diff --git a/src/plugins/coreplugin/messageoutputwindow.cpp b/src/plugins/coreplugin/messageoutputwindow.cpp
index 36b6db96e81..d441dda0c4f 100644
--- a/src/plugins/coreplugin/messageoutputwindow.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/coreplugin/messageoutputwindow.cpp
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@
 #include "outputwindow.h"
 #include "icontext.h"
 #include "coreconstants.h"
+#include "find/basetextfind.h"
+
+#include <aggregation/aggregate.h>
 
 using namespace Core::Internal;
 
@@ -38,6 +41,17 @@ MessageOutputWindow::MessageOutputWindow()
 {
     m_widget = new Core::OutputWindow(Core::Context(Core::Constants::C_GENERAL_OUTPUT_PANE));
     m_widget->setReadOnly(true);
+    // Let selected text be colored as if the text edit was editable,
+    // otherwise the highlight for searching is too light
+    QPalette p = m_widget->palette();
+    QColor activeHighlight = p.color(QPalette::Active, QPalette::Highlight);
+    p.setColor(QPalette::Highlight, activeHighlight);
+    QColor activeHighlightedText = p.color(QPalette::Active, QPalette::HighlightedText);
+    p.setColor(QPalette::HighlightedText, activeHighlightedText);
+    m_widget->setPalette(p);
+    Aggregation::Aggregate *agg = new Aggregation::Aggregate;
+    agg->add(m_widget);
+    agg->add(new Core::BaseTextFind(m_widget));
 }
 
 MessageOutputWindow::~MessageOutputWindow()