- Using the Shift and the Right Arrow Keys
- By double-clicking and dragging
- Using the Left margin
Method 1: Highlight a Line Using the Shift and Right Arrow Keys
Step 1: Open your Word document.
Step 2: Click the line to be highlighted.
Once your document is ready, click the start of the line that you want to highlight. Press and hold the SHIFT and RIGHT ARROW keys.
Let go of the keys once you reach the end of the line.
You’ll notice that MS Word highlights the line by passing through each character.
Alternatively, you can press and hold the SHIFT + CTRL + RIGHT ARROW keys, so the highlighting goes through each word instead.
Method 2: Highlight a Line by Double-Clicking and Dragging
Step 1: Open your Word document.
Step 2: Double-click the line and drag.
At the start of the line, double-click and hold while dragging your cursor to the end of the line. You can highlight towards any direction depending on where you drag the cursor.
Alternatively, you can simply double-click and hold while dragging the cursor downward, toward the left margin.
You can highlight multiple lines using this method by dragging the cursor to the direction of the lines you want highlighted instead.
Method 3: Highlight a Line Using the Left Margin
This final method makes use of the left margin of your document. Unlike the previous ones, you can quickly highlight a line using this technique with a single click.
Step 1: Open your Word document.
Step 2: Click the Left margin.
Now that your document is ready, move your cursor to the Left margin across the line that you want to highlight.
Then, when your cursor changes into an arrow, click once.
If you need to highlight multiple lines, simply repeat this step while holding the SHIFT key.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve found this article helpful!
Line Highlighting
- To highlight a single line, move your cursor to the start of the line you want to highlight.
- Hold down a Shift key on your keyboard.
- With the Shift key held down, press the End key on your keyboard.
- A single line is highlighted.
Contents
- 1 How do you highlight a whole line?
- 2 How do I color a line in Word?
- 3 How do you highlight a horizontal line in Word?
- 4 How do you highlight an entire line in Word without text?
- 5 How do you highlight multiple lines of text in Word?
- 6 How do I create a border line in Word?
- 7 How do I bold a line in Word?
- 8 How do I change the color of a line in a Word table?
- 9 What is the shortcut key for highlighting text?
- 10 How do I highlight an entire document using the keyboard?
- 11 What are the 4 alignment options?
- 12 How do I select a line shape in Word?
- 13 How do I selectively copy text?
- 14 How do I bold an underline in Word?
- 15 How do I fill a border with color in Word?
- 16 How do I change the color of the bottom border in Word?
- 17 How do I change the color of an outline in paint?
- 18 How do you highlight text that Cannot be highlighted?
- 19 What are the 20 shortcut keys?
- 20 Is there a keyboard shortcut for highlighting Mac?
How do you highlight a whole line?
If you want to highlight a whole line of text, move your cursor to the start of the line, hold the Shift key, and then press the Down arrow . You may also use the shortcut key combination Shift + End . If you want to highlight all text (the entire page), press the shortcut key Ctrl + A .
How do I color a line in Word?
Change the color of a line
- Select the line that you want to change. If you want to change multiple lines, select the first line, and then press and hold CTRL while you select the other lines.
- On the Format tab, click the arrow next to Shape Outline, and then click the color that you want.
How do you highlight a horizontal line in Word?
Select a Horizontal Line
To do this, click the arrow on the Borders button, select “Borders and Shading” and then click the “Horizontal Line” button.
How do you highlight an entire line in Word without text?
Press and hold the SHIFT and RIGHT ARROW keys. Let go of the keys once you reach the end of the line. You’ll notice that MS Word highlights the line by passing through each character. Alternatively, you can press and hold the SHIFT + CTRL + RIGHT ARROW keys, so the highlighting goes through each word instead.
How do you highlight multiple lines of text in Word?
More Information
- Select the first item that you want. For example, select some text.
- Press and hold CTRL.
- Select the next item that you want. Important Be sure to press and hold CTRL while you select the next item that you want to include in the selection.
How do I create a border line in Word?
Inserting a line using the Borders and Shading dialog box
- Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to add a line.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- Click Borders in the Paragraph group.
- Select Borders and Shading.
