How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (2023)

How highlight in Word works

In Word, you can highlight text on the screen much like you can highlight text on paper using a highlighter. In this article, you will find general information about how highlight in Word works. The basic information about highlight applies to both the built-in highlight functionality and the functionality of theDocTools HighlightManager add-in.

There is no difference between highlight added using the DocTools HighlightManager add-in and using the built-in highlight functionality in Word. The difference is thatDocTools HighlightManager add-in makes the work much faster and more flexible.

Table of contents

1

15 available highlight colors

2

How to show or hide highlight on screen and in print

How to print without highlight

Highlight and track changes

The difference between highlight color and shading color

3

How to highlight in Word using the built-in functionality

METHOD 1 – How to highlight selected text via the Ribbon

What is the default highlight color in Word?

METHOD 2 – How to highlight selected text via the Mini Toolbar

METHOD 3 – How to highlight using a shortcut

How the Alt+Ctrl+H shortcut works

METHOD 4 – How to highlight without first selecting text

4

How to unhighlight in Word

5

How to stop highlighting in Word

6

How to remove highlight in Word

How to remove highlight from a paragraph number or bullet

How to remove light yellow highlight that does not disappear when selecting No Color

7

How to replace highlight colors in a document

How to find highlight

How to replace one highlight color with another

8

How to copy only the highlighted text to another document

9

Troubleshooting highlight

PROBLEM 1 – Highlight it is not visible on the screen

PROBLEM 2 – Why can't I remove highlighting in Word?

PROBLEM 3 – How to remove yellow highlight in Word?

PROBLEM 4 – The color doesn't disappear when I attempt to remove highlight

How to remove yellow highlight added by the Find feature

How to remove color shading

How to remove the light yellow color from a protected document

How to remove gray field shading

How to remove gray Form Field shading

PROBLEM 5 – No highlight is applied when I press Alt+Ctrl+H

PROBLEM 6 – How to customize highlight color in Word?

10

How to apply or remove highlight via macros (VBA)

Go TO INFO ABOUT

1

15 available highlight colors

(Video) How to Remove Yellow Highlight in Word (Microsoft)

2

How to show or hide highlight on screen and in print

3

How to highlight in Word using the built-in functionality

4

How to unhighlight in Word

5

How to stop highlighting in Word

6

How to remove highlight in Word

7

How to replace highlight colors in a document

8

How to copy only the highlighted text to another document

9

Troubleshooting highlight

10

How to apply or remove highlight via macros (VBA)

15 available highlight colors

Word offers 15 highlight colors. For years, Word users have asked for more colors or the option to customize highlight colors, but so far with no luck.

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Figure 1. Word highlight colors and their names.

Many of the 15 highlight colors available are too dark to use in most cases – for example, you can't read black text on any of the darkest highlight colors.

Personally, I use yellow,bright green,turquoiseand, in a few cases,red. The colors are rather glaring but I find they are the only ones that work.

Even if the Gray 25% is light enough to read the text, I don't use it since it is impossible to distinguish it from selected text and from fields with field shading turned on.

In addition to the 15 highlight colors, there is a No Color which removes highlight.

Back to Table of Contents

How to show or hide highlight on screen and in print

  • Highlight is neither font formatting nor paragraph formatting
  • Highlight in Word documents is placed in its own layer that you can either show or hide

Even if it may look so, highlight in Word is not applied as font formatting or paragraph formatting like e.g. color shading. If you check the formatting of highlighted text, you will not see the highlight listed anywhere.

The display of highlight is managed via an option in Word:

  • Toshowhighlight both on the screen and in print, turn ONFile>Options>Display>Show highlighter marks. See Figure 2 below.
  • Tohidehighlight both on the screen and in print, turn OFFFile>Options>Display>Show highlighter marks. See Figure 2 below.

Note that the Show highlighter markssetting is a global Word setting. It applies to all documents.

When you turn off Showhighlighter marks, any highlight in documents will only be hidden, not removed. As soon as you turn on the setting, the highlight will appear again, if any. The highlight will also be visible if the document is opened on another computer with the setting turned on.

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Figure 2. To show highlight on the screen and in print, turn on Show highlighter marks.

When you select a highlight color using the built-in functionality of Word, that color will be set as the default highlight color, i.e. the same color will be applied the next time you click the Text Highlight Color icon in the Home tab of the Ribbon or in the Mini Toolbar.

