How to Remove Highlights in PDF?

PDF software is equipped with rich annotation tools, such as underlining, highlighting, sticky notes, etc. An important reason for many people to use PDF tools is that their annotation tools allow them to mark up the text quickly and facilitate them to review textbooks or other documents, just like what we did with a pen or marker.

 

image from: Pixabay

 

However, despite the advantages of annotation tools, there are definitely times when you might go a little overboard with the highlighting, especially if there are a large number of them because they can make us dizzy. For example, you will definitely feel annoyed when you first read an e-Book with highlights in various colors since you just want to read the original text carefully, without any interference from other people’s ideas.

 

At this point, you may desperately need to unhighlight your PDF and remove the comments. Can the highlight be removed? Certainly, they can. PDF Reader Pro offers you two ways to remove highlights or other comments in a PDF. Firstly, we recommend you Download PDF Reader Pro from the official website.

 

Method 1: Remove Highlight in a PDF

You can remove a single highlight or all comments at once with PDF Reader Pro based on your needs. Here is a step-by-step guide.

• Undo a single highlight

1. Click on the highlight you want to delete;

2. Then right-click and choose Delete.

 

• Remove all annotations

1. Click Annotation on the left sidebar and you can see the annotation panel showing you all annotations;

2. Tap More on the top right corner of the panel;

3. Choose Delete All Annotations.

 

 

But pay attention, once you choose to remove the comments, they will be deleted permanently. So, what if you want to temporarily unhighlight your PDF? Let’s move to Method 2.

 

Method 2: Export Annotations

When we just want to remove highlights temporarily for a clearer reading page, we can hide the highlights by exporting annotations and view the comments again via importing the annotations.

 

This is a pretty practical feature because the exported annotations will be saved as XFDF file separately in a small memory footprint, which enables you to retrieve the annotations or hide them at any time. You can also create different annotations for a PDF according to your purpose of reading. Go here to know more about this function.

 

Now, let’s export annotations with PDF Reader Pro:

1. Click Annotation on the left sidebar to show the annotation panel;

2. Click Export Annotations on the top of the panel;

3. Choose an output folder and save it.

Then you can delete all the annotations since they have already been backed up on your computer.

 

 

Note: If you need to check the comments again, tap Import Annotations on the left side panel.

 

FAQs About Removing Highlights from PDFs

• Can I Delete Highlights I Didn't Make Myself from Another PDF Tool?

Yes, you can. You can easily remove the highlight with PDF Reader Pro when receiving a PDF from others.  But you should notice that the PDF is not a flattened PDF file.

 

• Do I Have to Pay to Remove Highlights?

No, you don’t need to pay for deleting highlights in PDF Reader Pro. Download PDF Reader Pro to try it now!

 

• How to Block Others from Removing My Comments?

To protect your comments from being modified by others, you can save the file as a flattened PDF so that no one can delete, move or edit the annotations in your file. How to do it?

1. Click File on the toolbar;

2. Choose Save as Flattened PDF.

Note: What is a flattened PDF? Click here to find the answer!

 

Bottom Line

PDF Reader Pro, the best highlight remover, provides you with many ways to unhighlight a PDF. PDF Reader Pro is meant to support your daily tasks and keeps you productive. Therefore, besides the features we mentioned above, there are many other annotation features such as Underline, Squiggly, Strikethrough, Stamp, Sticky Note, Link, etc. Go to the Official Website to know more advanced features!

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