- Select a border style, color and width.
How do I bold a line in Word?
Step 1: Go to the Word document where you want to add a bold line. Step 2: Press the “Enter key” to make a space between text and line. Step 3: Press and hold the Shift and dash (“-“) keys. Once the line is drawn on the page, press “Enter Key.” You can see the Word automatically generate a bold line on the page.
How do I change the color of a line in a Word table?
Add or change the line color
- Click the table or select the cells where you want to add or change borders.
- On the Tables tab, under Draw Borders, click the arrow next to Line Color. , and then click the line color that you want.
- On the Tables tab, under Draw Borders, click the arrow next to Borders.
What is the shortcut key for highlighting text?
Adding highlighting: Select the text you want to highlight, then press Ctrl+Alt+H. Removing highlighting: Select the highlighted text, then press Ctrl+Alt+H.
How do I highlight an entire document using the keyboard?
Note: To select an entire document, press CTRL+A. Press SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW. Press SHIFT+LEFT ARROW. Place the insertion point at the beginning of the word, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW.
What are the 4 alignment options?
There are four main alignments: left, right, center, and justified. Left-aligned text is text that is aligned with a left edge. Right-aligned text is text that is aligned with a right edge.
How do I select a line shape in Word?
Tips for selecting shapes and objects
- To select one object, click or tap the object.
- To select multiple shapes in a group, press and hold Shift or Ctrl while you click or tap the shapes.
How do I selectively copy text?
How to Copy and Paste Text from Multiple Locations in Microsoft…
- Select the block of text you want to copy.
- Press Ctrl+F3.
- Repeat the two steps above for each additional block of text to copy.
- Go to the document or location where you want to paste all of the text.
- Press Ctrl+Shift+F3.
How do I bold an underline in Word?
Change the underline style and color
- Select the text that you want to underline.
- Go to Home and select Font dialog box launcher . Tip: You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D.
- Use the Underline style drop-down list to select an underline style.
How do I fill a border with color in Word?
Change the inside (fill) color
- Select the shape or text box.
- On the Drawing Tools Format tab, click Shape Fill > More Fill Colors.
- In the Colors box, either click the color you want on the Standard tab, or mix your own color on the Custom tab.
How do I change the color of the bottom border in Word?
Click the “Box” button on the left of the “Page Border” tab’s window. Click the “Color” drop-down menu and choose a color for the border. This color will apply to any black default borders under the “Style” or “Art” drop-down menus, but you can still get more colorful.
How do I change the color of an outline in paint?
Click the eyedropper-shaped icon in the “Tools” section at the top of the Paint window. Click the color you want to replace. This will assign the color to the “Color 1” section at the top of the Paint window.
How do you highlight text that Cannot be highlighted?
Place the cursor near the text you need to copy. Then press the Windows key + Q and drag the cursor. You should see a blue box that you can now highlight the text by dragging the cursor.
What are the 20 shortcut keys?
Basic Windows keyboard shortcuts
- Ctrl+Z: Undo. No matter what program you’re running, Ctrl+Z will roll back your last action.
- Ctrl+W: Close.
- Ctrl+A: Select all.
- Alt+Tab: Switch apps.
- Alt+F4: Close apps.
- Win+D: Show or hide the desktop.
- Win+left arrow or Win+right arrow: Snap windows.
- Win+Tab: Open the Task view.
Is there a keyboard shortcut for highlighting Mac?
You can click and drag to highlight text, but it’s much faster to do so with the following keyboard shortcuts: Shift+Left or Right Arrow: Highlights previous or next character. Shift+Up or Down Arrow: Highlights previous or next line of text. Shift+Command+Up or Down Arrow: Highlights all text above or below cursor.
In Microsoft Word, highlighting words is not just selecting any text by mouse or by double-clicking on it. Imagine when you are reading any book and want to mark or display any important point you’ll use a highlighter pen. In a Word document, you can do it in a similar way.
MS Word users can highlight a single line of text, a paragraph, or a whole document. It is as simple as highlighting in Google Docs.
For highlighting text or grammatical errors Grammarly and ProWritingAid is the best tool you can use for free in MS Word.