As opposed to the built-in functionality, the selection of a specific highlight color using the Apply Highlight command in the DocTools HighlightManager add-in will not affect your next highlight operation. The add-in lets you apply any highlight color with a click.

How to print without highlight

As explained above, you can turn highlight on and off, without removing the highlight from the document.

To print without highlight but keep the highlight in the document:

  1. Turn off display of highlight as explained above (see Figure 2).
  2. Print.
  3. Turn highlight on again, if you want.

In theDocTools HighlightManager add-in, you will find a command for quickly turning on and off the display of highlight instead of digging deep into the Word Options dialog box.

Highlight and track changes

Changing highlight in a document is not registered by track changes. Even if track changes is on, Word will not regard a highlight change as a revision.

The difference between highlight color and shading color

You should be aware of the difference between highlight and shading.

As mentioned above, the number of highlight colors is limited. On the other hand, you can apply any color of your choice via the Shadingtools in Word. This may make users want to use shading instead of highlight in order to get access to more colors. However, the two types of coloring work in totally different ways.

As explained above, highlight in Word is neither font formatting nor paragraph formatting. The highlight lives in its own layer in Word and can be turned on or off for all content. The same is not possible with shading.

If you apply a shading color to content using a color from one of the Shadingtools in Word or via the Borders and Shadingdialog box, that color is applied as formatting of text, paragraphs, table cells or entire tables.

This means that the shading is applied as a characteristic or an attribute of the text, paragraph, table cell or table itself.

You can't turn on and off shading for an entire document as you can with highlight. You can easily select all and set the shading to No Color. However, once you have removed the shading, you can't easily apply it again if spread across the entire document. This means that it may not necessarily be a good idea to use shading as a substitute for highlight.

Highlight is often used as a temporary marking of content, e.g. during the editing process. Shading may more often be used as permanent formatting that is meant to remain in the finished document.

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Figure 3. A color selected from a Shading palette is either font, paragraph, or table formatting.

A shading color you apply via a Shading palette or via theBorders and Shading dialog box is applied as one of the following types of formatting depending on the conditions and what you select:

  • Font formatting applied totext
  • Paragraph formatting applied to entireparagraph(s)
  • Table cell formatting applied to entire table cell(s)
  • Table formatting applied to entire table(s)

Back to Table of Contents

How to highlight in Word using the built-in functionality

You can apply highlight in different ways using the built-in functionality in Word. See METHODs 1-4 below. When you apply highlight to selected text in Word using the built-in methods described below, Word doesn't retain the selection but collapses the selection so the insertion point is placed after the selection afterwards. Since you may often want to apply e.g. formatting to the same selection immediately after applying highlight, this is not always practical.

TheDocTools HighlightManager add-in lets you decide whether or not to keep the selection after highlighting text. It can help you save time.

METHOD 1 – How to highlight selected text via the Ribbon

  1. Select the text to be highlighted.
  2. Select Home tab > click the arrow in Text Highlight Color icon and click the desired highlight color. The currently selected color works as the default highlight color and is shown in the icon. If you want to apply that color, you can just click the icon. (To remove highlight, select No Color).

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Figure 4. The Text Highlight Color options in the Home tab in the Ribbon.

Back to Table of Contents

What is the default highlight color in Word?

The default highlight color in Word is the highlight color currently shown in theText Highlight Coloricon.

When you click one of the 15 colors or No Color, that color becomes the default highlight color.

The default highlight color will automatically be used by Word for the next highlight unless you select another color.

TheDocTools HighlightManageradd-in lets you use any highlight color without changing the default highlight color.

(Video) How to remove highlights or background color from pasted text in Microsoft Word

METHOD 2 – How to highlight selected text via the Mini Toolbar

If you have theMini Toolbarenabled, you can also apply highlight via that toolbar:

  1. Select the text to be highlighted.
  2. In the Mini Toolbarthat appears when you have selected text, click the arrow in the Text Highlight Coloricon and click the desired highlight color. The currently selected color works as the default highlight color and is shown in the icon. If you want to apply that color, you can just click the icon.(To remove highlight, selectNo Color).

The highlight tools in the Mini Toolbar are identical to the ones on the Home tab in the Ribbon.

TheMini Toolbar only appears when you have selected text and if, at the same time, the optionFile>Options >General > Show Mini Toolbar on selection is turned on. See Figure 5 below.

