Can You Highlight Partial Text in a PDF Form Field?
Question details
The user wants to know if it is possible to highlight only a specific portion of the text entered inside a standard PDF form field.
- Product
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Filling out or designing a PDF form where partial text emphasis or highlighting is desired to draw attention to specific words.
- Observed behavior
- Standard PDF form fields do not support partial text highlighting; formatting applies to the entire field uniformly.
Understand that standard PDF form fields are designed for plain text input. If you need rich text formatting or highlighting, you will have to use alternative annotation tools once the form data is finalized.
Add Highlight Annotations to Static Text
Since active form fields do not support partial highlighting, the best workaround is to add standard highlight annotations over the text after completing the form.
Standard PDF specifications do not allow for highlighting partial text within a basic fillable text field. However, once your text is finalized, you can use the document's annotation tools to mark the specific area.
Fill out the PDF form field with the required text and save the document to lock in the content.
Go to the 'Comment' or 'Annotate' tab in your PDF reader and click on the 'Highlight' tool.
Drag your cursor carefully over the specific text within the form field you wish to highlight, then save the changes.
Enable Rich Text Formatting in Form Properties
If you are the creator of the form, you can enable Rich Text formatting for the text field to allow users to apply basic text styles.
Edit, Annotate, and Manage PDF Forms with WPS Office
WPS Office provides a comprehensive PDF toolkit that allows you to easily fill out forms, add highlight annotations to text, and edit PDF content seamlessly.
- 1. Open the PDF: Launch WPS Office and open your fillable PDF document.
- 2. Access comment tools: Navigate to the 'Comment' tab located on the top ribbon menu.
- 3. Highlight text: Click the 'Highlight' button and simply drag over the text you want to emphasize to apply the color.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't I highlight text inside a fillable PDF box?
Standard PDF text fields are engineered for plain text data entry to ensure seamless compatibility across all PDF viewing software. Because of this, they natively lack support for rich text formatting, including partial text highlighting.
Can I change the font color for part of the text in a PDF form?
Similar to highlighting, standard text fields only allow you to set a single font color for the entire field. Changing the color of only specific words requires the field creator to enable 'Rich Text Formatting' within the field properties beforehand.
How do I remove a highlight annotation I accidentally added?
In most PDF editors, including WPS Office, you can remove a highlight by clicking on the highlighted text and pressing the 'Delete' key on your keyboard, or by right-clicking the highlighted area and selecting 'Delete'.
Does WPS Office support filling out PDF forms?
Yes, WPS Office fully supports reading and filling out standard interactive PDF forms. You can effortlessly input text, select checkboxes, choose from dropdown menus, and save your finalized document.
