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Feature Request: Smart PDF text selection and highlighting (like Xodo)

Canvas & Note

Dear Notewise Support Team,

I am writing to suggest a feature enhancement for PDF annotation in Notewise.Currently, when working on a PDF, highlighting is done primarily using the freehand highlighter tool. While this works well for standard notes, it makes it quite difficult to neatly highlight typed text layers in digital PDF documents without overlapping lines or smudging. Could you please consider adding a native PDF text selection highlighting feature, similar to how Xodo PDF or Adobe Acrobat handle it? Specifically, it would be amazing if users could: Long-press or drag to select a specific string of text directly on the PDF layer. See a popup menu with a "Highlight" button (alongside the existing copy/translate tools) to instantly snap a perfect highlight block over the selected text. Automatically align the highlight precisely over the font baseline. This feature is essential for students and professionals who study heavy textbooks and need clean, perfectly aligned highlights rather than manual freehand strokes. Thank you for considering this request and for constantly improving Notewise!

Best regards

Post type
💡 New Feature
4 comments

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Comments4

  • Robert

    Team•

    Aug 21

    Dear user,

    This feature is already supported in Notewise. Please check the screenshot below:

    • Silver Stapler

      •

      Aug 21

      Thank you for the reply. However, I cannot see the screenshot you mentioned. It seems that no image was attached to the comment.

      Could you please attach the screenshot again, or explain how to use this feature in Notewise?

      Thank you!

      • Robert

        Team•

        Aug 21

        https://help.notewise.dev/dashboard/articles/eeivzxi455cr9taq/0513051

        Please check the FAQ via the link above.

        You can long-press the text with your finger to select it, and then the Highlight option will appear.

        • Silver Stapler

          •

          Aug 21

          Thank you very much for your quick response and for pointing me to the FAQ. I have now checked the feature and confirmed that text selection with Highlight and Strikethrough works as you described.

          I was wondering whether it would be possible to extend this same text-selection functionality by adding two more text markup options:

          • Underline — a straight underline directly applied to the selected PDF text

          • Squiggly Underline — a wavy underline directly applied to the selected PDF text

          This would work in the same way as the existing Highlight and Strikethrough options: select the text → choose the desired markup → the annotation is automatically applied precisely to the selected text.

          Xodo already supports these four text markups (Highlight, Strikethrough, Underline and Squiggly Underline), and I think adding the two underline options to Notewise would make the existing PDF text-annotation system much more complete, especially for studying and annotating textbooks.

          Thank you again for the quick response and for your help!