🌍Universal DocumentUniversal Document™
✦ All Pro features free during beta — no account required · no credit card · full access while we build ✦
← All tools

UD Highlight

ProFree during beta

Structural document highlighting that travels with the file. Unlike PDF annotation layers — which any reader can strip in seconds — UD highlights are embedded in the document metadata itself, tamper-evident and inseparable from the content.

Useful for legal document markup and contract highlighting where the annotation must survive version control, sharing, and printing. Removing a structural highlight invalidates the document seal.
🖊
Drop your document here
or click to browse · .uds .udr .pdf
Gold
Highlight 1

How UD Highlight differs from PDF annotations

PDF highlights in Adobe Acrobat, Word track changes, and browser annotations all sit on top of the document as a removable layer. Any reader can flatten, strip, or delete them. UD highlights are encoded in document metadata — removing them breaks the seal.

🔒
Cannot be silently stripped

PDF annotation layers can be removed in one click in any reader. A UD structural highlight is part of the document seal — removing it changes the integrity hash.

✈️
Travels with the file

Share a highlighted .uds via email, upload, or print — the highlight data travels with it. No separate annotation file. No sync required.

🏷
Labelled and queryable

Each highlight carries a label ("Key clause", "Action required") embedded in metadata. Legal and compliance teams can extract all highlights programmatically.

🎨
Colour carries meaning

Choose from five named colours with semantic intent. Unlike PDF where colour is purely visual, UD highlight colours are named and stored structurally.

Runs in your browser. No data sent to any server. Part of the Universal Document™ ecosystem.