work-q218508.aspx

Let us know if you need more help.

Regards

Amal

[marilouneko]

Hi Amal,

Yes it is a scanned document, but how come can I use the freehand highlighting tool on some scanned documents and not others? Shouldn't the freehand highlighting tool switch on automatically when there is no ''real'' text to highlight?

Thanks,

Marilou

[Amal.]

Hi there

It seems like some of the pages are scanned document and some with the real text. Have you created the document or got from another user? 

Could you please share the PDF file with us via private message for further testing? Please click on the message icon on the top right corner of the screen to start the private message.

Thanks

Amal