Why You Can't Highlight Text in PDF Documents and How to Fix It

Highlighting text in PDF documents is useful for placing emphasis on important keywords and phrases, aiding readability, and helping readers navigate different sections of the document. Sometimes, users can't highlight text in PDF documents, and there could be a few different reasons for this. Read on to discover the solutions to these common problems with highlighting in PDFs.

Why You Can't Highlight Text in PDF Documents

There are a few different reasons why you might be struggling to highlight text in a PDF document. Whether you're using a document for study, work, or leisure, highlighting text is a useful feature that might not always be accessible, But there's good news! There are effective solutions to help you fix this problem. Just check the following reasons and solutions and fix the problem with the method for your case.

Reason 1: The Document is a Scanned PDF

The most common reason that you can't highlight PDF documents is because the document doesn't actually contain any real text. Instead, it contains scanned text, which is essentially an image of the text. In this case, you won't be able to highlight, underline, strikethrough, or edit this text in any way. You can use the below two methods to fix it.

Solution 1: Use OCR to Make Your Scanned PDF Editable

As your PDF is scanned or image only which cannot be highlighted, you can use the OCR technology to make it editable and then highlight. The tool that we recommend you use is that it is easy, accurate, and cheap to use. You can download UPDF here to test it and click this purchase link to buy the license if you feel this is what you need.

Here is the guide about how to use UPDF's OCR to fix the "can't highlight PDF" issue. Open the scanned PDF with UPDF, click on the "OCR" feature at the right side menu, and select document language, here, I select "English". Then, click on the "Perform OCR" and save the OCRed PDF.

Seconds later, the OCRed PDF will open in the UPDF. You can click on the "Comment" > "Highlight" to highlight the content. Now, cannot highlight PDF issue is fixed.

Solution 2: Use Area Highlight Feature to Highlight PDF

The PDF is scanned or image only so that you cannot highlight specific text. But if you only need to highlight some specific area, you can follow the guide below.

On Mac: You can click on the "Comment" > "Highlight", hold on to the "Shift" icon, and draw to do area highlight your PDF.

On Windows and Mac: You can also use the shape to do area highlights with UPDF on Windows and Mac. Just click the button below to download UPDF. Then, go to "Comment" > "Shape" > "Rectangle", select the fill and border color, adjust the opacity to the number between 20% to 50%, and draw to highlight the content in the PDF.

Also Read: How to Highlight Scanned PDF?

Reason 2: The Document is Secured or Protected

If you are not the author of the file, then there may be some protections in play that do not allow you to highlight the file. To keep the PDF document secure, the author or distributor may have disabled edits and comments, which means that those viewing and using the document cannot highlight text on it.

Solution 1: Contact the author of the PDF file and ask them to enable commenting on the document, or to send you a new copy of the document with editing enabled. Or you can let them send the password to you and you can use UPDF to remove the password by clicking on the "Protect Using Password" > "Remove Security" to enter the permission password and remove it. After that, you can go to "Comment" > "Highlight" to highlight PDF.

Solution 2: In case you are the PDF owner but you forget the permission password. No worry, you can use Ajoysoft PDF Password Remover to remove the permission password. Just download the software from the website, import the PDF with a permission password, and click on "Remove Password" to remove it. Once done, you can go to UPDF and open the PDF without a password and see if the "cannot highlight PDF" issue exists now.

Reason 3: Your PDF Viewer Does not Allow Highlighting

Another reason why you might be unable to highlight text in PDF files is that the PDF viewer that you're using does not allow highlighting. This might be because you need a paid version, the viewer is out-of-date, or the software may have some bugs.

Solution 1: Use a PDF viewer or editor with the commenting features you need, like UPDF. You can download UPDF today - the best PDF editor available for highlighting, commenting, annotating, and more. Use this cutting-edge platform as your staple PDF editor for work, study, or leisure. With a beautifully modern user interface and super-fast processing speed, it's the only tool you need for all your PDF editing needs.

Solution 2: You can update the software you are using to the latest version to fix the "cannot highlight PDF" issue. For example, if you are using Adobe Acrobat and have this issue, you can click on the "Menu" > "Help" > "Check for Updates". You can install the latest version if it has one.

Reason 4: The PDF Format is Not Correct

Sometimes, your PDF is in PDF format but some elements are not correct. For this case, you may need to convert it to the correct PDF format with printing features.

Solution: You can use UPDF to print to PDF as UPDF is free to use for this feature. Just download UPDF via the button below, open it with UPDF, click on "File" > "Print" > select "Microsft Print to PDF" as the printer. Then, click on the "Print" button to select the location to save and name it. When it is done, you can open the PDF and check if it can work again.

Reason 5: The Document is Corrupted

If you can't solve your PDF highlighting issue using any of the methods above, then your file might be corrupted. This is especially likely if you downloaded the PDF from an untrustworthy source.

Solution: If you can't highlight PDF documents, try downloading the file again from a different source, or contact the file author for assistance. Or you can follow the guide here to repair corrupted PDF and see if it can fix the "can't highlight PDF" issue.

Bonus Tip: An All-in-one PDF Editing Solution for Fix Unable to Highlight Text in PDF

If you frequently need to highlight text or make other annotations in PDF documents, then you may find a PDF editing software like UPDF to be a useful addition to your toolkit. You can click the button below and give it a try on your own.

Annotation

To highlight or comment on your PDF document you'll use UPDF's annotation feature. Using this can make your document more readable, making important parts of text stand out amongst the rest. You can annotate your PDF with stickers, stamps, signatures, and more using this handy tool. To know more about UPDF's annotating features, you can watch the video below

Editing

With UPDF software, you can edit any part of your PDF document including the real text, images, links, background, watermarks, headers, and footers. This means that you can change any elements of your PDF easily and quickly.

OCR technology

With UPDF's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, you can convert scanned PDF documents into real text documents, which will unlock editing and highlighting access. If you frequently scan documents from customers, colleagues, or friends and family, then you'll find this feature invaluable.

Compression and Conversion

Sometimes large PDF files are a nuisance to share or upload. It's often a good idea to compress or flatten your document using UPDF's advanced compression tool. You can also easily and quickly convert your PDF file to other popular formats like PNG and Microsoft Word.

UPDF AI

If you want to summarize, explain, or translate the text within your PDF document then look no further! UPDF Artificial Intelligence (AI) is your own personal assistant. This advanced feature can help you digest large blocks of information, summarize it for sharing, or translate it so you can share it internationally.

Conclusion

Now you're able to troubleshoot your highlighting issues with your PDF documents. Whether your PDF is password protected, scanned, or encrypted, you now have the knowledge to highlight text successfully. Your one-stop shop for all things PDF editing is UPDF. Download the UPDF software with a free trial today to unleash the power of PDF annotation, editing, AI, and OCR.