Highlighting directly on top of your PDF is a great way to take notes.
Whether it’s for business, work, or personal readings, learning how to make a few lines or an entire paragraph of text on your PDF stand out can be a great way to stay organized.
Highlights in documents emphasize the contents or point out certain parts of the document. Just like you would use a marker to make text stand out on a piece of paper.
And whether you want to highlight PDFs on Windows, Mac, or on the go, below, we’ll cover all the different ways you can do so. Including different tools, key features, and other options to keep in mind.
In this article, you will learn:
- How to Highlight Text In A PDF
- Top 5 PDF Tools to Highlight Text On Windows
- Top 2 PDF Tools to Highlight Text On Mac
- Top 3 Free PDF Tools to Highlight Text Online
Keep in mind: You can highlight text in your PDF with all of the tools we'll mention, and you can also do it online for free.
But below, we're going to give an overview of each tool and you'll also learn their capabilities, beyond mere text highlighting.
Here's what you need to know:
How to Highlight Text In A PDF
When creating a document, you can highlight text and paragraph sections with the highlighter tool.
All you have to do is click on the ‘Highlight’ icon in a PDF viewer of your choice and then simply drag your mouse across the piece of text you want to color.

Simple, right?
Check out our full guide to highlight text in PDFs for a more detailed overview on how to edit, highlight, and change text color in your PDF files.
Below, we’ll explore all the different options and tools for highlighting text no matter your device.
Top 5 PDF Tools to Highlight Text On Windows
There are quite a number of PDF highlighters for Windows. Sadly, some PDF highlight tools reduce the document’s quality after applying the highlight.
To avoid using such highlight tools, this is a list of the top PDF highlighters for Windows.
1. Adobe Acrobat DC

Adobe Acrobat DC is a popular PDF highlighter that works for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.
Adobe Acrobat has a lot of advanced features for creating and editing documents. Among these features is a PDF highlighter tool with plenty of customizable features (like changing your PDF highlight color).
Key Features
- Adobe Acrobat helps to redact sensitive information in PDFs.
- It helps to add audio and videos to your PDF.
- You can fill out forms on Adobe Acrobat.
Pricing
- It is priced at $14.99/ month.
Pros
- Suitable for beginners with an easy-to-use and intuitive interface.
- Provides a feature to save and share a PDF on the cloud.
- It helps compress PDF file size.
Cons
- A bit expensive. There are cheaper options out there if you don’t need any advanced features.
2. Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is an excellent alternative to Adobe Acrobat reader. It helps you create and edit documents with its beginner-friendly interface. It has both the Windows and Mac versions.
Key Features
- It has a PDF highlighter tool.
- Foxit reader supports the social media share feature.
- It helps you annotate and fill out PDF forms.
Pricing
Foxit Reader is free, but other Foxit software can be priced depending on its function.
Pros
- It is multilingual.
- It creates small sized PDFs.
- Supports third-party app integration.
Cons
- It does not support some advanced features.
3. PDFelement

PDFelement is an encompassing software that helps create, convert, edit, highlight, and annotate PDF documents.
Key Features
- Helps to add notes, links, and tables to PDF.
- Create multiple PDF documents simultaneously.
- It can redact sensitive information in a PDF.
Pricing
Priced at $89.95 but allows for a free trial.
Pros
- PDFelement helps to batch convert files from one format to another.
- It has a spell check feature.
- It can create fillable forms.
Cons
- It does not support multiple or organizational uses.
- Not budget-friendly for beginners.
4. Nitro PDF Reader

Nitro PDF Reader is another document viewer that creates, views, and edits PDF viewers.
Nitro Reader has the essential document editing tools and a few advanced features. It supports password encryption and document redaction. And it works on both Windows and Mac devices.
Key Features
- Highlights and annotation tools.
- It has form filler and e-signature function.
- Can make any PDF searchable with text recognition technology.
Pricing
- One-time license for Windows devices- $179.99.
- One-time charge for Mac devices - $129.95.
You can still access some features in the free version.
Pros
- Nitro sign integrations.
- Plenty of unique and useful features if you’re working with PDFs at scale.
- Can save created PDF documents directly on the cloud.
Cons
- It does not have a mobile app.
- More expensive, not for everyone.
5. PDF Xchange

PDF Xchange is another competent document reader that makes it easy for users to view, create and edit documents. To get the maximum use of the software, you have to download PDF Xchange editor and PDF Xchange viewer. It is supported only on Windows devices.
Key Features
- PDF highlighter and scanning tool.
- It has integrated fonts and images that can be added to documents.
- Protects, reviews, and bookmarks the document.
Pricing
Between $49.99 - $129, depending on the package.
Pros
- Beginner-friendly interface.
- It has a digital signing feature.
- It can view multiple documents at once.
Cons
- It is relatively expensive with the need to pay for the subsequent upgrade.
- Customer support is not stable.