How to Search in a PDF: A Guide for Macs, PCs, and Smartphones

Struggling to find a word, phrase, or sentence buried deep in a PDF? This guide will walk you through the easiest ways to search within a PDF on any device, whether Mac, PC, Android, or iPhone. There’s also a bonus trick inside that’ll save you tons of time.

How to Search in a PDF on Smartphones

We’ll start with mobile phones, as they usually raise the most questions. The way to search text in a PDF depends on the platform your device is running on.

If it’s on iOS:

1. Find the PDF in the Files app and open it with Quick Look (should work by default).
2. Tap the Find button (a magnifying glass in the bottom right corner) and type your word.
3. The tool will highlight the first word it finds in the file. To move to the next one, tap the down button (to the right of the search bar). 

If it’s on Android:

To search text on Android, you either have to install specialized software from Google Play or use the Google Drive option. If you opt for a latter,

1. Choose the Drive PDF Viewer option when opening the file;
2. Locate the Find tool in the top of the screen which looks like a magnifying glass on a piece of paper;
3. Enter your text, and the app will find it.

How to Search a PDF on Smartphones

Here’s a bonus trick we’ve promised. If you don’t remember which document contains the word or phrase you need, a multiple search will help you out.

To look for a keyword in several files at once, you’ll need a mobile app designed for working with PDFs. iScanner is one of them. It combines the features of a mobile scanner and PDF editor, which makes it convenient for adjusting your file straight away. For instance, if you need to change the part of the text you’re trying to find, you won’t have to switch between the apps to find and edit your text.

Here’s how to find the desired text in several files with iScanner:

1. Download the app or open it if you already have it installed. If you’ve just downloaded it, add your PDFs to the app. To do that, tap Plus in the main menu, choose Import Files, and select their location.

2. Return to the main menu and find the search bar at the top of the screen.

3. Type a word or phrase into the search bar.

4. Tap the arrow symbol to run the search.

5. Switch between the matches found and choose the document you need.

A tip: If you want to search by file name or content only, select either the Name or Content button. By default, the app will search for the keyphrase in both.

6. The content search works only with OCR-recognized documents. If any are unrecognized, the app will prompt you to fix this. Tap Recognize All Docs if needed. If you prefer to search only within recognized files, tap Use Recognized Docs.

7. The app will show every file that matches your request.

How to Search in a PDF on Mac

The default PDF reader on Mac is the Preview app, which is used for viewing practically any file format. 

1. Open Finder, locate your PDF file, and open it in Preview.
2. Press Command+F to activate the search tool. You can also do that via Edit—Find—Find in the Preview toolbar.
3. Type a letter, word, or phrase in the search bar. Matches will be highlighted in yellow.
4. You can shift between the highlighted results back and forth using the left and right buttons just below the search bar.

A tip: You can also search for words in PDFs using browsers. The flow is the same, with one small but important difference. Preview searches for every word you enter in the search bar, even if there are several, and will show all matches for each word. Browsers, however, look for an exact phrase match. So if you enter multiple words, it will only show results where those words appear together in that exact order. By the way, capital letters make no difference.

How to Search in a PDF on Windows

Windows doesn’t have an equivalent to the Preview tool, so the only option that doesn’t require additional software is to use a browser.

1. Find the PDF and open it in a browser. You can right-click on the file and choose the desired tool to open it with.
2. Press Ctrl+F to activate the search function, or go to Edit—Find.
3. Type the desired word or phrase. It’ll be highlighted in yellow.
4. To shift to the next match, click the down arrow.