Searching PDFs with Acrobat

· by · Tips

Spotlight can search the contents of specific file types like PDF by using kind keywords, but Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader can search for information in your PDFs as well - and they donit require Spotlightis special keywords. While in Acrobat or Reader, choose Edit > Search. You can choose a specific location to search in, or even select your entire hard drive. The applications will open the PDFs that contain your search criteria and highlight the text for you.


Acrobat and Reader perform PDF-focused searches.

You can also search open PDFs, and limit your searches based on whole words and case sensitivity, and focus searches to include document bookmarks and comments. This QuickTime movie shows Acrobatis search feature in action.


Control your search results in the Search dialog.

Thanks to Jay Nelson, Design Tools Monthly editor, for this tip.


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Jeff Gamet

Jeff Gamet

Jeff is the Mac Observer's Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of "The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X" from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also co-hosts the We Have Communicators podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other podcasts, too. Jeff dreams in HD.

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