PDF is among the most popular type of documents used in businesses, due to the fact that they can be locked for editing and accidental changes. Searching for a specific word, phrase or string of words and numbers in multiple pdf documents though can be quite a nerve-racking experience.
Instructions for modifying the default settings of Windows Explorer Search
If you are using Windows 7 or the newer versions of Microsoft’s operating system, you must know that it is set to index only Microsoft Word documents into the search index of Windows Explorer by default. This means that, you may need to manually change the indexing settings if you need to search for a text in many pdf files. This can be done by accessing the Indexing options in the Control Panel, then choosing Advanced, and marking the file types you want to be added to the automatic search indexing of the Windows search. Pick pdf and click OK.
Use the shortcut key to search text in multiple PDF files. Click the key 'Command+F'. You will be identified by the text. Once you've done full text search PDF then you can highlight text in PDF easily. Go to the 'Comment' menu and then select 'Highlight' option to search and highlight text in PDF file with ease. Open the PDF file you want to search through in Preview. Pull down the “Edit” menu and choose “Find” then select the “Find” option in the submenu, alternatively you can use the Command+F keystroke Enter the search term you want to search the PDF file for, the search box appears in the upper right corner of the Preview window. Have you ever needed to search for a word or phrase in multiple PDFs but you didn’t have time to search each PDF individually? Today’s tutorial shows how to search multiple PDFs simultaneously by using the Advanced Search tool in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, Acrobat Standard DC. The selection box will select the files that fall in between them and will help you to select multiple files at once. Select Multiple Files on Mac with Command+Click. The aforementioned way works with a contiguous group of files only and doesn’t offer an option when you’ve to select multiple files not grouped directly. Search by Kind One of the most useful ways to narrow down a search is by using the kind: keyword. This allows you to restrict your list of results to a certain file format. For instance, if you type time machine kind:pdf, Spotlight will pull up only PDF files containing the words 'time' and 'machine'. You can also limit your search.
Try searching with Adobe Reader
Another method for searching multiple pdf files is to use Adobe Reader’s advanced search option.
Open Adobe Reader and press Ctrl + F, a search box will pop out in the top right corner. Either pick “Open Full Reader Search” from the drop down menu, or press Shift + Ctrl +F and the Advance search option will appear.
Enter the word or phrase you are looking for in the search box, and then choose the All PDF Documents in option. Pick the folder or entire directory or computer you want searched. This search even gives you an option for a case sensitive search, as well as whole words only, bookmark and comment search as well.
SeekFast
If you want an easy, fast and efficient way to perform searches of the files of your computer, you should definitely try out SeekFast.
This is a search tool which can search for a certain word or phrase in nearly any file on your computer, including PDF. It is quick and very user friendly.
It will display the top findings in accordance to the relevance of the files found. It will also allow you to quickly preview each file to see whether it is the one you are looking for.
You can easily integrate SeekFast into your Windows Explorer options, and when you go to a particular folder or directory you want to search, you just need to click on the right button and SeekFast will appear in the menu.
So no more opening and closing each pdf file by file to find the one you are looking for. Just enter your search query, and the best results will almost directly appear on your computer screen, saving you time and a lot of effort.
Foxit Reader
Foxit Reader is a shareware PDF-related tool, which will easily allow you to quickly search through multiple pdf files, which is especially useful when doing academic research, which requires finding resources in volumes and volumes of information.
UltraFinder
UltraFinder is a powerful shareware search tool which can search one or multiple drives and folders for a specific text or text string among all of the pdf files in them.
The results are displayed with the sentence they are found in, for easier location of the exact file you need.
Main inconvenience of UltraFinder is that it is relatively slow.
Preview User Guide
You can open PDFs and images in Preview, change how documents are shown in the Preview window, and get information about the files.
Open PDFs and images
Search Multiple Pdf Files Mac Freeware
You can double-click a PDF or image file to open it by default in Preview. You can also open Preview and select the files you want to view.
- In the Preview app on your Mac, choose File > Open.
- Locate and select the file or files you want to open, then click Open.Tip: To open a file you’ve worked on recently, choose File > Open Recent.
