How to Search for a Word or Phrase in a PDF

Looking for specific text in a long PDF? Most PDF readers make this easy with a built-in search tool. Here’s how to do it on Windows or Mac:

---

Basic Search:

1. Open the PDF in any standard PDF reader (like Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview on Mac, or other desktop apps).
2. Use the shortcut:
   • On Windows: Press Ctrl + F
   • On Mac: Press Cmd + F
3. A search bar will appear.
4. Type your word or phrase into the search bar and hit Enter.
5. The reader will highlight the first match. Use arrow keys or on-screen buttons to jump between results.

---

Advanced Tips:

• Not case-sensitive: Most search tools ignore capitalization by default.
• Phrase search: You can search entire phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks in some tools.
• Zoom in: If the font is small, use the zoom function (Ctrl + + or Cmd + +) to view results more clearly.
• Two-page view: If available, switching to a two-page layout can help spot matches faster across spreads.

---

Can You Search a Scanned PDF?

If your PDF is a scanned image, you won’t be able to search it directly. To make it searchable:

1. Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to convert it into editable text.
2. Alternatively, convert the scanned PDF to a Word document, then back to PDF if needed.

Once converted, open the new file in your PDF reader and use the search function normally.