Search and Highlight Text in PDF For Free

Drop document here to upload
Select from device
Up to 100 MB for PDF and up to 25 MB for DOC, DOCX, RTF, PPT, PPTX, JPEG, PNG, JFIF, XLS, XLSX or TXT
0
Forms filled
0
Forms signed
0
Forms sent
Last updated on Sep 19, 2025

Try these PDF tools

Edit PDF
Quickly edit and annotate PDFs online.
Sign
eSign documents from anywhere.
Request signatures
Send a document for eSignature.
Share
Instantly send PDFs for review and editing.
Merge
Combine multiple PDFs into one.
Rearrange
Rearrange pages in a PDF document.
Compress
Compress PDFs to reduce their size.
Convert
Convert PDFs into Word, Excel, JPG, or PPT files and vice versa.
Create from scratch
Start with a blank page.
Edit DOC
Edit Word documents.

Discover the simplicity of processing PDFs online

Card illustration
Upload your document in seconds
Card illustration
Fill out, edit, or eSign your PDF hassle-free
Card illustration
Download, export, or share your edited file instantly
Top-rated PDF software recognized for its ease of use, powerful features, and impeccable support
Users Most Likely To Recommend - Summer 2025
Grid Leader in Small-Business - Summer 2025
High Performer - Summer 2025
Regional Leader - Summer 2025
Easiest To Do Business With - Summer 2025
Best Meets Requirements- Summer 2025

Every PDF tool you need to get documents
done paper-free

Card illustration

Create & edit PDFs

Generate new PDFs from scratch or transform existing documents into reusable templates. Type anywhere on a PDF, rewrite original PDF content, insert images or graphics, redact sensitive details, and highlight important information using an intuitive online editor.
Card illustration

Fill out & sign PDF forms

Say goodbye to error-prone manual hassles. Complete any PDF document electronically – even while on the go. Pre-fill multiple PDFs simultaneously or extract responses from completed forms with ease.
Card illustration

Organize & convert PDFs

Add, remove, or rearrange pages inside your PDFs in seconds. Create new documents by merging or splitting PDFs. Instantly convert edited files to various formats when you download or export them.
Card illustration

Collect data and approvals

Transform static documents into interactive fillable forms by dragging and dropping various types of fillable fields on your PDFs. Publish these forms on websites or share them via a direct link to capture data, collect signatures, and request payments.
Card illustration

Export documents with ease

Share, email, print, fax, or download edited documents in just a few clicks. Quickly export and import documents from popular cloud storage services like Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox.
Card illustration

Store documents safely

Store an unlimited number of documents and templates securely in the cloud and access them from any location or device. Add an extra level of protection to documents by locking them with a password, placing them in encrypted folders, or requesting user authentication.

Customer trust by the numbers

64M+
users worldwide
4.6/5
average user rating
4M
PDFs edited per month
9 min
average to create and edit a PDF
Join 64+ million people using paperless workflows to drive productivity and cut costs

Why choose our PDF solution?

Cloud-native PDF editor

Access powerful PDF tools, as well as your documents and templates, from anywhere. No installation needed.

Top-rated for ease of use

Create, edit, and fill out PDF documents faster with an intuitive UI that only takes minutes to master.

Industry-leading customer service

Enjoy peace of mind with an award-winning customer support team always within reach.

What our customers say about pdfFiller

See for yourself by reading reviews on the most popular resources:
It's pretty good, but I feel like it could be made better. I have to constantly click instead of just being able to tab to next area. Maybe I am overestimating coders and their abilities =P but thats my only issue.
Dakota G
2017-11-02
I needed this program badly, just in the time for distance learning because of the Corona Virus. It was easy to navigate through and use. My only wish is that I would have found this program years earlier! I will update my rating to include the student (recipient) experience of pdfFiller after they return their first homework assignment.
Dawn
2020-04-15
What do you like best?
the way its sos easy to add documents, and it stores them to go back when you need them
What do you dislike?
nothing, it's easy to use, intellectually smart and fun
Recommendations to others considering the product:
it's great, easy to use, life saver!!
What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?
I fill out a lot of license applications in my field so this has been a god send.
Tim Murray
2020-02-06
Easy user interface Easy user interface, able to edit my document easily. I appreciated the tour, too. I will use pdfFiller again in the future and will recommend it to others.
Melissa Garrison
2024-07-29
best editor so far its easy to use, extremely helpful in editing my files the only thing i dont like is the $20 a month payment plan. other than that its thee PERFECT online solution to editing your files. id def recommend to other people
Game Master Tekken
2023-08-13
It gives me a lot of options to pdf editing It gives me a lot of options to pdf works that I did not find somewhere else, and even when I cannot readily pay for the service, I was given a trial with no gimmicks attached
Andre
2023-01-09
I lost a very important document and… I lost a very important document and thank you God for Dee OMG not only found the document but helped me save and print Dee was sent by God to help me today and your company should fill proud you have Dee as an employee. Pam Sweeton
Pamela Sweeton
2020-12-28
What do you like best? I usually dont like to take time to review but this one is warranted and a long time coming. What I like best is how many hours it has saved us. We subscribe to several tools and PDFFiller is one of them that we use on a daily basis at the office. I cannot tell you how much time this has saved us especially while submitting proposals. We also love the fact that it has an inbuilt ability to send out e-signature similar to docusign so we do not have to subscribe to a separate service for that. If there is one tool that has given us a 100x return on our investment that is PDFFiller. I am also thankful to the PDFFiller team as they keep on innovating and adding new features. What do you dislike? Nothing really. Like I said above, this tool as delivered massive value to our company. What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized? Editing PDF docs, adding, merging, e-sign docs etc etc. Avoids us having to scan docs I mean it has a bunch of features that once you start using it you will be like WOW! This is one of the MUST HAVE productivity tools in your arsenal.
Thomas Bibby Varghese
2020-08-06
I'm a layman when it comes to figuring out things. I'm a layman when it comes to figuring how do create things on the Internet. It's always cool when I can chat with someone who can figure out what I'm trying to do and have the patience, at least I think they have the patience when I'm going round and round with them on each step in getting my dilemma resolved. As before in chatting with someone at the chat desk, they have always been professional.
Cleon T
2020-06-08

