Highlight text in a PDF in yellow, green, pink or blue and save it, free
Processed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Updated on 24 Oct 2026.Highlighting a PDF here works like a pen on paper: drag across the words and they are marked in yellow, green, pink or blue. The highlight blends with the page, so the text under it stays sharp and readable. Each one is saved as a real PDF highlight, so Acrobat, Preview and browsers list it in their comments and a colleague can still remove it. Nothing is uploaded.
Drop the PDF on the page; Highlight is already chosen, in yellow.
Drag across each line you want to mark; pick another colour for a different kind of point.
Tap a highlight to add a comment to it or delete it.
Press Save PDF, then Download.
Reviewing a document means marking it: a highlight on the figure that is wrong, a circle round a missing signature, an arrow to the clause that matters, a note in the margin. Annotate PDF does all of that on the PDF itself, in your browser.
Seven tools. Highlight marks words like a highlighter pen. Pen draws freehand with a mouse, a finger or a stylus. Box, Ellipse, Arrow and Line draw neat shapes. Note places a sticky-note icon with your comment inside. Marks come in 6 colours and 4 line widths, and the colour starts on the usual choice for each tool: yellow highlights, red pen, blue boxes.
Real annotations. Every mark is saved as a standard PDF annotation with its own appearance, the way Acrobat stores comments. Acrobat, Apple Preview, Edge, Chrome and Firefox show them, list them as comments, and let the reader reply to, move or delete them. The original page content is never changed, so the text stays searchable. To fix the marks into the page instead, run the result through Flatten PDF.
The rest of the article, and all 6 questions about Annotate PDF, are on the Annotate PDF page.
Drop the PDF on this page and page 1 opens with Highlight chosen. Drag across words to highlight them, or pick Pen, Box, Ellipse, Arrow, Line or Note and draw. Tap any mark to give it a comment. Press Save PDF and Download; there is no sign-up, watermark or upload.
Yes. Every mark is written as a standard PDF annotation (Highlight, Ink, Square, Circle, Line or Text) with its own appearance, which is how Acrobat stores comments. Acrobat, Apple Preview, Microsoft Edge, Chrome and Firefox show them, list them as comments and let the reader reply to, move or delete them.
No. Highlights are drawn with the Multiply blend, the way a highlighter pen works, so dark letters stay dark and only the paper around them is coloured. The words underneath remain searchable and selectable, and the original page content is not changed at all.
Seven: Highlight, Pen for freehand drawing, Box, Ellipse, Arrow, Line and Note for a sticky comment. Marks come in 6 colours and 4 line widths, and any mark can carry a written comment of up to 2,000 characters. Up to 500 marks can be saved in one file.
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