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Word contains many highlighters to make your text pop off the screen just as if you were highlighting paper with a fluorescent marker. You can select text or an image and then highlight it, or use the Highlight tool to mark different parts of a document. You can also remove highlighting or quickly find highlighted items in your document.

Highlight selected text

  1. Select the text that you want to highlight.

  2. Go to Home and, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.

    The Text Highlight Color options are shown on the Home tab.

  3. Select the color that you want.

    Note: Use a light highlight color if you plan to print the document by using a monochrome palette or dot-matrix printer.

Highlight multiple parts of a document

This method is best for highlighting multiple parts of a document because the Highlight tool stays on until you decide to turn it off.

  1. Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.

    The Text Highlight Color options are shown on the Home tab.

  2. Select the color that you want.

    The Text Highlight Color button displays the selected color, and the mouse pointer becomes a Hightlighter Pointer Icon when you point to the area of your document that contains text.

    Note: Use a light highlight color if you plan to print the document by using a monochrome palette or dot-matrix printer.

  3. Select the text or graphic that you want to highlight.

  4. To stop highlighting, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color and select Stop Highlighting, or press Esc.

    The mouse pointer becomes a i-beam mouse pointer when you point to your document.

Remove highlighting from part or all of a document

  1. Select the text that you want to remove highlighting from, or press Ctrl+A to select all of the text.

  2. Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.

    The Text Highlight Color options are shown on the Home tab.

  3. Select No Color.

Quickly find highlighted text

  1. If you are using Word 2016 or Word 2013, select Find > Advanced Find.

    The Find and Replace box appears.

  2. Select Format > Highlight.

    Click Find and then click Advanced Find

    If you don't see the Format button, select More.

  3. Select Find Next.

Highlight selected text

  1. Select the text that you want to highlight.

  2. Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.

    The Text Highlight Color options are shown on the Home tab.

  3. Select the color that you want.

    Note: Use a light highlight color if you plan to print the document by using a monochrome palette or printer.

Highlight multiple parts of a document

This method is best for highlighting multiple parts of a document because the Highlight tool stays on until you decide to turn it off.

  1. Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.

    The Text Highlight Color options are shown on the Home tab.

  2. Select the color that you want.

    The Text Highlight Color button displays the selected color, and the mouse pointer becomes a Hightlighter Pointer Icon when you point to the area of your document that contains text.

    Note: Use a light-toned highlight color if you plan to print the document by using a monochrome palette or printer.

  3. Select the text or graphic that you want to highlight.

  4. To stop highlighting, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color and select Stop Highlighting, or press Esc.

    The mouse pointer becomes a i-beam mouse pointer when you point to your document.

Remove highlighting from part or all of a document

  1. Select the text that you want to remove highlighting from, or press Ctrl+A to select all of the text in the document.

  2. Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.

    The Text Highlight Color options are shown on the Home tab.

  3. Select No Color.

Quickly find highlighted text

  1. Select Find > Advanced Find.

    The Find and Replace box appears.

  2. Select Format > Highlight.

    Click Find and then click Advanced Find

    If you don't see the Format button, select More.

  3. Select Find Next.

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