Highlighting is a valuable tool for drawing attention to key information within PDF documents. It's often used in academic papers, legal documents, and business reports to emphasize important points and facilitate review. However, there are times when removing these highlights becomes necessary, such as when sharing a clean, unannotated version of the document or when the highlights are no longer relevant.
Need to Remove Highlights?
Use BreezePDF to remove highlights quickly and easily, completely free.
Remove Highlights Now →Whether you're dealing with excessive highlighting, aesthetic preferences, or simply the need to distribute a pristine document, a reliable solution is essential. Fortunately, BreezePDF offers a convenient way to remove highlight in PDF online free. With BreezePDF, you can easily remove highlights directly in your browser without any sign-up or privacy concerns.
Understanding PDF Highlights
PDF highlights aren't always created the same way, leading to different methods for their removal. Understanding the type of highlighting present in your PDF is crucial for effective removal. Different types of highlights might require different approaches to effectively remove them.
Different Types of Highlights
Highlights in PDFs can originate from several sources. Each type requires a specific method for removal.
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Annotations
Annotations are highlights added using a PDF editor. These highlights are typically the easiest to remove, as they are separate elements layered on top of the original document content. BreezePDF is designed to easily manage and remove these annotations.
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Form Field Highlighting
Form field highlighting appears when fillable form fields are active, indicating where users can input information. This type of highlighting is typically associated with interactive forms and might require adjusting form field settings to remove. If you have a fillable form and want to edit it, check out this article Acrobat Add Fillable Form Fields.
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Embedded Highlighting
Embedded highlighting is part of the original document, often applied before the document was converted to PDF. Removing this type of highlighting is more complex. It might require editing the original document in its native format (e.g., Word) before converting it back to PDF.
Why Highlights Can Be Problematic
While useful, highlights can sometimes detract from a PDF's usability or aesthetic appeal. Understanding these issues can help you decide when to remove highlights.
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Overdoing it
Excessive highlighting can make a document appear cluttered and difficult to read. Too many highlights can obscure the core message. Removing unnecessary highlights can significantly improve readability.
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Aesthetic Preferences
Sometimes, highlights simply don't align with your desired aesthetic. You might prefer a cleaner, more professional look. Removing highlights can help achieve a minimalist aesthetic.
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Sharing Clean Documents
When sharing documents with others, you might want to provide a clean, unannotated version. Removing personal highlights ensures the recipient focuses on the original content without being influenced by your annotations.
How to Remove Highlights with BreezePDF
BreezePDF provides a straightforward, user-friendly method for removing highlights from your PDFs. The tool is designed to be intuitive, allowing you to quickly clean up your documents without complex procedures. Additionally, because it is browser based, your documents stay safe.
Step-by-Step Guide to Removing Highlights
Here's a simple guide to removing highlights using BreezePDF. The steps are designed to be clear and easy to follow, even for first-time users.
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Uploading the PDF to BreezePDF
Simply open BreezePDF in your web browser. Use the upload button to select the PDF file from your computer. BreezePDF will automatically load the PDF, ready for editing.
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Selecting the Highlight Removal Tool
Currently, BreezePDF does not have a specific tool to target highlights only. Instead, if the highlights are annotations, you can use the delete page functionality delete pages from pdf and remove the page the annotations are on.
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Removing Individual Highlights
If the highlights are embedded and unremovable via other tools, consider re-creating the PDF from the original document. Remove the highlights in the source file (e.g., Word document) before converting to PDF again.
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Saving the Edited PDF
Once you've removed all desired highlights or annotations, save the edited PDF. Click the download button to save the cleaned document to your computer. The changes will be applied, and the new PDF will be free of the selected highlights.
BreezePDF Features for Highlight Removal
BreezePDF offers simple tools to remove annotations and delete pages, which can be useful for removing highlights.
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Highlight-specific removal
BreezePDF plans to implement highlight specific removal and batch removal of annotations in the future.
Alternative Online Tools for Removing Highlights
While BreezePDF offers a convenient solution, several other online tools can also remove highlights from PDFs. Each tool has its own set of features and steps to achieve the desired result. Here are a few alternatives.
Adobe Acrobat Online
Adobe Acrobat Online is a popular choice for PDF editing, offering a comprehensive set of tools.
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Steps to remove highlights
Upload your PDF to Adobe Acrobat Online. Use the comment tool to select and delete highlights individually. Save the edited PDF to apply the changes.
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Changing Highlight Colors
Adobe Acrobat Online also allows you to change highlight colors. This can be useful if you want to tone down the highlights instead of removing them completely.
DocHub
DocHub is another online tool that allows you to modify PDFs.
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Step-by-step guide
Upload your PDF to DocHub. Use the editing tools to select and remove highlights. Save the changes to download the updated PDF.
Sejda
Sejda offers a range of PDF editing features including highlight removal.
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Steps to remove annotations
Upload your PDF to Sejda. Utilize the annotation removal tool to delete highlights. Save the edited PDF to your device.
