Skip to main content
linseyf95755091
linseyf95755091
Participant
May 1, 2018
Answered

How to continuously highlight or underline text in a pdf on Adobe Acrobat?

  • May 1, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 18935 views

I am trying to highlight and underline text on a pdf opened in Acrobat, but the highlight tool only works on each individual word, so when I try to highlight an entire sentence or paragraph, each individual word is highlighted with blank spaces in between. It is annoying and jarring to read an entire paragraph like that. On some documents I can automatically highlight continuously but on others it is broken up. How can I adjust the highlight/underline tools so the whole sentence or paragraph is highlighted continuously without spaces in between?

What I don't want:

What I do want:

    Correct answer nagaguard

    I had the same problem of broken word-by-word highlights. I was able to achieve the contiguous highlight be redoing the optical character recognition (OCR) in the PDF. First, I ran the tool "Remove Hidden Information" to render the words unsearchable. Then, I ran the tool "Recognize Text".  Optionally, I also like to use the setting "Searchable Image (Exact)" when recognizing text. After performing these two steps, contiguous highlighting was achieved.

    4 replies

    J
    Jay C - Atlanta
    Participating Frequently
    December 2, 2024

    I have tried everything listed in the post as of Dec 2 2024.  The best I can get is continuous highlighting that still does not include highlighted spaces after periods, nor highlighted spaces even after a comma.  I have yet to check for other punctuation, such as a semi-colon.  I cannot even highlight a complete sentence if there is a comma in the sentence.

     

    At least a step in the right direction from ALL spaces having no highlighting.  It seems to have happened after 1) removing the preferences file as mentioned, 2) "sanitizing" the document using " Remove Hidden Information", then 3) running OCR using the setting "Searchable Image (Exact)".  I do not know if removing and causing the recreating the preferences file played a part.

     

    This is NOT what I what I want my document to look like nor what I expect from Adobe.

     

    Has anyone else here had results that simply highlight everything selected?  Do I have to hunt for an outdated version of Acrobat Pro?

     

    This is ridiculously unacceptable from Adobe and seems such a simple and fundamental issue - an issue that was never a problem in the past.  Thanks very much to everyone for all the help and guidance here.  I'll be checking back hopeful for information for a full solution - a solution to full highlighting that even rudimentary text editors have as the default.  -Jay Cordova/Atlant

      N
      nagaguardCorrect answer
      Participant
      December 15, 2023

      I had the same problem of broken word-by-word highlights. I was able to achieve the contiguous highlight be redoing the optical character recognition (OCR) in the PDF. First, I ran the tool "Remove Hidden Information" to render the words unsearchable. Then, I ran the tool "Recognize Text".  Optionally, I also like to use the setting "Searchable Image (Exact)" when recognizing text. After performing these two steps, contiguous highlighting was achieved.

        Ty-orh
        Ty-orh
        Participant
        April 5, 2024

        This did not work for my document.  This is so frustrating.  Adobe should fix this issue.  It has been a problem for awhile.

         

        Ty
        Amal.
        Amal.
        Legend
        April 10, 2024

        Hi there

         

        Have you tried the steps shared in the correct answer? Please give them a try and see if that works.

         

        Let us know if you experience any trouble and need more help.

         

        ~Amal

        matthewl85098861
        matthewl85098861
        Inspiring
        March 25, 2021

        I have the same problem.  I am reading a technical article that has full justification and the highlighting has gaps between words when they are spaced too far apart because of the full justificaiton.

         

        Adobe, please provide a solution for continuously highlighting across words, or at least answer@ [PERSONAL INFORMATION REMOVED PER POLICY - THIS IS AN OPEN FORUM, NOT ADOBE SUPPORT, PLEASE DO NOT POST PERSONAL INFORMATION].

         

        Thank you.

        Amal.
        Amal.
        Legend
        March 25, 2021

        Hi Matthewl

         

        Hope you are doing well and sorry for the toruble. As described the highlight is non continuous.

         

        Would you mind sharing the workflow/steps you did to create the PDF file?

         

        Please try to create the PDF from the File menu > Create  in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC application and check if that helps.

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

        Let us know if you experience any trouble and need more help.

         

        Regards

        Amal

        matthewl85098861
        matthewl85098861
        Inspiring
        April 15, 2021

        Hi Matt

         

        Sorry for the delay in response. I have checke the PDF file you have dhared and found that it is created using a non Adobe application. Upon tryinto reproduce the issue i was able to highlight the PDF properly.

         

        Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences to default as described in the help page https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-default/td-p/4792082 and check if that helps

        Also make sure you have the latest version installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

         

        Regards

        Amal


        Hi Amal,

        Thank you for your helpful advice.  I checked for updates and am up to date, so we are good there.  Also, I am reluctant to reset my preferences in fear of changing preferences that I do not want changed.  Thus, I will just live with the breaks between words when highlighting.

        Best regards,

        Matt

        Bernd Alheit
        Community Expert
        Bernd AlheitCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 1, 2018

        How did you create the file?

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices