How to Highlight an Area in PDF Documents

From reviewing contracts to marking up research papers and collaborating on project proposals, knowing how to highlight a PDF is key to effective document review. Highlighting helps you draw attention to important sections, organize information visually, and provide clear feedback to colleagues.

This article will tell you how to mark up an area with a highlight color in PDF with Foxit PDF Editor. You can use the “Area Highlight” command to mark important areas as a means of memory retention or for later reference. We’ll walk through basic highlighting techniques, advanced features, customization options, and troubleshooting common issues.

How to highlight text in PDF using Foxit PDF Editor:

To add an area highlight comment:

1. In the “Comment” tab, select “Area Highlight”. Then click and drag to make a shape you want to mark up.
2. (Optional) Change the appearance of drawing markup comments in the “Format” panel that appears when you choose a drawing markup tool.
3. (Optional) Double-click the markup to add a text message in the pop-up note for the markup.

How to highlight PDFs for accessibility and readability

When you highlight in PDF documents, you’re both marking text for yourself and creating materials that others will read and reference. If you want your highlights to be clear, accessible, and helpful to others, keep these tips in mind:

• Use consistent color coding. Rather than randomly selecting colors, establish a system that makes sense for your workflow. For example, use yellow for important information, green for action items, blue for questions, and pink for items that need follow-up.
• Add notes to provide context. A highlight shows where something is important, but a note explains why. Double-click your highlighted area to add a pop-up note with your thoughts, questions, or instructions.
• Consider color contrast for visibility. If you’re sharing documents with others, remember that not everyone perceives color the same way. Some people have color vision deficiencies, and some may be viewing documents on low-quality screens.

Advanced highlighting features in Foxit PDF Editor

Beyond basic area highlighting, Foxit PDF Editor offers several features that take your document annotation to the next level.

• Keep “Tool Selected” for batch highlighting. If you need to highlight multiple areas at once in a PDF, constantly re-clicking the “Area Highlight” button gets tedious. Instead, after selecting “Area Highlight” from the “Comment” tab, click “Keep Tool Selected” on the right. This lets you create multiple highlights in succession without reselecting the tool each time.
• Summarize Comments. After highlighting and annotating a document, you can generate a summary of all your comments. This creates a separate document or list showing all your highlights and their associated notes, making it easy to review feedback or create a comprehensive list of action items.
• Add custom stamps with highlights. For formal review processes, you can combine area highlights with custom stamps (like “Approved”, “Needs Revision”, or “For Discussion”) to provide clear, standardized feedback.

Common highlighting issues

Even with straightforward tools like highlighting, you’ll occasionally run into problems. Here’s how to solve the most common issues:

• Highlights disappearing across page breaks. Some users report that when they highlight text at the bottom of one page and continue onto the next page, the highlight on the second page disappears when they release the mouse. This is a known behavior in some PDF editors. However, Foxit PDF Editor’s highlight tool supports seamless highlighting across pages, allowing you to easily highlight continuous text across multiple pages without issues. Choose Foxit PDF Editor for a smooth and reliable PDF annotation experience.
• Can’t resize area highlights. Currently, Foxit PDF Editor doesn’t allow you to resize an area highlight after you’ve created it. If you need to adjust the size, you’ll need to delete the highlight and redraw it. While this can be frustrating for complex layouts, taking an extra moment to position your highlight carefully the first time saves the hassle of redoing it.
• Opacity too high or too low. If your highlights completely obscure the underlying content, reduce the opacity. If they’re so faint that no one notices them, increase the opacity. Finding the right balance depends on your document’s background color and your monitor’s brightness settings.

How to customize highlighted areas in Foxit PDF Editor

Customization options let you tailor highlights to match your specific workflow, whether you’re color-coding by priority, adjusting visibility, or adding detailed notes for team members.

• Changing highlight colors: After creating an area highlight, you can change its color by right-clicking the highlight and selecting “Properties”. In the Appearance tab, choose from preset colors or create a custom color using RGB values.
• Adjusting opacity: In the same Properties dialog, you’ll find an opacity slider. Dragging this left makes your highlight more transparent (good for when you want the underlying content highly visible), while dragging right makes it more opaque (better for drawing strong attention to an area).
• Adding and formatting notes: Double-clicking any area highlight opens a pop-up note where you can type detailed comments. These notes support basic text formatting, and you can edit them at any time.
• Setting default highlight properties: If you find yourself repeatedly adjusting the same settings, you can set your preferences as defaults. Right-click a highlight with your preferred color, opacity, and other settings, then choose “Set Current Properties Default”.

Color-coding examples for different use cases:

• Editorial markup: Pink for grammar issues, orange for fact-checking needs, purple for style improvements, yellow for strong passages
• Project management: Green for completed items, yellow for in-progress, red for blockers, blue for questions
• Research notes: Yellow for key findings, blue for methodological notes, green for quotes to cite, pink for contradictory evidence

Can I highlight multiple areas at once in a PDF?

Yes, you can highlight multiple areas at once in a PDF using Foxit PDF Editor’s “Keep Tool Selected” feature. After clicking Area Highlight in the Comment tab, click “Keep Tool Selected” on the right side of the ribbon.

How can I highlight a PDF if the text isn’t selectable?

If your PDF is a scanned document or image-based, traditional text highlighting won’t work because there’s no selectable text. However, the “Area Highlight” tool in Foxit PDF Editor works perfectly for these situations. Simply select “Area Highlight” from the “Comment” tab and drag a rectangle over the area you want to mark.

Make your PDF reviews more efficient with professional highlighting tools

As you can see, knowing how to highlight a PDF document effectively goes far beyond just clicking and dragging. With the right tools and techniques, highlighting PDF documents becomes a powerful way to organize information, collaborate with colleagues, and create clear, actionable feedback.

Ready to take your PDF annotation to the next level? Download Foxit PDF Editor and discover advanced highlighting features, customization options, and collaborative tools designed for professionals.