Searching for information in PDFs

You can search the contents of one or more downloaded PDF files for a specific term. When searching the contents of multiple PDF files, ensure the files are located in the same folder.

Note: These instructions apply only to Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader and will not work for other readers or browsers.
  1. From the Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader main menu, choose Advanced Search.

    The Search panel opens.

    • To search for a specific term in the current document, click the In the current document button.
    • To search for a specific term in multiple documents, click the All PDF Documents in button and select the applicable folder from the drop-down menu.
    Note: If you downloaded a zip file of the PDF documents, you can open the Search panel by clicking the index.pdx icon in the unzipped folder. The index search of all PDF documents in the folder will be preselected.
  2. Enter the term to search for.
    Select one or more of the following search criteria, if required:
    • Whole words only
    • Case-Sensitive
    • Include Bookmarks
    • Include Comments
  3. Click the Search button.

    The search results are displayed.

    Click the + symbol to expand the entries for each file.