Search Text in PDF. Search and Highlight

The search tool is one of pdfFiller’s the latest enhancements. Using this tool, you can find a word or a phrase in a PDF document. Now you will save even more time editing or annotating your PDFs because our search tool not only finds words, but also enables you to erase, highlight, and redact them. To activate the Search tool, click the Search button on the main toolbar or press CTRL+F on your keyboard.
Screen
The search toolbar will appear under the editing tools.
Screen
Type the text you want to find in the search field. The counter will show you the total number of search terms found in the document and the ordinal number of the current search term. The currently selected term is highlighted in green, the others in red.
Screen
To jump to the next search term, click the down arrow; to go to the previous instance, click the up arrow.
Screen

Search and Highlight Text in PDF Feature

Our Search and Highlight Text in PDF feature is designed to make your document navigation and information retrieval a breeze.

Key Features:

Quickly search for specific keywords in your PDF document
Effortlessly highlight text for easy reference
Customize highlight colors for better organization

Potential Use Cases and Benefits:

Students can easily find and highlight key information in study materials
Professionals can quickly locate important details in reports or contracts
Researchers can streamline the process of searching for relevant data in lengthy documents

Solve your document search and organization problems with our Search and Highlight Text in PDF feature. Stay productive and efficient with this user-friendly tool.

Get documents done
from anywhere

Create, edit, and share PDFs even on the go. The pdfFiller app equips you with every tool you need to manage documents on your mobile device. Try it now on iOS or Android!

How to Use the Search and Highlight Text in PDF Feature

The Search and Highlight Text in PDF feature is a powerful tool that allows you to quickly find and highlight specific text within a PDF document. Follow these simple steps to make the most out of this feature:

01
Open the PDF document you want to search and highlight text in.
02
Click on the search bar located at the top right corner of the screen.
03
Type in the keyword or phrase you want to search for.
04
Press Enter or click on the search icon to start the search.
05
pdfFiller will automatically highlight all instances of the searched text within the document.
06
To navigate through the highlighted text, you can use the arrow buttons located next to the search bar.
07
If you want to remove the highlights, simply click on the 'Clear Highlights' button.
08
You can also customize the highlight color by clicking on the 'Highlight Color' button and selecting your preferred color.
09
To save the changes made to the document, click on the 'Save' button located at the top left corner of the screen.

With the Search and Highlight Text in PDF feature, you can easily find and highlight important information within your PDF documents, making it easier to navigate and reference specific content. Start using this feature today and enhance your productivity!

Did you know?

Card icon
Evernote seems to find the PDF document that contains the search term, but doesn't mark the text or passage. The highlighted white boxes on the gray background are not matching my search. The gray background of the “normal” text is so dark that it is very difficult to read the text. The highlight box is usually at the end of the page.

For pdfFiller’s FAQs

Below is a list of the most common customer questions. If you can’t find an answer to your question, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
What if I have more questions?
Contact Support
Select Search & Remove Text. In the search results, click the plus sign (+) next to the document name to see all occurrences of the word or phrase. Then, select the occurrences you want to mark for redaction: To select all occurrences in the list, select Check All.
Sanitize your PDF documents Choose Tools › Redact. Click Sanitize Document in the top toolbar. Choose to selectively remove hidden information or remove all by clicking OK. Choose Save As… and save the file with a different name to avoid overwriting the original.
Select Search & Remove Text. In the search results, click the plus sign (+) next to the document name to see all occurrences of the word or phrase. Then, select the occurrences you want to mark for redaction: To select all occurrences in the list, select Check All.
How to Use the Search and Highlight Text in PDF Feature Open the PDF document you want to search and highlight text in. Click on the search bar located at the top right corner of the screen. Type in the keyword or phrase you want to search for. Press Enter or click on the search icon to start the search.
Use the Find command to search a PDF. You can search for words and phrases on a PDF file by simply using the Find command. Press Ctrl+F if you're using a Windows computer device, or press Command+F if you're using a Mac computer.
The most common reason that you can't highlight PDF documents is because the document doesn't actually contain any real text. Instead, it contains scanned text, which is essentially an image of the text. In this case, you won't be able to highlight, underline, strikethrough, or edit this text in any way.

Video Review on How to Search and Highlight Text in PDF

#1 usability according to G2

Try the PDF solution that respects your time.
Users Most Likely To Recommend - Summer 2025
Grid Leader in Small-Business - Summer 2025
High Performer - Summer 2025
Regional Leader - Summer 2025
Easiest To Do Business With - Summer 2025
Best Meets Requirements- Summer 2025