Remove and Copy Highlighting for Text in PowerPoint 365 for Windows

Once you have highlighted your text in PowerPoint, you may need to remove the highlighting at some point in time. How you remove the highlighting may differ, depending upon whether you are working with contiguous or non-contiguous segments of text. We will explore both options.

Remove Highlight from Contiguous Text

Follow these steps to remove highlight from contiguous text within PowerPoint 365 for Windows:

1. Select the highlighted text, as shown in Figure 1, below.
2. 
   Figure 1: Select existing text that is highlighted
2. Next, access the Home tab of the Ribbon, and click the downward point arrow button adjacent to the Text Highlight Color button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, below. Doing so opens the Text Highlight Color gallery. Click the No Color option in this gallery, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 2.
3. 
   Figure 2: Choose the No Color option
3. Doing so removes the highlight from selected text.

Remove Highlight from Non-Contiguous Text

If your text is non-contiguously highlighted, follow these instructions to remove the highlighting:

1. Select the text box or placeholder that contains non-contiguous text from which you want to remove highlighting. Next, click anywhere within this text box or placeholder ensuring that you do not select the entire text box or placeholder. Also, do not select any words, and also do not select even an empty space. Ensure that you have a blinking insertion cursor, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
2. 
   Figure 3: Blinking insertion cursor
2. Now, access the Home tab of the Ribbon, and click the downward point arrow button adjacent to the Text Highlight Color button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, previously on this page. Doing so opens the Text Highlight Color gallery. Click the No Color option in this gallery, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 2, previously on this page.
3. Your cursor will turn into a highlighter, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4, below. Now you can remove highlight from text almost as if you were using a conventional eraser.
4. 
   Figure 4: The highlighter cursor works as an eraser
4. Drag over the highlighted text, and you'll see that the highlighting gets erased. Also, as you stop dragging, you'll notice that the cursor still shows as a highlighter, and you can erase the highlighting from more text segments, as can be seen in Figure 5, below.
5. 
   Figure 5: Highlighting removed from text segments