Highlighting text in preview without "touchpad click"

I am working a lot on pdfs in which I have to highlight certain parts. I use Mac's Preview. So far I have been using the touchpad, by e.g. clicking and then dragging the cursor over the relevant section. This might sound a bit silly, but the clicking and dragging is become a hassle (if you do it for a few hours) since you have to keep the touchpad pressed while highlighting the text.
Is there a way that i only have to click a key and then can simply highlight with the touchpad the text In short, can I replace the click on the touchpad with a key on the keyboard? I would keep the key pressed with my left hand and move with my right hand on the touchpad. Would be - at least for me - much easier.
Hope i was clear enough. Any hint would be very much welcome!!

Even easier than your suggested solution is to turn on the highlighted gestures in the screenshot below in System Prefernces > Trackpad | Point & Click.
Once they're set, to highlight you just tap (not click) once at the beginning of the text you want highlighted, then 3-finger swipe to extend the highlighting.
Give it a try. I think you'll find it rather effective...

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