5 Simple Ways To Search Words Or Text In a PDF (Windows, Mac, & Mobile)

Searching text or words in PDF is not a very difficult task only you need to know the exact procedure. 

There are many scenarios where you need to change or remove some specific words and for that, you need to know how to search a text in a PDF. 

In this article, we are going to explain 5 simple ways to search for a phrase in a PDF.

Adobe Reader DC

• First of all, users need to open a PDF file on Adobe reader. For that, users need to open Adobe Reader and then tap on the File option at the top side then tap on the Open button.
• Now just select the PDF file that you want to open in Adobe Reader.
• Then you have to tap on the Edit Menu bar and then tap on the Find button.
• A box will appear in front of your screen where you have to enter a word that you want to search and then tap on the Next button.
• Tue word you want to search will get highlighted in the document file, users can use the Previous and Next options to locate the word that appears in this file. 

Google Chrome Browser

• At first, users need to open the PDF file in your Chrome browser. For that, you need to right-click on the file and then tap on Open Within the drop-down menu. Then just click on the Chrome browser. 
• Now just click on the three dots icon that is available at the top-right corner of the screen.
• Then just tap on the Find button in the list.
• Now just type the word that you want to search, the word will get highlighted in the document. The yellow sign on the right side will help in letting know the location of that particular word. 
• Users can check previous and next results by clicking on different signs. 

Preview on Mac

• Users need to open the PDF file on the Preview app. They need to double-click on the Preview app icon and then tap on the File toolbar. Then you have to tap on the Open option and then choose the file that you want.
• Now you have to tap on the Edit Menu bar where you will get the Fin option on the bottom side, just tap on it.
• Then again tap on the Find option and a new box will appear where you have to insert the word that you want to search in that PDF file. 
• The word will get a highlight in the documents and you can click on the < or > icon to find the word available in this document. 

How to search a word in a PDF on mobile phones?

Searching for a word in a PDF file is not as a difficult task as it seems. The process is quite easy and there may be multiple reasons for searching a word in a PDF on our mobile phones. 

But if you don’t know then, we are providing you with the complete details. Let us know the process step-by-step. 

• First of all, users need to download the PDFelement android app from Google Play Store. It is completely free, so just download it and install it on your mobile phone.
• Then you need to import the files in that app, the importing file options are WI-FI transfer, USB cable to the device, download from email app, and scanning to the PDF. It depends on you which process you want to use to import the PDF file on the Preview app. 
• Now you have to open the PDF file and then tap on the Magnifying glass icon to start searching the keyword 
• Then you have to type the keyword in the empty search box, it will show you all the results of that particular keyword appearing in that content. It will also show the number of times that keyword is appearing in the content. 

That’s it, in this way, a user can easily search a word on a PDF on mobile phones. 

How to search for text in a PDF image?

• At first, users need to open the image in Acrobat DC where they have to view it on the right panel and just click on the Enhance Scans tool.
• Now you have to tap on the Enhance option at the top side and then click on the Camera image.
• Then you have to choose the file that you want and then adjust the blue dots to capture a proper image. You need to fix the skewing properly and then click on Enhance Page.
• Now you will get an option to adjust the contrast of the image and can set it at your convenience. After all the changes, just tap on the Close button.
• Now you have to click on the Recognize Text option and then tap on the File. Now you can change some settings and then tap on the Recognize Text to convert the image into the text format. 
• Once the image file is converted to the text format, it will be easy for you to search for the text in the content. The main thing is the Recognize Text Tool that helps in converting the image into text format and will be easily searchable.

Why text is not searchable in a PDF?

Text is searchable in PDF easily by following the steps properly. But if the PDF content is in image format then it will not be an easy task to search the text. 

If your PDF file has an image then it can get concert through Adobe Acrobat and then a particular word can be searched. 

But make sure that the quality of the image should be at least 72 DPI that will add an extra layer to make it searchable in PDF.

But if the quality of the image is less than 72 DPI then it will not get transformed to the text format. 

Because the low-quality image will not be easily readable by software and that’s why good quality is always preferable. If the quality is low then the text will not be searchable in PDF. 

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