AvePDF
AvePDF provides a simple interface for various PDF modifications.
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Step-by-step guide
Upload your PDF to AvePDF. Use the editing features to find and eliminate highlights. Save the new PDF to apply your changes.
Troubleshooting Highlight Removal Issues
Sometimes, you might encounter difficulties when trying to remove highlights. Here are some common issues and solutions.
Cannot Unhighlight Text in PDF
Occasionally, you might find that you cannot unhighlight text using standard methods. This can be due to the nature of the highlighting or document settings.
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Check if the highlighting is part of the base document
If the highlighting is embedded, it's part of the original document content. You'll need to edit the source file and recreate the PDF.
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Try different removal methods
Experiment with different tools within your PDF editor. Some tools might be more effective at removing certain types of highlights. BreezePDF makes it easier to try some of these methods.
Highlights That Won’t Delete
In some cases, highlights might stubbornly resist deletion. Here are some strategies to try.
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Access the Comment sidebar
Many PDF editors have a Comment sidebar that lists all annotations. Access this sidebar to select and delete the problematic highlights.
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Select and delete highlights
Carefully select each highlight and attempt to delete it. Sometimes, individual selection is more effective than batch removal.
Changing Highlight Color as an Alternative
Instead of removing highlights altogether, you might opt to change their color to something less obtrusive. This can be useful if you still want the text to be marked but in a more subtle way. Adobe Acrobat offers this functionality.
Using Adobe Acrobat Online to Change Highlight Color
Adobe Acrobat Online allows you to easily change the color of existing highlights. Select the highlight and use the color picker to choose a new, less distracting color.
Other tools that support changing highlight colors
Many other PDF editors also support changing highlight colors. Explore the features of your chosen PDF editor to see if this option is available.
Advanced PDF Editing Beyond Highlight Removal
Beyond removing highlights, BreezePDF offers a suite of editing features to enhance your PDF documents. These features empower you to modify and customize your PDFs to meet various needs. BreezePDF is a completely free tool.
Other editing Features Offered by BreezePDF
BreezePDF provides a range of tools to help you modify and enhance your PDF documents. Here are some of the features it offers.
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Adding text and images
You can easily add new text or insert images into your PDF. This feature is useful for adding comments, watermarks, or additional information to your documents. BreezePDF allows you to type on the PDF by clicking the letter icon, clicking where you want to type and adjusting the text as needed. To add images, click the image icon, select the image and drag it to the desired spot.
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Merging and Splitting PDFs
BreezePDF allows you to merge multiple PDFs into a single document. This is useful for combining related documents into one easy-to-manage file. You can also add a blank page to the PDF. If you wish to merge PDF files together, review Combine PDF Files.
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Converting to other formats
Currently, BreezePDF allows for password protecting, delete pages, and compressing, with converting to other formats as a feature coming soon. If you want to password protect your PDF, click the lock icon, insert the password, and click apply. If you wish to compress your PDF, click the compress icon on the right side, select the level of compression, then click compress.
Benefits of Using an Online PDF Editor
Online PDF editors like BreezePDF offer numerous advantages over traditional desktop software. They provide accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and convenience. BreezePDF is a private and free tool.
Accessibility
Online PDF editors can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. This accessibility allows you to work on your documents from anywhere, at any time. Whether you’re at home, in the office, or on the go, you can easily edit your PDFs.
Cost-effectiveness
Many online PDF editors, including BreezePDF, offer free services for basic editing tasks. This eliminates the need to purchase expensive software licenses. You can access essential editing tools without any financial commitment.
No installation required
Online PDF editors don't require any software installation. This saves valuable storage space on your device and eliminates the hassle of software updates and compatibility issues. You can start editing your PDFs immediately without any setup process.
Collaboration Features
While BreezePDF is primarily for private use, some online PDF editors offer collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously. This can streamline teamwork and improve efficiency.
Addressing Common Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about removing highlights and editing PDFs.
How to Remove Highlight Fillable Fields
To remove highlight from fillable fields, adjust the form field settings in your PDF editor. Disable the option that shows the highlight when the field is active. This will remove the highlight while still allowing the field to be fillable.
Removing Highlights from Word Document Converted to PDF
If you can't remove highlights from a converted PDF, edit the original Word document. Remove the highlights in Word, then convert the document back to PDF. This ensures the highlights are gone from the source file.
Removing All Highlights at Once
Some PDF editors offer a batch removal option to remove all highlights simultaneously. Look for this feature in your PDF editor to quickly clear all highlights from your document. BreezePDF plans to implement this functionality soon.
Conclusion
Removing highlights from PDFs is a straightforward task with the right tools. Whether you choose to use BreezePDF, Adobe Acrobat Online, or another online editor, the process is designed to be user-friendly. Now you can remove highlight in pdf online free
With BreezePDF, you can easily remove unwanted highlights without compromising your privacy. BreezePDF runs fully in the browser and doesn't require sign-up.
Try BreezePDF today for free and experience seamless highlight removal and other PDF editing features!