You can highlight the phrase as well as change the highlighted color. Below are a few Microsoft Word highlight shortcut keys that help you add color behind the text. So how to highlight in Word using a keyboard?
Open Microsoft Word on desktop. Then select the color which you want to use for highlighting in Word documents, you can also change the color from the color palette from the menu as shown.
After choosing a highlighter color, now select the entire text which you want to highlight and then press Ctrl + Alt + H hotkey which is the Microsoft Word highlight shortcut command from the keyboard. See the example below-
Shortcut key to remove highlight in Word
In a Word document, to remove the color highlighting text using keyboard shortcut keys, just select text and press Ctrl + Alt + H shortcut again.
Shortcut to highlight in Word
To highlight all text and images during writing, you can use keyboard shortcuts to highlight them within the Microsoft Word document. Some basic commands are-
- For permanent highlighting, select all text and press Ctrl + Alt + H from the keyboard.
- Put the cursor at the starting position and then hold the Shift key and click at the end position of the last paragraph. You can also use Ctrl + A for that.
Microsoft Word highlight shortcut for line
- There is a shortcut to highlight an entire line in word also, select a particular line by just double-clicking on it.
- Now press Ctrl + Alt + H from the keyboard
- A single line will be get highlighted.
Learn: How to anchor a picture in Microsoft Word
Highlight selected text
-
Select the text that you want to highlight.
-
Go to Home and, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.
-
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.
-
Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.
-
Select the color that you want.
The Text Highlight Color button displays the selected color, and the mouse pointer becomes a 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.
-
Select the text or graphic that you want to highlight.
-
To stop highlighting, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color and select Stop Highlighting, or press Esc.
The mouse pointer becomes a when you point to your document.
Remove highlighting from part or all of a document
-
Select the text that you want to remove highlighting from, or press Ctrl+A to select all of the text.
-
Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.
-
Select No Color.
Quickly find highlighted text
-
If you are using Word 2016 or Word 2013, select Find > Advanced Find.
If you are using Word 2010, select Find.
The Find and Replace box appears.
-
Select Format > Highlight.
If you don’t see the Format button, select More.
-
Select Find Next.
Highlight selected text
-
Select the text that you want to highlight.
-
Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.
-
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.
-
Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.
-
Select the color that you want.
The Text Highlight Color button displays the selected color, and the mouse pointer becomes a 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.
-
Select the text or graphic that you want to highlight.
-
To stop highlighting, select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color and select Stop Highlighting, or press Esc.
The mouse pointer becomes a when you point to your document.
Remove highlighting from part or all of a document
-
Select the text that you want to remove highlighting from, or press Ctrl+A to select all of the text in the document.
-
Go to Home and select the arrow next to Text Highlight Color.
-
Select No Color.
Quickly find highlighted text
-
Select Find > Advanced Find.
The Find and Replace box appears.
-
Select Format > Highlight.
If you don’t see the Format button, select More.
-
Select Find Next.
Updated: 08/16/2021 by
The following sections contain information on how to highlight text on a computer, mobile device, or program. We’ve also included keyboard shortcuts, tips, and areas where you can practice highlighting text on this page.
Note
Keep in mind that if you type anything when text is selected, the selected text is replaced by what you type. If you do this as a mistake, use the undo feature.
How to highlight text on a desktop or laptop computer
Below are all the different methods of highlighting text, icons, and other objects on your computer using a desktop mouse, touchpad, and keyboard.
Tip
The methods below work in most operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- How to highlight text using your mouse.
- How to highlight using a touchpad on a laptop.
- Select text with the mouse button.
- How to highlight text using your keyboard.
- Practice highlighting text.
- How to highlight text using your keyboard and mouse.
- How to highlight an icon or another object.
- How to highlight multiple e-mails, files, icons, or other objects.
How to highlight text using your mouse
To highlight text using your mouse, position your cursor at the beginning of the text you want to highlight. Press and hold your primary mouse button (commonly the left button). While holding the mouse button, drag the cursor to the end of the text and let go of the mouse button. Once completed, all text from the beginning to the end should be highlighted. Below is an example of how text can be highlighted.