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Figure 5 The Mini Toolbar is only shown if the Show Mini Toolbar on selection option is turned on.

How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (6)

Figure 6. The Text Highlight Coloroptions in the Mini Toolbar are the same as in the Home tab of the Ribbon.

METHOD 3 – How to highlight using a shortcut

Word has a default shortcut assigned to highlight:

  • Alt+Ctrl+H

You can both apply highlight and remove highlight using the Alt-Ctrl-Hshortcut. Note that this shortcut only works with the currently selected default highlight color so you still have to first make sure the desired color has been selected, either via the Home tab or the Mini Toolbar.

As opposed to how the Alt-Ctrl+H shortcut works, the DocToolsHighlightManager add-in lets you assign shortcuts to each individual highlight color – customizable shortcuts have been assigned to the most useful highlight colors beforehand so they are ready for use at once. This means that the add-in makes it possible to apply any highlight color simply by pressing a keyboard shortcut without first switching color.

How the Alt+Ctrl+H shortcut works

You mustselect textbefore pressing theAlt+Ctrl+H shortcut. What happens when you press the shortcut depends on the situation. See the examples below:

How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (7)

Figure 7. No highlight applied to the selection beforehand.

EXAMPLE 1
If the selected text is nothighlighted beforehand,Alt+Ctrl+H applies the highlight color that is currently selected as the default highlight color in Home tab > Text Highlight Color.

NOTE: If the currently selected default color is No Color, no highlight will be applied even if you press the shortcut.

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Figure 8. Entire selection highlighted beforehand.

EXAMPLE 2
If the entire selected text is already highlighted (same color or mixed colors),Alt+Ctrl+H removes the highlight. This means that it works as a toggle: It adds or removes highlight depending of the selection.

How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (9)

Figure 9. The selected text is partly highlighted beforehand.

EXAMPLE 3
If the selected text is partly highlighted, i.e. some of the text is highlighted and other is not, Alt+Ctrl+H applies the highlight color that is currently selected as the default highlight color in Home tab > Text Highlight Color.

NOTE: If the currently selected default color isNo Color, Alt+Ctrl+H removes highlight from the selection.

Back to Table of Contents

METHOD 4 – How to highlight without first selecting text

If you click the TextHighlight Coloricon on the Home tab or in the Mini Toolbar without first selecting text, the cursor changes to the icon shown below (enlarged here). You can then highlight text by dragging across the text that is to be highlighted.

NOTE: If you drag across text that is already highlighted, the highlight will be removed.

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Figure 10. Highlighter icon

To exit the highlighter mode, do one of the following:
Press the Escape key OR
Click the Text Highlight Color icon on the Hometab or in the Mini Toolbar OR
Select Stop Highlightingfrom theText Highlight Color tools on the Home tab or in the Mini Toolbar.

Note that the DocTools HighlightManager add-in lets you apply any highlight color to a paragraph without first selecting the entire paragraph – you only need to press a shortcut.

How to unhighlight in Word

Unhighlight is the same as removing highlight. See below.

How to stop highlighting in Word

If you click inside text that is highlighted and start typing, the new text you type will inherit the highlighting from the existing text. If you want to stop highlighting text when you type the new text, you can for example do as follows – all carried out via the keyboard:

  1. Type the first new character, then press and hold the Shift key and press the Left Arrow key to select the typed character.
  2. Press Alt+Ctrl+H to unhighlight the selected character you just typed.
  3. Press the Right Arrowkey once to move after the typed character (or you can just delete the character when finished typing in step 3).
  4. Then continue to type the new text.

How to remove highlight in Word

Getting rid of highlight may be referred to as either removing highlight or unhighlight. You may also think of it as how to remove highlighted text in word even if you want to keep the text and only make the highlighting go away.

To get rid of highlight in Word – or unhighlight – you can follow the steps described for applying highlight using METHOD 1, METHOD 2, METHOD 3 or METHOD 4 above but with the difference, that you select No Colorinstead of one of the 15 colors.

The DocTools HighlightManager add-in provides tools that let you quickly remove highlight either from the selection or from all paragraph(s) that are fully or partly included in the selection. This means that you don't need to spend time on first selecting the entire paragraphs to remove highlight.

