How to Automatically Copy Selected Text into Adobe Acrobat Highlights and Comments
Question details
The user needs to configure their PDF editor to automatically duplicate selected text directly into the resulting highlight or comment note.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- Windows, macOS
- Scenario
- Reviewing and annotating a PDF document where the exact highlighted text needs to appear in the comments pane for easy extraction or review.
- Observed behavior
- By default, highlighting text creates a blank comment note, requiring the user to manually copy and paste the text into the annotation.
Ensure you have your target PDF document open in Adobe Acrobat and that you are using a version that supports advanced commenting preferences.
Enable the 'Copy Selected Text' Preference in Adobe Acrobat
Adjust your Acrobat application settings to automatically populate highlight notes with the exact text you select.
This built-in preference saves time during document reviews by eliminating the need to manually copy and paste text into the comment pop-up. It applies to highlights, strikethroughs, and underlines.
If you are on Windows, click on the 'Edit' menu at the top left and select 'Preferences'. If you are using macOS, click on the 'Acrobat' menu in the Apple menu bar and choose 'Preferences'.
In the Preferences dialog box, look at the left-hand panel under 'Categories' and click on 'Commenting'.
Scroll down through the commenting options and check the box next to 'Copy selected text into Highlight, Strikethrough, Underline, and other applicable comment types'.
Click the 'OK' button at the bottom to save your changes. Try highlighting a new section of text to verify that it now automatically appears inside the comment note.
Easily Highlight and Comment on PDFs with WPS Office
If you need a fast, reliable, and lightweight tool for reviewing documents, WPS Office includes a powerful built-in PDF editor. It makes highlighting, commenting, and organizing document feedback incredibly straightforward without navigating complex settings menus.
- 1. Open your PDF in WPS: Launch WPS Office and open your target PDF file.
- 2. Select Annotation Tools: Navigate to the 'Comment' tab located on the top ribbon to access the full suite of markup tools.
- 3. Highlight and Add Notes: Click the 'Highlight' tool, select your text, and double-click the highlight to easily type any additional feedback or notes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this setting update my existing highlights in the PDF?
No, enabling the 'Copy selected text' preference only affects new annotations created after the setting is turned on. It will not retroactively copy text into highlights you made previously.
Why is my text still not copying into the comment after enabling the preference?
Ensure that the document you are highlighting actually contains selectable text and is not an image-based scanned PDF. If the text is an image, you must perform OCR (Optical Character Recognition) first before the text can be copied.
Does this auto-copy feature work with the Strikethrough tool?
Yes, once this preference is enabled in the Commenting settings, it applies to Highlight, Strikethrough, Underline, and Replace text annotations.
How do I view the copied text once I highlight something?
You can view the copied text by either double-clicking the highlighted text on the page to open the pop-up note, or by opening the 'Comments' pane on the right-hand side of the Acrobat window.
