Have you ever highlighted text in a Google Doc, only to decide later that you want to remove the highlighting? Getting rid of highlighting is easy to do, although the exact steps depend on what type of highlight you used. In this article, I’ll walk you through the different methods for removing highlights in Google Docs.
Removing Standard Highlight
The most common type of highlighting in Google Docs is the standard yellow highlight. To remove a standard highlight:
- Select the highlighted text you want to remove formatting from. You can select multiple sections at once if needed.
- At the top of the document, click the highlight color icon (it will have a yellow background). Highlight icon
- The highlight will be removed instantly. The text will revert to its original black font color.
And that’s all there is to it! The standard highlight is very easy to add and remove in Google Docs.
Eliminating Text with Background Highlight
Sometimes you may highlight text by adding a colored background, rather than just changing the font color. To remove a background highlight:
- Select the text with the highlight background.
- Click the “Text background color” icon (it looks like a paint bucket) at the top of the document. Text background color icon
- Select “No color” from the dropdown menu.
The colored background will be removed right away. This method works for any highlight color used as a text background.
Deleting Highlight Added from Comment
Google Docs gives you the option to highlight text when adding a comment. This ties the comment to the specific highlighted content. To remove this type of highlight:
- Right click on the comment with the highlight and choose “Delete comment” from the menu. Delete comment option
- The attached highlight will be removed along with the comment.
If you just want to get rid of the highlight but keep the comment, you’ll need to remove the formatting with the steps above after deleting the comment.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts to Remove Highlight
You can use keyboard shortcuts to eliminate highlights even faster in Google Docs.
To remove standard highlight:
- Windows/ChromeOS: Ctrl+Shift+\ (backslash key)
- Mac: ⌘+Shift+\ (backslash key)
To remove background color highlight:
- Windows/ChromeOS: Ctrl+Space
- Mac: ⌘+Space
Select the text first before using the shortcuts. The highlight will instantly disappear!
Removing Highlights from Imported Documents
Sometimes highlights can carry over unintentionally when importing Word or PDF documents into Google Docs.
Luckily, the methods above work to remove highlights from imported files as well. Just use the same select and click or keyboard shortcuts to delete any highlights you don’t want from the imported document text.
Never Highlight Important Text Again
Now you know how to easily get rid of highlights in Google Docs using just the toolbar, right-click menu, or keyboard shortcuts. So feel free to generously highlight text knowing you can remove it with just a few clicks.