How to remove highlight from a paragraph number or bullet

If you are working with Word documents with automatic numbering, you may have struggled with how to unhighlight a number in Word. The same may be true for bullets in bulleted paragraphs.

Paragraph marksandtrailing spaces(spaces at the end of a paragraph)never show highlight. However, theymay be highlighted – but you can't see it.

If only the number or bullet of a paragraph is highlighted, it is because the paragraph mark of that paragraph is highlighted.

To remove highlight from a number or from a bullet, select the paragraph mark and remove the highlight. You can also select the entire paragraph or the last part of the paragraph as long as you make sure the paragraph mark is included in the selection. Then the highlight will disappear from the number/bullet. See the illustration below.

TIP: Turn on formatting marks (Ctrl+Shift+8) so you can see the paragraph marks and other non-printing characters. Paragraph marks look like this: ¶

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Figure 11. To remove highlight from a number or bullet, select the paragraph mark and unhighlight it.

TheDocTools HighlightManager add-in provides a tool that lets you quickly remove highlight from numbered or bulleted paragraphs. You only need to click a button to remove highlight from any bullet or number in the selection or in the entire document.

Back to Table of Contents

How to remove light yellow highlight that does not disappear when selecting No Color

You may experience that you open a document in which some areas are highlighted with a light or pale yellow color (see figure 12 below). The color differs from the bright yellow color in the highlight color palette. If you try to remove the light, yellow highlight by selecting No Color from the highlight palette, nothing happens.

Such pale, yellow highlight is most likely a result of the document being protected. The yellow color is used to show which areas of the document you can edit. You can turn off the highlight but it will be turned on again if you close and reopen the document. As opposed to normal highlight colors, the light, yellow color does not print. It is shown on the screen only.

(Video) How To: Remove Highlight In Word (Microsoft)

How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (12)

Figure 12. Example of light, yellow highlight that shows which areas you can edit in a protected document.

To remove the light yellow highlight:

  1. In the Ribbon, select Review tab > Restrict Editing.
  2. In theRestrict Editingpane that opens, turn offHighlight the regions I can edit. See figure 13 below.

You can also open theRestrict Editingpane from the Developer tab >Restrict Editing.

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Figure 13. To remove the light, yellow highlight, turn off Highlight the regions I can edit.

Back to Table of Contents

How to replace highlight colors in a document

You can use Find in Word to search for highlight. You can also use Find and Replace to e.g. search for highlight and remove it or to apply highlight to a search string – or to replace one highlight color with another. See the examples below about how you can useFindandFind and Replace in relation to highlight.

How to find highlight

As you will learn below, the built-in functionality of Word does not let you search for a specific highlight color. As opposed to that, theDocTools HighlightManager add-in lets you find any specific highlight color.

Word does not let you search for specific highlight colors.

If two or more paragraphs in succession are highlighted, Word will not find them as one instance of highlight. Word interprets each paragraph as one instance of highlighting. This means that Word finds highlight in one paragraph at a time.

To find highlight in Word using theFind and Replacedialog box:

  1. Press Ctrl+Hto open theFind and Replace dialog box. If you only want to find highlight, you can use theFindtab in the dialog box. If you want to replace highlight, make sure theReplacetab is selected.
  2. To find highlight, make sure the insertion point is in theFind what field.
  3. To expand the dialog box so all options are shown, click the More button.
  4. SelectFormat(bottom of dialog box) >Highlight. The word "Highlight" will now be shown below theFind what field. See Figure 15 below.
  5. If you want to find highlight no matter the text, leave theFind whatfield empty, otherwise enter the relevant text.
  6. Add other search criteria as needed and use the buttons in the dialog box to find and/or replace.

TIP: You can find both Highlight and Not highlight
If you select Highlightfrom theFormatmenu in theFind and Replace dialog box twice, the text below the Find whator Replace with field changes from Highlightto Not highlight. See Figure 15 below.

This means that you can search for and replace with both highlight and no highlight.

If you selectFormat>Highlight a third time, Not highlight is cleared.

To clear allFormat criteria from theFind whatorReplace withfield, click in the relevant field, then click theNo Formatting button. Alternatively, pressCtrl+Spacebar to clear the formatting.

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Figure 14. The Find and Replace dialog box lets you search for or replace with Highlight.

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Figure 15. Example: You can search for Highlight and replace with Not Highlight.

