App to highlight PDF

For reasons of study or work, you have to deal with documents in PDF format every day and you have the habit of highlighting the parts that you think are most important within them. But now a small problem has arisen: for a few days you will be away and you will not have your trusty PC at hand. This means that you will be forced to work from your tablet or smartphone and you don’t know which app to rely on to continue highlighting your PDFs.

That’s the way it is, am I right? Then don’t worry, because in this guide I will point out some apps to highlight PDFs that will allow you to complete your work even while you are on the move or, in any case, when you do not have a computer at your disposal.

It should be just the one for you. I would say then not to waste any more time chatting and to take action immediately. Analyze the apps for Android and iOS / iPadOS that you find listed below, identify the one that you think will do the most for you and start using it by following the instructions I am about to give you. Having said that, I just have to wish you good reading and good work!

Index

• App to highlight PDF on Android
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader
  • Xodo PDF
  • Other apps to highlight PDF on Android
• App to highlight PDF on iPad
  • Books
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader
  • Other apps to highlight PDF on iPad

App to highlight PDF on Android

Let’s start this discussion starting with some of the best PDF highlighting apps on Android. All the solutions that I will list you below are available in the Google Play Store. If you have a device without Google services, such as a Huawei smartphone or tablet with AppGallery, you can use third-party stores.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

The first solution that I recommend you to try is Adobe Acrobat Reader, one of the best free PDF highlighting apps that also offers the possibility to insert annotations and freehand drawings in PDFs. However, I point out that there are some advanced functions (such as those that allow you to combine multiple files and export PDFs in other formats) available only by subscribing to a 10.99 euro/month subscription.

That said, let’s take action. After installing and starting Adobe Acrobat Reader, press the File button (at the bottom, in the center), select the item On this device and choose the file to edit. Alternatively, you can take a PDF saved on Document Cloud, Google Drive, Dropbox or other services by pressing one of the appropriate words.

After opening the PDF to be highlighted, presses the symbol of the white pencil on a blue background (bottom right) and, in the opened menu, select the item Comment. At this point, to highlight the PDF, press the highlighter icon located at the bottom left and tap the yellow dot located on the right to choose the color of the highlight and its degree of opacity.

When you are ready to do so, start highlighting the text of your interest by swiping your finger on it. The first time you use the highlighting function, you will be asked to enter your name in the appropriate text field, so as to allow the identification of the changes: if you want to ignore it, press the word Ignore, otherwise, write your own name and presses the Save item.

Once you have finished editing, press the (✓) button at the top left and you’re done. If you want to share the edited PDF with other users, click on the share symbol (top right), select the Share copy item and select one of the sharing options from those available. Easier than that ?!

Xodo PDF

Another app that I highly recommend you to try is Xodo PDF, which features a clean and minimal user interface that makes it easy to use. It integrates all the functions necessary to read and edit files in PDF format, including that relating to text highlighting.

After installing and starting Xodo PDF, scroll through the information sheets that illustrate the operation of the app, then press the item Grant, grant all the necessary permissions and tap on the file of your interest. To browse more specifically between files saved locally or in the cloud, press the button (≡) located at the top left, select the source from which to download the PDF ( Recent, Browse Folders, SD Card, Dropbox, etc.) and presses on the document you are interested in changing.

Once the file of your interest has been opened, press on the pencil symbol (top right), then press on the highlighted A symbol located at the top left and swipe your finger over the portion of text of your interest. In case you want to change the color of the highlight, press the palette icon in the opened box and change the color and opacity using the appropriate buttons and on-screen menus.

After making the changes to the PDF, click on the (x) (top right). Then, to share the PDF, press the sharing icon (top) and select a save or share option from those available.

Other apps to highlight PDF on Android

If the solutions mentioned above did not satisfy you, I would like to point you to other noteworthy PDF highlighting apps on Android. Take a look at them at least and you won’t regret it.

• Foxit Mobile PDF– this free app allows you to edit PDF files by adding annotations and highlights to them, all in a free and easy way.
• PDF Reader– as you can guess from its name, this app is a simple reader of PDF files which, among other things, also allows their modification by adding highlights, notes and so on. I would also like to point out the possibility of taking advantage of extra functions by making in-app purchases from € 1.09.

App to highlight PDF on iPad

Now let’s see some of the best PDF highlighting apps on iPad. Obviously, the solutions I’m going to tell you about are also available on the iPhone, where they work in an almost identical way.

Books

The first app I recommend you try on your iPad (or iPhone) is Books (called iBooks up to iPadOS 11 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra). It is a solution developed by Apple and included “standard” on the devices of the “bitten apple”, through which it is possible to read and edit eBooks and PDF documents. Of course it integrates perfectly with iCloud and, for this reason, by importing a document on it, it will be synchronized on all the devices associated with your Apple ID.

How to use? It’s simple: after opening a PDF file (for example in the browser or in a cloud storage app), click on the share icon present in the latter and select the Copy to Books or Open in Books option (depending on the application in use) from the menu that is proposed to you.

Subsequently, to highlight the PDF, press the pencil icon located at the top right and then on the highlighter symbol located at the bottom left. Once this is done, select the color you want to use for highlighting by pressing on the dot of the color to use or, if you want to use a custom color, press on the multicolored dot.

Once you have finished editing the document, press the pencil icon again to exit edit mode and, if you wish, press the share symbol (top left) to share the edited file using one of the available options.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Since Adobe Acrobat Reader (which I already told you about in the chapter dedicated to Android apps ) is also available for iPad, I highly recommend using it.

After installing and starting Adobe Acrobat Reader on your iPad, click on the File button at the bottom, then on the wording On this iPad (or on the name of one of the cloud services listed in the left sidebar, such as Document Cloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox ) and click on the PDF to edit.

At this point, press on the symbol of the white pencil on a light blue background (bottom right) and, in the menu that has opened, tap on the word Comment. Then press the highlighter icon located at the top left, tap the yellow dot on the right of the toolbar and, in the menu that opens, select the color of the highlight and its degree of opacity using the appropriate buttons. At this point, all you have to do is swipe your finger over the text you want to highlight.

If you are asked to do so, provide your name in the appropriate text field, in order to allow the identification of the changes made to the document (you can also ignore it by pressing the Ignore button ). Finally, to save the changes made to the file, tap on the End item (top left) and, to export a copy of the same, press the arrow pointing upwards (top right), then the Share a button. copy and select one of the sharing options from those available.

Other apps to highlight PDF on iPad

If the solutions mentioned above didn’t satisfy you, here are some other apps to highlight PDF on iPad that are definitely worth considering. Of course, they are also available for iPhone.

• File– if your iPad is updated to iPadOS 11 (or later), you can use Apple’s file manager to read, manage and highlight PDFs. As in the case of the Books app, File also boasts perfect integration with iCloud, so documents saved through this application in the iCloud Drive folder can be used by all devices associated with the same Apple ID.
• Readdle’s PDF Expert– is one of the best PDF file readers available for Apple devices, which allows you to edit, highlight and so on. Basically, it is free, but access to all advanced functions (such as those relating to text editing) requires an in-app purchase starting from € 7.99.