How to Highlight Text in a PDF Document

Using Adobe Reader DC

Open a PDF document in Adobe Reader. Do so by opening the red Adobe Reader app with the stylized, white A icon. Then click on File in the menu bar at the top of the screen, click on Open..., select the PDF document you want to type on and click on Open. If you don't already have Adobe Reader, it's available for free from get.adobe.com/reader and can be used with Windows, Mac, and Android operating systems.

Click on the highlighter tool. It's the marker icon on the right side of the toolbar at the top of the window.

Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.

Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.

Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.

Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu. Doing so saves your highlighting.

Using Preview on Mac

Open a PDF document in the Preview app. Do so by double-clicking on the blue Preview icon that looks like overlapping snapshots, then clicking on File in the menu bar and Open... in the drop-down menu. Select a file in the dialog box and click on Open. Preview is Apple's native image viewer app that's automatically included with most versions of Mac OS.

Click on the highlighter tool. It's the marker icon in the right-center of the toolbar at the top of the window. To change the color of the highlighting tool, click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the marker icon and click on the color you prefer for highlighting.

Position the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight.

Click and hold, then drag the cursor across the text.

Release the click when you are done. The text is now highlighted.

Click on File in the menu bar and Save in the drop-down menu. Doing so saves your highlighting.