You're reading a PDF and you need to mark important text. You could print it and use a real highlighter, but that's wasteful. You could copy the text into a document, but that's slow. Or you could just highlight it right in the PDF.
Why highlight PDFs?
- Study: Mark key concepts in textbooks and articles.
- Review: Highlight important sections for later reference.
- Collaboration: Share highlighted documents with colleagues.
- Research: Mark quotes and references for papers.
How to highlight text in a PDF
- Open PDFly's Highlight PDF tool.
- Upload your PDF.
- Click and drag over the text you want to highlight.
- Choose your highlight color — yellow, pink, green, blue, or purple.
- Download your highlighted PDF.
Tips for effective highlighting
- Use color coding: Use different colors for different types of information.
- Highlight sparingly: Too much highlighting defeats the purpose.
- Review your highlights: Go back to your highlighted sections for quick review.
- Combine with notes: Add notes alongside highlights for context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I remove highlights later?
Yes — most tools let you undo or clear highlights before saving.
Can I highlight scanned PDFs?
Yes — highlights work on any PDF, including scanned documents.
Do highlights affect PDF quality?
No — highlights are added without changing the original content.