To open a document in iCloud Drive, click iCloud Drive in the Finder sidebar, then double-click the PDF to open it. See Use iCloud Drive to store documents.
From the desktop, you can also select a file or files, then choose File > Open With > Preview.
If you open multiple files at the same time, you can set them to open in the same Preview window or open in tabs.
View PDFs or images
When you open a PDF with multiple pages, you can view thumbnails of all the pages in the sidebar.
- In the Preview app on your Mac, open a PDF or image that you want to view.
- Do any of the following:
- Show thumbnails: Choose View > Thumbnails or View > Contact Sheet.
- Show a document’s table of contents (if it has one): Choose View > Table of Contents.
- Close the sidebar: Choose View > Hide Sidebar.
- Show pages in a continuous scroll: Choose View > Continuous Scroll.
- Show one page at a time: Choose View > Single Page.
- Show two pages side by side: Choose View > Two Pages.
- Scroll pages: Swipe up or down on the trackpad using two fingers.
- Go to a specific page: Click a thumbnail, or choose Go > Go to Page.
- Go to the previous or next page: Click the Previous button or the Next button in the Preview toolbar. (If you don’t see the buttons, choose View > Customize Toolbar, then add them.) If your Mac has a Force Touch trackpad, you can accelerate through the previous or next pages by pressing and holding the button, then adding pressure; the more firmly you press, the faster you move through the pages.
Change how thumbnails are shown
If a window sidebar contains multiple PDFs, you may have trouble finding a particular document. You can collapse a PDF’s page thumbnails so you see only the PDF’s filename.
- In the Preview app on your Mac, open a PDF or image that you want to view.
- Do any of the following:
- View thumbnails: Choose View > Thumbnails or View > Contact Sheet.
- Sort thumbnails: Control-click a thumbnail, then choose an item from the Sort By submenu in the shortcut menu.The thumbnails are sorted by file. You can’t sort PDF page thumbnails within a PDF.
- Change the size of the thumbnails: Choose View > Thumbnails, then drag the sidebar’s separator to the left or right to change the width of the sidebar.
- Collapse or expand PDF thumbnails: Click the arrow next to the PDF’s filename in the sidebar.
![Multiple Multiple](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v0S7k4Pw_Rw/maxresdefault.jpg)
View information about PDFs or images
You can use the inspector to view information about a document or image, such as file size, the author’s name, and the image resolution.
- In the Preview app on your Mac, open a PDF or image that you want to view.
- Choose Tools > Show Inspector, then do any of the following:
- Get general file information: Click the General Info Inspector button .
- View keywords: Click the Keywords Inspector button . See Assign keywords to a PDF or image.
- View a list of annotations: Click the Annotations Inspector button . To display an annotation, double-click it. See Annotate a PDF or Annotate an image.
- View encryption and permission information in a PDF: Click the Encryption Inspector button . See Password-protect a PDF.
- View cropping information in a PDF: When using a selection tool, click the Crop Inspector button to view the dimensions of the content you’re selecting, then choose a unit of measurement that’s displayed in the Crop Inspector window. See Crop or rotate a PDF in Preview on Mac.
- View information about an image: Click the More Info Inspector button . See See where a photo was taken.
Zoom in or out
- In the Preview app on your Mac, open a PDF or image that you want to view.
- Do any of the following:
- Zoom in or out: Choose View > Zoom In or View > Zoom Out. On some trackpads, you can pinch your thumb and index finger closed or open on the trackpad. See Use trackpad and mouse gestures.
- View the original size of a page or image: Choose View > Actual Size.
- Zoom to a particular section of a PDF or image: Choose Tools > Rectangular Selection, select the section, then choose View > Zoom to Selection. To see the document at actual size again, choose View > Actual Size.
- View a page at a specific percentage of its original size: Type a percentage in the Scale field in the toolbar.If you don’t see the Scale field, choose View > Customize Toolbar, then drag the Scale field to the toolbar.
- Magnify an area in a PDF or image: Choose Tools > Show Magnifier, then move the pointer over the area you want to magnify. To stop magnifying, choose Tools > Hide Magnifier or press the Esc key.
Search Multiple File Extensions
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