Complete Guide to Fix Highlight Function Not Working in Adobe Reader DC

A PDF file is the best file format to share a document across different devices without compromising the file quality. Also, it provides the facility to search & select particular text and highlight them easily. With the help of a highlighter tool, users can easily find their crucial information throughout the document. 

However, non-editable PDF's disable the highlight text option. This can be deeply understood by some real-life situations given in the next section. In order to resolve highlight function not working in Adobe Reader DC problem, we have also described a great solution.

Adobe Reader Highlighting Problems Faced by Users

Scenario 1: 

I am a medical student and recently downloaded some books having a .pdf format. But, when I tried to highlight important terms, I found that highlighter not working in PDF files. So, I searched on the internet, but no method is available that can enable highlight in PDF. Does anyone know what happens? Please help!

Scenario 2: 

I am currently using Adobe Reader DC with Microsoft Windows 8. I have some PDF documents. But, when I tried to select and highlight the text nothing happened. It is so annoying that I cannot highlight a single word. I thought that the highlight function not working in Adobe Reader DC & it is grayed out. Does any of the technical blogger know the solutions for this? If yes, then kindly suggest me.

As we see, basically, the highlighter tool does not work in case of non-editable or protected PDF files. In order to make the PDF file editable, users often face various kinds of issues. So, after considering the user’s situation, we are going to discuss a quick solution that resolves Adobe Reader highlighting problems.

A technique to Solve Highlight Function Not Working in Adobe Reader DC

One of the best PDF Protection unlocking software packages that can fix the above problem with ease is SysTools PDF Unlocker Tool. 

Actually, the tool loads your PDF file that is protected. After that, it provides the option to remove all types of restrictions. It majorly eliminates the print, copy, edit, comment, highlight, print restrictions from the PDF document.

Once the PDF file becomes unsecured, one can easily enable highlight in the PDF. The best part about the tool is, it completes the entire process within a few steps. And, the resultant file has the same format and information as the original final. Also, the utility is available for all Windows Operating system. Now, Let’s see how the software does all these things.

Step 1: How Tool Enable Highlight in PDF Documents

1. To begin the process, you need to download and install the software on your Windows system.

2. Now, open the tool and go to the Unlock option adjacent to Home icon.

3. In the following screen, navigate to Browse button and upload the PDF document that you want to make unsecured.

4. Once the software scanned the file, it will show all the applied securities in a detailed panel.

5. Next, you need to click on Browse to provide destination location for the resultant file.

6. Once you have done with the above steps, click on Unlock PDF button to make file editable.

After following the above steps users can easily fix the highlight function not working in Adobe Reader DC problem. The tool creates a PDF document that can be easily highlighted and to carry out the highlighting process. Follow the steps below.

Step 2: Highlight the PDF File

For Windows

1. Exit the software and launch Adobe Reader DC on the system

2. Once the application opens, click on File >> Open

3. Now, you need to open the unsecured PDF file that created by the software

4. Go to highlighter tool present on top of the application interface

5. Next, move the cursor to the text that you want to point out. After that, click and select the information and highlight it

6. Now, your text is marked as highlighted. If you want to save the file, then click on File >> Save option.

For Mac System

1. Open Preview Application on your system. It is a default program of macOS use to read PDF file.

2. Click on the File tab and select Open from the resultant drop-down menu.

3. Now, open the PDF file created by the tool in the Preview program

4. You can clearly see a marker icon present in the toolbar. In order to change the color of the highlight tool, click on down arrow and pick the color that you like. After that, select the tool

5. Now, go to the text that you want to highlight and select it.

6. Finally, your document is highlighted.

7. Next, click on File >> Save in order to save the modified PDF file.

Let’ Wrap Up

After understanding the Adobe Reader highlighting problems due to security restrictions in PDF files, we have discussed a reliable and cost-effective solution in order to troubleshoot the problem of highlight function not working in Adobe Reader DC. Also, with the help of software, users can easily enable the highlight function in PDF documents.