5 Free and Easy Methods to Search A PDF

The process of searching for a specific word or phrase in a PDF document can be time-consuming and tedious, especially when working with large PDF documents and trying to find information quickly.

To help you solve this problem, we show you five ways to optimize your PDF search process in this guide.

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Search A PDF Using Powerful PDF Rearder[Available on Mac and Windows]

An robust and thorough PDF reader that offers users a strong search function is PDFgear PDF Reader. It enables you to quickly and simply find the data you require inside of PDF documents. Anyone trying to rapidly find specific information within a PDF may consider using PDFgear PDF Reader. Additionally, it provides a variety of capabilities, such as text highlighting, annotation, and more.

Step 1. Download and install the PDF software

First, download and install PDFgear on your Mac or Windows PC, then open the PDF file you wish to search for in the software.

Step 2. Activate the search feature

Look for a “Search” or “Find” feature, which is located in the top toolbar or under the “View” menu. Alternatively, Press Ctrl + F (or Command + F on a Mac) to activate the Find feature.

Type in the keyword or phrase you are looking for in the search bar. Press “Enter” to initiate the search.

Step 3. Search in a PDF

PDFgear will highlight all instances of the keyword or phrase within the PDF document. You can navigate through the search results by clicking on the left or right arrow by clicking on the highlighted instances directly.

Search in A PDF with Online PDF Editor

You can utilize the Search feature of a cloud-based PDF editor to look up specific terms or phrases inside the document. You can quickly search, edit, and convert PDF files using PDFgear, an online PDF editor. It can be applied to a number of activities, such as text-based PDF document searches.

Step 1. Open PDF files in the PDF Editor

Open PDFgear online PDF editor with the browser on your device. Then Upload your PDF file to the online editor.

Step 2. Select the Find feature

Select the “Find” icon in the toolbar, It is an icon like a magnifying glass.

Enter the search term you want to find in the search box and click “enter” on your keyboard.

Step 3. Search words and phrases in PDF

The editor will then highlight any instances of your search term in the PDF.

You can click through the highlighted search terms to find the section you’re looking for.

Search in A PDF with the Preview Application on Mac

The default PDF and image viewer for macOS is called Preview. It has a function for searching for text inside a PDF file. Follow the instructions below to use this feature.

Step 1. Open the PDF file in the Preview application on your Mac. Most of the time, you can accomplish this by double-clicking the file in Finder or by starting Preview and choosing the relevant file from the “File” menu.

Step 2. Either use the keyboard shortcut “Command+F” or choose “Find” from the “Edit” menu.

Step 3. A search bar will appear in the Preview window’s upper right corner. Enter the word or phrase you want to look up in the search bar.

To begin the search, press the “Enter” key on your keyboard or the “Find” button.

Step 4. All occurrences of the term or phrase in the document will be highlighted by the Preview application. To browse the results, use the arrow buttons on the search box.

Click “Following” or press “Command+G” on your keyboard to search for the word or phrase in the next occurrence.

Step 5. Click the “X” button on the search bar’s right side or press “Escape” on your keyboard to close it.

Search in A PDF in the Web Browser

Most browsers have a built-in PDF text search function. After opening a PDF file in your browser, you can use the search box that comes with your browser to search for text in the PDF. You can also use keyboard shortcuts (e.g. “ctrl+F”) to open the search box.

Step 1. Open the PDF document with a web browser like Chrome or Firefox.

Step 2. Press “Ctrl+F” (or “Command+F” on Mac) to open the Find box.

Step 3. Type in the words or phrases you want to search for in the “Find” box.

Step 4. The web browser will then search through the document and display any matches.

Step 5. Then you can check all matches you want to view, then click on the up and down arrows and this will toggle through all the highlighted text.

Search in A PDF Using the Word Processing Program

If you need to search for particular words or phrases within a PDF document and you don’t have a PDF viewer or editor at your disposal, you can use the Find function of a word processing tool, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, to find the information.

Step 1. Simply open the document in the word processing program. Just need to drag and drop your PDF into Microsoft Word, then click “Ok” to open it.

Step 2. Press Ctrl + F (or Command + F on a Mac) to open the Find feature, and type in your search term. It can be words or phrases.

Step 3. The program will highlight all instances of the term within the document, and display all match terms in the left panel. Then you to navigate between them.

Conclusion

You can efficiently search within a PDF document to find the information you need by following these recommendations. This guide will help you quickly and simply access the information you need within your PDFs, whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone trying to manage their digital files.