How to replace one highlight color with another

You may sometimes want to change highlight color in Word.

You can use theFind and Replace command to replace one highlight color with another. To do this:

  1. Select the new highlight color you want as the default highlight color (via the Text Highlight Colorin the Hometab or the Mini Toolbar).
  2. PressCtrl+Hto open theFind and Replacedialog box.
  3. In bothFind whatand Replace with, add Highlight (see How to find highlight above for help. Leave the text fields empty unless you want to search for specific text and/or replace with other text.
  4. If you want to replace any highlight, no matter the color, with the new color, clickReplace All. If you only want to replace a specific color, use the Find Nextbutton and clickReplace only if relevant – repeatFind Next.

As opposed to the built-in functionality in Word, the DocTools HighlightManager add-in lets you find any specific highlight color and replace it with any other highlight color, leaving all other colors unchanged.

The DocTools HighlightManager add-in also has a Findcommand that finds the next highlight in the document without you needing to set up the search in the Findor Find and Replace dialog box.

Back to Table of Contents

How to copy only the highlighted text to another document

The built-in functionality of Word does not have a special feature for copying only highlighted text.

You could save a copy of the document and use Find and Replaceto delete all text that is not highlighted. To do that:

  1. Press Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
  2. Click in the Find whatfield and selectFormat>Highlight twice until the textNot highlight is shown below the field. Leave the field empty.
  3. In theReplace with field, type ^p in the field.
    The ^p replaces the found non-highlighted text with a paragraph mark. This will split the remaining highlighted text in paragraphs. Otherwise, the result could be that many highlighted instances end in one paragraph.
  4. ClickReplace All.

The result may not always be useful since all the highlighted text remains with context.

TheDocTools HighlightManager add-in includes a command for extracting highlight to a new document. Using that command, you can quickly create a document that includes the highlight, incl. metadata about each found instance.

Troubleshooting highlight

PROBLEM 1 – Highlight it is not visible on the screen

If you apply a highlight color to selected text and no color appears, the problem is likely to be one of the following:

  • You have selectedNo Colorinstead of a color.
  • The selection if of a type that can't be highlighted.
  • TheShowhighlighter markssetting is turned OFF. See how to turn on highlight marks.

PROBLEM 2 – Why can't I remove highlighting in Word?

If you try to remove highlight using the methods described above and if that doesn't remove the color, the reason may be that the color is not applied using highlight.

See PROBLEM 4 below for further details about how to get rid of other types of colors than highlight.

PROBLEM 3 – How to remove yellow highlight in Word?

A yellow background color on text in Word may not always be highlight. If you try to remove highlight using the methods described above and if that doesn't remove the yellow color, the reason may be that the color is not applied using highlight.

See PROBLEM 4 below for further details about how to get rid of other types of colors than highlight.

PROBLEM 4 – The color doesn't disappear when I attempt to remove highlight

What to do if you can't remove highlighting in word? The reason may be that what looks like highlighting isn't highlighting at all but another type of coloring.

If you select text that seems to be highlighted and try to remove the highlight and if this does not make the color go away, the reason may be that it is not highlight but one of the following:

  • The color is a warmyellow highlight color added by the Find feature
  • The color iscolor shading
  • The color is light yellow and is showing which areas you can edit in a protected document
  • The color is light gray field shading making it possible to distinguish fields from normal text
  • The color is light gray Form Field shading making it possible to see where to fill in fields

See below for help on how to remove the five types of color.

How to remove yellow highlight added by the Find feature

If you use theFindfeature in theNavigation Pane, Word highlights all occurrences that match your search criteria. You can, for example, remove the highlight by pressing the Escape key once.

How to remove color shading

  1. Selected the text from which you want to remove the color shading.
  2. Select Home tab > Paragraph group > Shading menu > No Color.

Note that shading can be applied to part of a paragraph, entire paragraphs, table cells, or entire tables. However, selecting No Colorfrom theParagraph group can remove shading from any of the types.

How to remove the light yellow color from a protected document

See how you remove light yellow highlight from a protected document above.

How to remove gray field shading

In documents with fields, I recommend having field shading set to always be displayed. The shading is visible on the screen only and does not print (more information about field shading). However, you can turn off field shading or set it to be displayed only on field(s) that are selected:

  1. Select File > Options > Advanced.
  2. In the Show document content group, select Field shading > Never or When selected.
  3. ClickOK.

