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Last Updated on November vii, 2021 by Tom Buford

You've seen printed documents with sections of text that had been highlighted with a marker in yellow or some color. You can highlight text in MS Word documents without printing them out and using a marker. Keep reading to notice out how.

How to highlight text in MS Word

We'll look at ii types of highlighting. The showtime is highlighting 1 or more words alone or within a sentence.

Highlight one or more words in Discussion

examples of highlighting using the highlight feature in microsoft word

Examples of highlighting done using the highlight characteristic in Microsoft Word

To highlight text in Microsoft Word, select the text you lot wish to highlight. Then:

  • Open the Home tab of the ribbon.
  • In the first section of the Domicile tab you'll see the Paste department. The side by side section to the right is the text department where you can change fonts, font sizes, and more. In this section look for a small icon on the bottom row that looks like a tiny marker above a colored line.
  • Click that marker icon to open a panel of colors you tin select to highlight your text.
  • Choose a color.
highlight text button in microsoft word

The text highlight button in Microsoft Word

You should now see your text highlighted with the colour yous chose. Word is actually placing a colored background behind those words that y'all selected. The residue of the sentence will not be highlighted.

Note: If you have your computer prepare to nighttime mode, you may have white text on a nighttime background. In this instance, some highlight colors may be barely visible or not at all confronting the dark background. However, if you print the page or view it in light mode with a white groundwork, you volition see that the highlight is indeed there.

Highlight an entire paragraph in Microsoft Word

You tin can hands highlight an entire paragraph or more in MS Word using the previously mentioned method of selecting all of the words in the section you wish to highlight, so using the highlight button.

Highlight words, sentences, or paragraphs in MS Give-and-take using Shading

use shading to highlight text in MS Word

Examples using the Shading feature to highlight text in Microsoft Give-and-take

The second type of highlighting nosotros'll larn allows us to highlight the total width of the entire paragraph block.

Give-and-take provides some other method of highlighting unmarried words, entire sentences, and paragraphs, but it calls it shading. Here are some differences betwixt highlighting and shading.

  • More colors are available with shading than when you apply the highlight button in the Dwelling tab.
  • Shading allows you to highlight words with a patterned color. Basic highlighting allows colors only.
  • Highlighting all of the text using the select and highlight method mentioned previously highlights just the text and the blanks between words. It does not highlight the entire margin to margin block that shading provides.
  • Shading can be used to place a color background behind an entire paragraph from left margin to correct margin even if it is a one word sentence. If your certificate or design called for it, you could have two or three words centered with a rectangle shaped background from left margin to correct margin.

You'll find the Shade function hidden away under the Design tab. With the Design tab open, look all the way to the right for a button/icon labeled Page Borders. If you mouse over that button, the tooltip will say Borders and Shading.

shading in microsoft word

The shading control in Microsoft Discussion

To shade specific words:

  • Select the text.
  • Nether the Pattern tab, click the button labeled Folio Borders on the right cease of the ribbon.
  • From the box that opens, select the Shading tab.
  • On the left side, click inside the box below the Fill label.
  • Cull your shade (highlight) color. If you don't see exactly the color you demand, select the More Colors… button below the current color choices. From there you tin can find practically any colour you could wish for.
  • On the right side, you should see a square with your selected words in it. Below that square, click in the box to choose Text or Paragraph.
  • To highlight only the text you've selected, choose Text. To highlight the entire paragraph block which extends from the left margin beyond the last word to the right margin, choose Paragraph.

I've included photos of a Microsoft Word certificate that illustrates the apply of the dissimilar highlighting and shading uses that I've discussed in this article.

I consider the Discussion's shading function to be more useful than the highlighting role if yous need any more than the about basic highlighting—select a word and highlight information technology with one of fifteen colors.

With a footling forethought, the shading role can exist quite useful in laying out a document with absolute sentences, creating signs, or designing pamphlets.

You can find more tips for using Microsoft Word hither.

You'll find video tips for using Microsoft 365 here.