Bluebeam - Highlight Tool

The Highlight tool enables traditional highlighter style markups and more.

Creating a Highlight Markup

Select the Highlighter tool using one of the following methods:
1. Go to Tools > Markup > Highlighter.
2. Click on the Text toolbar.
3. Press H on the keyboard.
Click and drag to place a free form line (simulating a pen or pencil) over the desired area. Release to end the line.

The behaviour of the Highlighter tool changes when Enable Text Highlighting is enabled in the Preferences and you are highlighting page text (see the note below). Under these conditions, when you click and drag over page text, the Highlighter tool will select just the text. Additionally, double-clicking a word will highlight that word.
1. The Enable Text Highlighting preference does not affect the Highlighter tool when it is used on non-text areas, including markups that can have text in them (for example, a Text Box or Callout). Additionally, if you click the Highlighter tool outside of a text area and drag it through some text, it will stay in the original free form mode even if Enable Text Highlighting is enabled.

Tips for using the Highlighter tool:

When the Enable Text Highlighting preference is enabled, you can override it and draw free-form highlights over a text area by holding CTRL while you click and drag.
Hold down SHIFT to draw straight horizontal or vertical lines.
Generally speaking, any number of highlights created at the same time are considered to be the same markup and will appear as one entry in the Markups list. Revu creates the markup list entry after a delay of about a second. To prompt it to create the markup without waiting, press ENTER after drawing a highlight.

The following image shows both a text highlight (with the Enable Text Highlighting preference enabled) and a free-form highlight.

Removing a Highlight Markup

To remove markups from a PDF, select the markup or markups on the PDF or from the Markups list and do one of the following:

Press DELETE on the keyboard.
Right-click and select Delete.

Attaching a Note to a Highlight Markup

You can attach a note to nearly any markup that does not have a text box of its own. Simply double-click the markup to open the Note pop-up window. Notes attached to markups are functionally similar to the Note Tool.

Adding an Action to a Highlight Markup

You can add an action to nearly any markup. Simply right-click the markup and select Edit Action to open the Action dialog box.

Icon Indicators in Markups

Markups might present with one or more of several indicator icons alerting users of certain conditions or attachments. These icon indicators appear below the markup to the right (or, in the case of grouped markups, below and to the right of the group) and include:

Action: Indicates that an action has been defined for this markup. Clicking this icon triggers the action.

Capture: Indicates that the markup has an embedded media, typically an image or video. Clicking this icon opens a preview window showing the embedded media (or first piece of media, if multiple are embedded) and provides easy access to several useful tools.

Reply: Indicates the existence of one or more replies to the markup in the Markups list. Hovering over the icon previews the replies and clicking it opens the Markups list (if it's not already open) and jumps directly to the markup's entry there. Users can turn off the ability to see reply indicators in the View menu.

Resizing or Adjusting a Highlight Markup

Select a markup to reveal its control handles. Each handle controls a different aspect of the markup's size and orientation.

Note: Only highlight markups made in pen mode can be resized or adjusted. Text-mode highlight markups cannot be moved or resized.

To rotate the markup, click and drag the orange handle outside the markup (when the markup is first placed, it will be at the top). By default, the markup is rotated in increments of 15°; to rotate in increments of 1°, hold down SHIFT while dragging.

The rotation can also be entered in the Rotation field found in the Layout section of the Properties panel.

To resize the markup, click and drag the appropriate yellow handle.

Changing a Highlight Markup's Appearance

The appearance of the highlighter line is configurable, including its colour, thickness, and opacity. Highlighter lines are, by default, fully transparent so as to let underlying content show through. This can be turned off (effectively turning the Highlight markup into a Pen markup).

To change the appearance of a Highlight markup, select it and click the Properties panel. Go to Window > Panels > Properties or press ALT+P to show the Properties panel if it is hidden. Several properties will also be available on the Properties toolbar when the markup is selected.

Appearance Properties

Colour: Sets the colour of the highlighter.

Opacity: Sets the opacity level of the highlighter.

Line Width: Sets the thickness (in points) of the highlighter line.

Highlight: Enabled by default, this makes the highlighter line appear completely transparent such that the underlying PDF content shows through without affecting its opacity. Unchecking this option effectively transforms the Highlight markup into a Pen markup.