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Figure 16. Example of a field with fields shading.

I strongly recommend having field shading shown always. If you can't distinguish fields from other content, you risk making manual changes inside fields. The result will be that such changes are gone when you update fields.

How to remove gray Form Field shading

Word documents that are created as forms that are to be filled in by users may be created using a special type of fields: Form Fields. In newer versions of Word, forms that use Form Fields are referred to as Legacy Forms since Word now also lets you create forms using content controls.

If you see gray shading that can't be removed using any of the methods above, Form Fields may be in use. You can quickly find out by pressingAlt+F9to show field codes. If the areas with the gray shading now appear as { FORMTEXT }, { FORMCHECKBOX }, or { FORMDROPDOWN }, Form Fields are in use.

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Figure 17. Example of Form Field without and with Form Field shading and example of Form Field showing field code.

It is practical to have Form Field shading turned on since it makes it easy to see where to fill in data. However, you can turn the Form Field shading off:

  1. On the Developer tab > Controls group, click Legacy Tools.
  2. Click theForm Field Shading icon to turn off the shading of Form Fields.

If you can't see theDeveloper tab, see How to show the Developer tab in Word.

How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (18)

Figure 18. Form Field shading can be turned on and off via Developer tab > Controls group > Legacy Tools.

Back to Table of Contents

PROBLEM 5 – No highlight is applied when I press Alt+Ctrl+H

As explained above, Alt+Ctrl+His the default shortcut assigned to highlight. If you press Alt+Ctrl+H and nothing happens, the problem is likely to be one of the following:

  • You have not selected any text or the selection if of a type that can't be highlighted.
  • The currently selected highlight color in Home tab > Text Highlight Color is No Color,

Back to Table of Contents

PROBLEM 6 – How to customize highlight color in Word?

The quick answer is: You can't create custom highlight colors in Word. The colors are restricted to the 15 colors shown in Figure 4 above.

You might usecolor shading instead of highlight. When it comes to color shading, you can define any color you want. However, highlighting and color shading are very different as explained above.

Back to Table of Contents

How to apply or remove highlight via macros (VBA)

Below, you will find small examples of macro code related to highlight. If you record a macro in Word to find out what code to use for highlighting, the result is macro code that also changes the default highlight color to the color you apply. As you will see in the code samples below, you can apply or remove highlight via VBA without changing the default color.

(Video) How to remove highlights from pasted text in Microsoft Word

EXAMPLE 1: Apply yellow highlight to the selection without changing thedefault highlight color that is shown in the Text Highlight Color icon:

Selection.Range.HighlightColorIndex = wdYellow

EXAMPLE 2: Remove highlight from the selection without changingthedefault highlight color that is shown in the Text Highlight Color icon:

Selection.Range.HighlightColorIndex = wdNoHighlight

EXAMPLE 3: Select bright green as the default highlight color that will be shown in the Text Highlight Color icon:

Options.DefaultHighlightColorIndex = wdBrightGreen

Back to Table of Contents

How to highlight and remove highlight in Word (19)

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(Video) Shortcut to highlight text and remove highlighting from text in Microsoft Word

Highlight can be useful in many Word documents, not least during the editing process. This article has explained how highlight in Word works. You have learnt how to highlight, how to remove highlight / unhighlight, how to solve different problems with highlight, etc. I hope this article helps you work more efficiently with highlight in Word.

FAQs

How do you delete multiple highlights at once? ›

You can also delete an entire HIghlight the same way. Simply press on the Highlight, uncheck all of the boxes, press Done. A little box will pop up asking if you're sure you want to Delete Highlight.

How do you change all highlighted words in Word? ›

Find and replace text
  1. Go to Home > Replace.
  2. Enter the word or phrase you want to replace in Find what.
  3. Enter your new text in Replace with.
  4. Choose Replace All to change all occurrences of the word or phrase. ...
  5. To specify only upper or lowercase in your search, select More > Match case.

How do you remove yellow highlighter? ›

Lemon juice fades highlighter enough to make it virtually undetectable. Cut a lemon in half and get some juice on a cotton swab. Run the swab over the highlighted text and watch the color fade. Lemon juice from a container also seems to do the trick.

How do you selectively highlight text in word? ›

Click where you want to begin the selection, hold down the left mouse button, and then drag the pointer over the text that you want to select. Double-click anywhere in the word. Move the pointer to the left of the line until it changes to a right-pointing arrow, and then click.

