How to highlight an entire paragraph?

Question

I'd like to highlight paragraphs such that the highlight color appears as one whole rectangle underlying the entire paragraph. I have looked around but nothing gives me the desired effect so far.

For example \fcolorbox{} from xcolor cannot highlight an entire paragraph; \hl{} from soul leaves out spacings between lines uncolored.

I am wondering how I can do this?

Answer 1

Here's a list of other possible solutions

1. A solution that admits page breaks using mdframed:

   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage[framemethod=tikz]{mdframed}
   \usepackage{lipsum}
   
   \begin{document}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   \begin{mdframed}[hidealllines=true,backgroundcolor=blue!20]
   \lipsum[2]
   \end{mdframed}
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \end{document}
   

   

   The environments provided by the mdframed package are highly customizable so, for example, using the (inner)leftmargin, (inner)rightmargin options, you can produce this (the textwidth remains unaltered and the frame extends a little into the margins):

   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage[framemethod=tikz]{mdframed}
   \usepackage{lipsum}
   
   \begin{document}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   \begin{mdframed}[hidealllines=true,backgroundcolor=blue!20,innerleftmargin=3pt,innerrightmargin=3pt,leftmargin=-3pt,rightmargin=-3pt]
   \lipsum[2]
   \end{mdframed}
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \end{document}
   

   

2. Here's now a solution using the framed package and its shaded environment; this solution also admits page breaks:

   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage{xcolor}
   \usepackage{framed}
   \usepackage{lipsum}
   
   \colorlet{shadecolor}{blue!20}
   
   \begin{document}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   \begin{shaded}
   \lipsum[2]
   \end{shaded}
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \end{document}
   

   

3. Now a solution using the tcolorbox package; this solution admits page breaks inside tcolorbox if you load the breakable library and use the breakable key:

   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage{xcolor}
   \usepackage{tcolorbox}
   \tcbuselibrary{breakable}
   \usepackage{lipsum}
   
   \begin{document}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   \begin{tcolorbox}[breakable,notitle,boxrule=0pt,colback=blue!20,colframe=blue!20]
   \lipsum[2-20]
   \end{tcolorbox}
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \end{document}
   

   

4. A solution using the adjustbox package (no page breaks allowed):

   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage{xcolor}
   \usepackage{adjustbox}
   \usepackage{lipsum}
   
   \begin{document}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \noindent\adjustbox{bgcolor=blue!20,minipage=[t]{\linewidth}}{\lipsum[4]}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \end{document}
   

   

5. And finally, one solution using the fancypar package (this solution won't accept page breaks either):

   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage{fancypar}
   \usepackage{lipsum}
   
   \begin{document}
   
   \lipsum[4]
   \ZebraPar[colorone=blue!20,colortwo=blue!20]{\lipsum[4]}
   \lipsum[4]
   
   \end{document}
   

   

Answer 2

A combination of \colorbox and a \parbox works, as long as your paragraph doesn't need to be broken over pages. That won't work.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\noindent\colorbox{yellow}{%
    \parbox{\dimexpr\linewidth-2\fboxsep}% a box with line-breaks that's just wide enough
        {% your paragraph here:
        \lipsum[1]%
        }
    }
\end{document}

Answer 3

Is the todonotes package a possiblity? If so, Highlighting a Paragraph in LaTeX by Hinnerk Brügmann provides a solution. For some reason or the other the lipsum package didn't work well with it. The user provides the following code:

\documentclass[letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage[bordercolor=white,backgroundcolor=gray!30,linecolor=black,colorinlistoftodos]{todonotes}
\newcommand{\rework}[1]{%
\todo[color=yellow,inline]{Rework: {#1}}%
}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[2]
%------------------------------
% Update suggested by @Fran
%------------------------------
\rework{\protect\lipsum[2]}
%------------------------------
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}