Change highlight color in Mavericks preview?

I'm afraid this is not possbile anymore as Apple removed the workaround via the Fonts-Menu.

Discussed in the Apple Support Forum here :
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4145911?start=15&tstart=0
(same problem with underline colors)
and on MacRumors here : http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1658053
where they discussed what has changed since ML.


There is another workaround, which is actually a bug I think, but mah...

  1. Suppose you want to underline in blue. Highlight something in blue.
  2. Right-click on what you just highlighted, and make it underlined instead.
  3. Select the underline tool.
  4. Do cmd-z twice. This will remove the underline you just did.
  5. Underline what you want: it will be underlined in blue! :)

Steps 2 and 3 are actually interchangeable.

Edit: I have actually better:

  1. Write any text with color 1.
  2. Change its color to color 2.
  3. Select the highlight or underline tool.
  4. Do cmd-z. This should change the text color back to color 1. (If it is not the case, make sure the text you have written is not selected.)
  5. You now have the underline/highlight tool selected with the color box accessible. Select your color (even if already selected), then highlight/underline.

This was my Preview bug finding day :) Enjoy!


  1. Select the underline option
  2. Underline text by selecting
  3. Right click on underlined text and change it to a highlight color
  4. Underline text again by selecting
  5. Right click again on underlined text and choose a different color

The new highlighted color will be a mix of the two different colors.
Sort of like mixing food coloring; for example try mixing two yellows with a pink.

Screenshot