There is no limit to how much text can be highlighted. You can move to the end of a paragraph to highlight the full paragraph or keep holding the mouse button down and select multiple paragraphs or pages of text.
Tip
Text can be highlighted when your mouse pointer changes to an I-beam cursor.
Tip
You can highlight one line of text by clicking in the black space to the left of the line.
How to highlight using a touchpad on a laptop
To highlight text using a touchpad on a laptop, move the cursor to the beginning of the text you want to highlight. Press and hold down the primary mouse button below the touchpad. While continuing to hold down the button, move another finger (or one from your other hand) along the touchpad in the direction you want to highlight.
Tip
If the touchpad acts as a button, press down until you feel a «click,» and then drag your finger in either direction to highlight text.
Select text with the mouse button
Double-clicking a word highlights the word and triple-clicking a word highlights the full line or paragraph of text.
How to highlight text using your keyboard
To highlight with the keyboard, move to the starting location using the arrow keys. Then, hold down Shift, and press the arrow key in the direction you want to highlight. Once everything you want is highlighted, let go of Shift.
Tip
If you want to highlight one word at a time, press Ctrl while holding down Shift, and then press Left arrow or Right arrow.
Tip
If you want to highlight a whole line of text, move your cursor to the start of the line, hold Shift, and then press Down arrow. You may also use the shortcut key combination Shift+End.
Tip
If you want to highlight all text (the entire page), press the shortcut key Ctrl+A.
Note
If you are not working with text that can be edited (e.g., this paragraph), you cannot highlight text using these methods. However, they work in word processor documents, text documents, and any text field.
Practice highlighting text
Below is a text field where you can practice highlighting text using the keyboard.
How to highlight text using your keyboard and mouse
To use the keyboard and mouse in combination, begin by moving the cursor to where you want to start highlighting. Then, hold down Shift and click where you want to finish highlighting.
Tip
You can also practice this technique in the above text box.
How to highlight an icon or another object
To highlight an object like an icon in Windows, single-click the item. Once clicked, the icon or text should change to a different color, indicating it is highlighted.
To highlight multiple icons or other objects, drag a box around all files you want to highlight.
Tip
If you want to individually highlight files, hold down Ctrl on the keyboard and while still holding Ctrl, single-click each file you want to highlight.
How to highlight multiple e-mails, files, icons, or other objects
Users may highlight multiple objects at once using the mouse or mouse and keyboard. In many programs, you can draw a marquee around the items you want to highlight. To draw a marquee, click-and-hold the left mouse button outside the area of the items, and then drag the marquee to the opposite diagonal corner. Once you release the mouse button, the items contained in the box are highlighted. In the animated picture, we are selecting nine picture files.
If a program doesn’t support a marquee, highlight the first object in the series. Then, hold down Shift, click the last item you want to selected, and then let go of Shift. For example, clicking «Example» in the select field below, and then holding down Shift and clicking «Items» highlights all four available options.
Tip
To select only certain items from the list, hold down Ctrl, and click each item you want to highlight. Repeat this action to deselect an item.
How to highlight text on an Android smartphone and tablet
Press and hold down on any text with your finger, drag your finger over the text you’d like to highlight, and then let go. Upon letting go, a menu should appear in the top-right corner of the screen (shown to the right) that lets you cut or copy.
Tip
You may also press and hold on one word, the use the side bars to adjust the amount of highlighted text.
How to highlight text on an Apple iPhone and iPad
Press and hold your finger down on any text, drag your finger over the text you want to highlight, and then lift your finger. In the menu that appears, tap the Select option.
Tip
You may also press and hold on one word, then use the side bars to adjust the amount of highlighted text.
How to highlight text on a Chromebook
For Chromebooks that have no mouse buttons, you can copy and paste text by following the steps below.
Press down on the touchpad and keep your finger there. Then, while continuing to hold down on the touchpad, drag your finger in the direction you want to highlight text. When you’re finished highlighting, lift your finger.
Tip
You can also use many of the mouse and keyboard tips mentioned in our desktop and laptop section on a Chromebook.
How to highlight text on a Kindle
Press and hold your finger down on the starting word. Once that word is highlighted, drag your finger over any additional text to select it. When you’re finished highlighting, lift your finger.