Highlighting Text Using the Keyboard Only

Frank noted that it seems the Highlight tool is only accessible by using the mouse. He prefers to not use the mouse, preferring the keyboard instead. He wondered if there was a way to highlight selected words using just the keyboard.

Before answering, there is something that needs to be clarified: There is some ambiguity when it comes to the word "highlight." For instance, if I say I am going to highlight a word, some people think that means I am going to double-click the word. This isn't highlighting; it is selecting. In Word parlance, the two words have very specific meanings. You select text before you are going to do something with it, such as applying an editing or formatting command. Highlighting, on the other hand, is a formatting task accomplished by using the Highlight tool. (The Highlight tool is available in the Font group on the Home tab of the ribbon. It is analogous to a highlighter you use to mark text on a printed page.) In short, you first select text, and then you highlight the selected text by using the Highlight tool.

The ambiguity around the word "highlight" was evident when WordTips subscribers were asked how they can highlight text using the keyboard only, and not the mouse. Many were quick to respond with ways that told how to use the keyboard to select text, such as holding down the Shift key while using the arrow keys or using any number of other selection methods. While this is helpful, it is only part of the solution. The other part deals with how you can actually highlight whatever text has been selected, using just the keyboard.

Fortunately, Word includes a shortcut you can use to highlight text: just select it and then press Alt+Ctrl+H. The selected text is then highlighted, as desired.

If this shortcut doesn't seem to work for you, then it could be that you don't have a highlight color specified. The easiest way to set the highlight color is to use the mouse (click the down-arrow next to the Highlight tool), but you can also do it using the keyboard:

1. Select the text you want to affect.
2. Hold down the Alt key until you see a bunch of letters and numbers appear next to the ribbon tools. (After they appear you can release the Alt key and they will remain in place.)
3. Press H and then I. Word displays the palette of highlighter colors.
4. Use the arrows keys to select which color you want.
5. Press Enter. The highlight color is applied to the text you selected in step 1.

From this point on during the current Word session you can use the Alt+Ctrl+H shortcut to add highlighting or to remove it from previously highlighted text.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11643) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Highlighting Text Using the Keyboard Only.