How do I remove highlighting from copy and paste in word? ›

The key to removing the highlight is to use the "Merge Formatting" or "Keep Text Only" commands when you first paste the text into your document. To do this, find the little "CTRL" box that appears after you have pasted your text. Then select "Merge Formatting" or "Keep Text Only" in order to remove the highlighting.

How do I remove highlight from restrict editing in Word? ›

The only ways to remove the highlighting are to un-check "Highlight the regions I can edit" on the "Restrict Format and Editing" pane; or to execute a macro which removes that option.

How do I remove highlights from a section break in Word? ›

If you added section breaks to your document, the easiest way to see where they begin and end is to show formatting marks. Go to Home, and select Show all nonprinting characters. Select the section break and then press Delete.

How do you quickly remove highlights? ›

First, you'll want to head to your profile tab on Instagram. Find the highlight reel you want to delete entirely, or delete individual stories from, and long-press on it. If you want to delete an entire highlight folder, all you need to do next is press “Delete Highlight” from the pop-up menu.

How do you get rid of unwanted highlights? ›

Use a Darker Gloss or Toner

PROS: “When your gloss or toner is done correctly, it will completely get rid of your highlights, at least for a period of time,” Gillen says.

How do you section all over highlights? ›

Do one section at a time. Begin your Highlighting in the lower sections. Starting at either the centre part or Hairline, take the end of your Tint Brush or comb through the entire Hair section to create a horizontal row that is around 1-1.5cm thick. Pull the Hair tight to define your working area.

Why is there light gray highlight on Word? ›

It is because the text is within a field. To confirm that it is a field, press Alt+F9 to toggle on the display of field codes and see if your text is enclosed within a pair of field delimiters { }. Use Alt+F9 again to toggle off the display of the field codes.

How do I get rid of the grey fill in boxes in Word? ›

They've been set up in their Properties dialogs with default text and with the "Fill-in enabled" box unchecked. Finally, the Form Field Shading button in the Developer ribbon has been turned on, which is why the grey shading appears. You can remove the shading simply by clicking that button to turn it off.

How do I get rid of the grey highlight in pages? ›

Select the text where you want to remove highlights and comments. To remove them for all body text in the document, press Command-A on your keyboard. Choose Edit > Remove Highlights and Comments (from the Edit menu at the top of your screen).

Is it possible to erase highlighter? ›

Dish soap is just what you need to get rid of those pesky highlighters. Just pour dish soap into a spray bottle filled with water and spritz the stain. Wait five seconds and then gently rub the stain with a soft cloth.

How can I remove the yellow? ›

Use shampoo or dishwashing liquid for our household items. Apply to yellow stains from sweat and dirt and leave it for 30 minutes, then clean as usual Clothes will become clean as new. Baking soda is a very versatile product as it removes yellow stains on the collar.

How do you remove highlighter refill? ›

Insert the tweezers into the pen barrel, grasp the ink reservoir with them and pull it out. Some manufacturers might glue the end cap onto the pen barrel. If that is the case, gently scrape off the glue before you pry off the end cap.

Why is Word highlighting everything in yellow? ›

The yellow color is used to show which areas of the document you can edit. You can turn off the highlight but it will be turned on again if you close and reopen the document.

How do you highlight different parts of text at the same time? ›

For example, select some text. Press and hold CTRL. Select the next item that you want. Important Be sure to press and hold CTRL while you select the next item that you want to include in the selection.

How do you selectively highlight? ›

If you want to highlight one word at a time, press Ctrl while holding down Shift , and then press Left arrow or Right arrow . If you want to highlight a whole line of text, move your cursor to the start of the line, hold Shift , and then press Down arrow .

How do you highlight just one bullet in Word? ›

But I found a simple way to fix it:
  1. Select Highlight option.
  2. Position to the left of the bullet until the cursor converts to a white arrow.
  3. One click to highlight entire text line. One click again to un-highlight the entire text line (including the bullet).
Dec 20, 2017

How can you quickly highlight or select an entire line of text? ›

Select an entire line of text by holding down the "Shift" key and pressing "End", if you are at the beginning of the line, or "Home" if you are at the end of the line. Select an entire paragraph by placing your cursor at either the beginning or the end of that paragraph.

