Free Highlight Tool
Click Free Highlight Tool to add freehand highlight annotations to documents:
Figure 1. Comment Tab, Free Highlight Tool
When the Free Highlight Tool is enabled, click and drag to create freehand highlights:
Figure 2. Free Highlight Tool Examples
Press Ctrl+' to open the Properties pane for selected free highlight annotations and view/edit properties:
Figure 3. Free Highlight Tool, Free Highlight Properties Pane
•Subject is the name of the highlight annotation, as referenced in the Comments pane.
•Author is the name of the user that created the highlight annotation.
•Name is the unique name of the highlight annotation, as referenced within the application.
•Created is the date and time at which the highlight annotation was created.
•Modified is the date and time at which the highlight annotation was last modified.
•Read Only is the read only status of the highlight annotation. If this property is enabled then users cannot interact with the annotation. Please note that it is necessary to use JavaScript to change the value of this property.
•Printable is the print status of the highlight annotation. If this property is enabled then the annotation is printed with the document. If this property is not enabled then the annotation is not printed.
•Locked is the locked status of the highlight annotation. If this property is enabled then the annotation cannot be deleted and its properties (including its position and size) cannot be modified by users.
•Marked is the marked status of the highlight annotation. This property references the status of the comment in the Comments pane, and is enabled when the check box for comments is selected there.
•Layer determines the optional content layer to which the highlight annotation belongs. Further information about layers is available here.
•Fill Color determines the color of the highlight annotation.
•Opacity determines the level of transparency in the highlight annotation.
•Blend Mode determines how highlight annotations blend with overlapping content. These options are explained here.
Note that when the Free Highlight Tool is enabled, the Format tab is available and can be used to customize the default properties of highlight annotations:
Figure 4. Format Tab, Free Highlight Tool
•Click options in the Shape Style group to select alternative default highlight annotation styles.
•Click Fill Color to determine the color of the highlight annotation.
•Use the Opacity dropdown menu to determine the level of transparency for the highlight annotation.
•Use the Blend Mode dropdown menu to determine how highlight annotations blend with overlapping content. These options are explained here.
•Click Keep Selected to keep the Highlight Tool enabled and add multiple highlight annotations to the document. If this option is not enabled then PDF-XChange Editor will revert to the designated default tool immediately after creating one highlight annotation.
•Click Exclusive Mode to enable exclusive mode, which simplifies the process of using the Highlight Tool. When Exclusive Mode is enabled, the pointer ignores all interactive elements of documents other than base content. This makes it possible to create highlight annotations on areas that overlap with other content without the risk of accidentally selecting undesired items. When Exclusive Mode is disabled, the pointer recognizes and interacts with all underlying elements in the usual manner.
•Click Properties to open the Properties pane and view/edit Highlight Tool properties, as detailed above.
•When highlight annotations are selected, the Style Tools dropdown menu is available in the Format tab. It contains the following options:
•Click Copy Comment Style to copy the style properties of highlight annotations.
•Click Apply Copied Comment Style to apply a copied highlight annotation style to selected annotations.
•Click Apply Copied Comment Appearance to apply a copied highlight annotation style to selected annotations.
•Click Make Current Properties Default to set the properties of the highlight annotation as the default properties for subsequent annotations.
•Click Apply Default Properties to apply the default highlight annotation properties to selected highlight annotations.
•When highlight annotations are selected, the Pop-up group is available in the Format tab and can be used to interact with the pop-up note of the annotation:
•Click Open to open the pop-up note.
•Click Hide to hide the pop-up note.
•Click Reset Location to reset the location of the pop-up note.
•When highlight annotations are selected, the Arrange tab is also available and can be used to manipulate comments as detailed here.
Note that the Comment Styles Palette can be used to edit and save customized highlight annotation styles for subsequent use, and the Commenting preferences can be used to view/edit preferences for all comments.