Highlight Text in Microsoft PowerPoint

Use These Workarounds to Highlight Text in PowerPoint

If you need to emphasize some important words within your presentation, highlighting words may certainly help. A true highlight for PowerPoint is only available in Microsoft Office 365 (consider our Microsoft Office 365: Web Apps and Collaboration for Office 2013 course to learn more). If you’re not an Office 365 subscriber, there are two other ways to highlight text using PowerPoint.

While you can’t highlight text in PowerPoint the way you can in Word, you can make text in PowerPoint appear to be highlighted using a textbox to simulate a highlighted effect by applying a background color. You can use the glow text effect option as well. Take a look at the two options below.

Using the Text Box Option to Highlight Powerpoint Text

1. On the Insert tab, Text group, click on the Text Box button.
   
2. Draw a text box around the word that you want to highlight. Note: If your text is in a much larger text box, you may need to start your highlighting text box outside the boundaries of that original box.
   
3. Under Drawing Tools, click the Format tab.
4. From the Shape Style group, choose Shape Fill more button (the drop down arrow).
   
5. Select a color of your choice.
6. Right click on the highlighted object.
7. Choose Send to Back.
   

Now your text has the highlighted effect.

Using the Glow Text Effect to Highlight PowerPoint Text

1. Select the text that you want to emphasize.
2. Under Drawing Tools, click the Format tab.
3. Click Text Effects > Glow.
4. Then choose a Glow Variation.
   

Now your text has the highlighted effect.

Additional PowerPoint Resources

• To learn about upcoming classes on Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft applications, please visit our Course Schedule page.
• Power Point Power Tip:  Using the PowerPoint Selection Pane to Work with Complex Presentation Slides
• Finally, be sure to look through our other Software Tips for more on Microsoft Office!

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