macOS 26 preview does not allow highlighting on much of text

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but in Language and Region in System Settings the Live Text has to be enabled

It appears they have abandoned the Preview app. It is not highlighting. I see multiple instances reporting the problem and there has not been a resolution that I see working yet. I saved the file as PDF, I exported as PDF, I will try printing it them I must get some work done. I'd highlight it myself but I don't have a printer here. Printing and saving as PDF worked. This is shameful I thought this was a professional organization. This is not responsible behavior, it is appropriate for the times but not for the integrity.

Does it work for you on a file with more complicated formatting? Try this one:

Try the table on the right side of page 26 (or any other similarly formatted pages). I tried with Text Selection both active and inactive and get some really funky selections:

Seems better with the left-side tables, but not the right-side ones.

[Edited by Moderator]

Doug.Smith wrote:

Not a huge deal, just coincidence that I happened to be doing this right before and after the update.

Worth reporting to Apple:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

I typically wait until the x.1 or x.2 update to move to a new major macOS version, but this time I decided to upgrade immediately on one of my Macs. This is the fun that comes with that choice.

Preview does not allow you to highlight text in a chart in a pdf. I tried reprinting to a pdf made no difference. Apple needs to fix this now.

Cool. Thank you for checking / confirming. What is notable is that I was highlighting text in the Chevy pdf just before the Tahoe update (the OS, not the truck, lol) without any problem in Preview. After the Tahoe update this text selection issue cropped up in Preview. I also downloaded a fresh copy of the pdf after the update in case my initial pdf was corrupted during the update, but that didn't seem to make a difference.

Not a huge deal, just coincidence that I happened to be doing this right before and after the update.

Same issue. Same files from before and after Tahoe. Tried running it through OCR and no change. Never an issue before and Adobe handles it okay still (both pre and post update). It'd be great to be able to use the new Preview on iPad as it's something I used to highlight documents daily on my Mac.

I'm having the same issue. I check credit card and bank statements and highlight confirmed transactions. Never a problem with Preview but now it will not highlight the currency amounts. Annoying. I also tried the trick of printing to a PDF, but the result was the same.

The 26.0.1 update was a security patch, not really a set of bug fixes. Expect those in 26.1, though most likely not all bugs will be addressed and it will depend on where this one falls in Apple’s list of priorities.

Thank you for your suggestion, @abis99. Alas, it only worked in a few text locations for me. Is there a print setting I'd need to check?

I also tried exporting the document with different settings, but to no avail. Even if its flattened to jpg, Preview will create boxes, in which I am unable to select text. ☹️

Problem is STILL not fixed, unbelievable! Apple is really going downhill. I have never seen such a buggy and unfinished software version being published by Apple. And a few months later it is STILL not fixed, very disappointing.

Same issue…

No fix for this with 26.0.1 :/

I also have this issue for a PDF in Preview... I use highlight in Preview all the time