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How to highlight in Google Docs

The basics, the shortcuts that exist, the one that does not, and how to clean up afterwards.

The highlight tool

Select text, then click the marker icon on the toolbar (next to the text-color "A"). Pick a color and the selection gets that background. On a narrow window the icon may hide behind the ⋯ overflow button at the right end of the toolbar. The same control is under Format → Text → Highlight color.

Shortcuts that exist

• Paint format: select a highlighted word, click the paint-roller icon (or press Cmd+Option+C on Mac, Ctrl+Alt+C on Windows), then select the text you want to match and press Cmd+Option+V / Ctrl+Alt+V. Double-click the roller to keep painting onto several selections.
• Repeat last action: after highlighting once, select the next passage and press Cmd+Y (Ctrl+Y). Docs repeats the highlight in the same color. This is the fastest built-in way to keep one color going.
• Select faster: double-click a word, triple-click a paragraph, and Shift+Arrow to extend by character or Shift+Cmd+Arrow (Shift+Ctrl+Arrow) to extend by word.

The shortcut that does not exist

There is no keyboard shortcut for "highlight in yellow". Docs has no default binding for highlight color, and it does not let you add one. Every method that gives you one-key highlighting is an add-on or a browser extension. If you want named colors you can hit without touching the palette, that is what a sidebar highlighter like Highlight Harvest is for.

Removing highlights

• One passage: select it, open the marker menu, and choose None.
• Every highlight in the doc: press Cmd+A (Ctrl+A) to select all, open the marker menu, and choose None. This clears only background colors; bold, links, and headings stay.
• Clear all formatting: Cmd+\ (Ctrl+\) strips highlights along with everything else, so use it only on plain text.

Highlights and sharing

Highlights are part of the document, so everyone with access sees them. If you are marking up a shared doc for yourself, make a copy first (File → Make a copy) or use comments instead. Suggesting mode does not track highlight changes the way it tracks text edits.

Getting your highlights out

Once a doc is marked up, the useful step is pulling the highlights into a list you can revise from or paste into notes. Docs cannot do that on its own; here are the three ways that work.