What is the easiest way to highlight text? ›

Highlight one piece of text
  1. Select the text that you want to highlight.
  2. On the Home tab, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color. .
  3. Choose a color. The text you selected will be highlighted in the color you chose.

How do I remove background color from text in Word after copied text? ›

Remove a background
  1. Go to Page Layout > Page Color.
  2. Select No Color.

Why does Word keep highlighting everything? ›

Go to File, Options, then Advanced. Look for the option When selecting, automatically select entire word (it is enabled by default). You can disable the 'feature' by deselecting it (checkbox). Have something to add to the explanation?

How do I remove a section break in Word without deleting the key? ›

You can remove section breaks using Find and Replace:
  1. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
  2. Click Replace in the Editing group or press Ctrl + H. A dialog box appears.
  3. Click More >> to expand the dialog box (if necessary).
  4. Click in the Find what box.
  5. From the Special menu, choose Section Break.

How do I edit section breaks in Word? ›

Change a section break
  1. Click or tap in the section break you want to change.
  2. Go to Layout and select the Page Setup launcher button .
  3. Select the Layout tab.
  4. Select a new section type from the Section Start drop down list.
  5. Select OK.

How do I move highlighted text down? ›

Try Shift + Alt + Up Arrow or Shift + Alt + Down Arrow . This should move the highlighted text up and down within a larger body of text.

How do you highlight without dragging? ›

The keyboard shortcut "Ctrl-A" will accomplish the same result.

How do I move highlighted cells down? ›

Move cells by drag and dropping
  1. Select the cells or range of cells that you want to move or copy.
  2. Point to the border of the selection.
  3. When the pointer becomes a move pointer. , drag the cell or range of cells to another location.

How do you select all highlights in Word? ›

Click Find in the Editing group or press Ctrl+F to open the Navigation pane. From the text dropdown, choose Options and then check the Highlight All setting (Figure B), and click OK. In the text control, enter video and press Enter. Word will automatically highlight all instances (Figure C).

How do you remove highlights or background color from pasted text in Word? ›

Go to Page Layout > Page Color. Select No Color.

How do I select all highlights? ›

Press Ctrl+A or Command+A

For most computers, you can simply press the Ctrl or Command key on your keyboard at the same time as the A key to select everything on a page.

How do you select highlight all portions of a document? ›

To select all from the cursor to the end of the document using a keyboard shortcut, position the cursor where you want to start the selection and then press Ctrl + Shift + End.

How do you selectively highlight text? ›

Select text by holding down SHIFT and pressing the key that moves the insertion point. To select multiple areas that aren't next to each other, make your first selection, hold down CTRL, and then select any other items you want.

How do I remove shadow highlights in Word? ›

To start with, select text in shading. Then click “Shading” in “Paragraph” group under “Home” tab. Next choose “No Color”. Then all shading is gone.

How do I get rid of the white highlight behind text in Word? ›

These are some steps you can follow to unhighlight text in Microsoft Word:
  1. Launch Word and find the text you want to unhighlight. ...
  2. Click on the highlighter tool and select "No color" ...
  3. Click and drag over the highlighted text to unhighlight it. ...
  4. Select all the text in the document to unhighlight.
Apr 8, 2022

How do I get rid of highlight markup? ›

Delete the Markups

If you need to remove the marks on texts, right-click the annotation and choose Delete or click the annotation and press Delete on your keyboard.

How do I remove all yellow highlights in PDF? ›

Single-click on the area of highlighted text you wish to remove. A small toolbox will appear with two options, allowing you to change the color of your highlight or delete the highlight altogether. To remove your highlight, click the trash icon.

How do I delete all highlights and notes in preview? ›

Click on the highlight or sticky note, and then right click your mouse for options. Choose “Delete Annotation” at the bottom of the popup window and you will remove the selected highlights or the sticky note.

Can you erase a highlight? ›

To edit or delete a highlight:

Tap Delete Highlight, then tap Delete to remove the story from Stories Highlights, or tap Edit Highlight to add more photos or videos to your story.

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2. How to Remove Text Highlight Color in Word ✔️
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3. How to remove highlights from pasted text in microsoft word | remove background color from ms word
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4. how to remove Stubborn highlight from the word document
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5. How to Remove Text Highlight Color in Word
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6. How to remove grey background highlight in pasted text in microsoft word?
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