With the extensive and constantly increasing popularity of Google Docs, it’s important to learn to use it smartly, and text highlighting is one of the most useful tricks to consider. It is undoubtedly an effective visual method to learn and categorize content. As explained in this study, highlighting not only helps draw attention, but also helps digest and review information easily.

While the end goal is to mark important text by highlighting, using random colors might lead to a messy document. Hence, it’s important to understand how to highlight in Google Docs properly and effectively. Let’s begin with the basics!

How to Highlight in Google Docs

It’s pretty easy to select and highlight text in Google Docs. Here’s how you go about it:

Desktop

1. Select the desired words using your mouse or keyboard by holding down shift and dragging/moving your cursor across the text you wish to highlight.
   

   Selecting the desired text

2. Next, search the toolbar for a little “pencil” icon, next to the icons for bold and italic. When you hover over the “pencil” icon it should say “Highlight color.”
   

   Selecting the ‘Highlight Color’ option

3. Click on that icon and choose a color from the given options. If you don’t find the color of your choice, click on “custom” and choose a color from the available options.
   

   Choosing from the color options

4. Next, click the cursor anywhere other than the selected words, and the text will now be highlighted!
   

   Choosing the desired color

Mobile Devices (iOS or Android)

If you’re using a mobile device, here’s how to accomplish highlighting in a Google Docs document:

• Tap anywhere on the text that you need to highlight. Use the markers that pop up to select the entire text, and then release your finger.
• Tap on the “A” next to the plus sign.
• Choose “Text” from the menu that pops up and select “Highlight Color”.
• Select a color of your choice from the options and the text will be highlighted!

Remove Highlighting

Now, if you wish to make your document simple and clean, without any highlights, follow these steps:

• Select highlighted text by dragging your mouse over it.
• Click on the highlight option from the toolbar.
• When the color panel appears, choose None — usually available at the top.

Highlight Tool Add-on

While highlighting text in a Google Doc, you might end up making the doc rainbow-colored. At this point, it’s essential to organize it and use a standard. The built-in highlight tool helps you do exactly that.

Highlight Tool is a smart add-on that helps you highlight words or sentences to emphasize them and perform certain activities for a given sentence or word. Users can share a set of personalized highlighters with others to be on the same page.

Benefits

Here are the major benefits when using this tool:

• Customize and organize content into libraries.
• Offer instructive feedback.
• Export the highlighted text to another document based on color or sequence.
• Categorize ideas or themes.
• Provide user-specific feedback.
• Make the feedback process easier and quicker.
• Help improve the overall writing style.
• Share and collaborate seamlessly

Uses

The tool proves useful for all who use Google Doc extensively, especially those who need to share feedback or edit documents. These might include:

• Teachers
• Content editors
• Communication specialists
• Students
• Marketing managers
• Reviewers

Installation

• Click on “Get add-ons” from the “Add-ons” menu.
• Look for the “Highlight Tool” application and install it.
• Once installed, select “Start” and a menu pops up on the right side.
• Click on “Highlighter Library”, create a label in the given text box and select a color for highlighting.
• Export the highlighted sections in a different document by clicking on “By color” under the “Extract Highlights” button.
• A new window opens for you to select a destination to generate this information.
• Choose a destination and click “Extract.”
• Click on “Link to document.” This opens a fresh window containing all highlighted notes, organized by color in a neat and clean document.

The tool helps isolate key information in a document, making it an effective way to create a study guide or similar documents.

Highlight Quickly

1. Highlight a specific section of the document.
   
2. Go to the Highlight Tool.
   
3. Select a color of your choice.
   

    

Highlight an Entire Document

1. Open your document.
2. Press Ctrl+A to select an entire document in Windows or press Command+A on Mac.

Or:

1. Open your Google Doc.
2. Click on the Edit menu.
3. Choose the Select all option.

Shortcuts

There’s no direct keyboard shortcut available for highlighting in Google Docs. But here are a few keyboard shortcuts to select text:

• Ctrl+A — Select all
• Shift+Left or Right arrow — Extend selection one character left or right.
• Shift+Up or Down arrow — Extend selection one line up or down.
• Ctrl+Shift+Left or Right arrow — Extend selection one word left or right.
• Ctrl+Shift+Up or Down arrow — Highlight everything to the beginning/end of the paragraph.

Conclusion

The Highlight Tool add-on helps add a colored highlight and lets you create a visual outline. It’s a smart trick to follow when you want to emphasize something in a document but don’t want to mention it explicitly. It also helps you keep documents organized.

That’s pretty much all you need to know about how to highlight in Google Docs. Follow the steps closely and you’ll be highlighting your important text in no time.