Highlight

1. An indication that text or other object has been selected with the mouse or keyboard. When highlighting text, the computer program will commonly reverse the colors of the currently selected text, make the text blue, or have dotted or bold lines around the selected text.
   
   Highlighting text allows a user to move, copy, or cut that selected text. Highlighting an object such as an icon also enables the user to cut, copy, delete, move, view, open, or otherwise manipulate that object.
   
   
2. With new versions of software such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, text can also be highlighted in various colors for quick reference. For example, "This text should be highlighted in yellow" if your browser supports it.

TIP: To highlight text using your mouse, position your cursor at the beginning of the text. Press and hold your primary mouse button (commonly the left-button); while holding the button, move the cursor to the end of the text and let go of the button. This will highlight all text from the beginning to the end; if you move your mouse down while holding down the mouse button you can also select multiple lines of text.

To highlight text with your keyboard on an IBM compatible computer, move the cursor to the beginning of the text with your arrow keys, hold down the shift key and press the arrow key in the direction you wish to highlight text; when done, let go of the shift key.

Use the keyboard and mouse in combination by moving the cursor to where you wish to begin highlighting, hold down the shift key and then click where you wish to finish highlighting.

Additional information: To highlight an object such as an icon in Windows, simply single-click the item.

Also see: Mark, Marquee, Reverse video, Shift clicking