About PDF Search
Search through PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, Pages, Keynote, OpenOffice, and text files with AI-driven speed. Access documents anytime, anywhere from desktop or mobile. Advanced OCR scans text in images, including screenshots, photos, and handwritten notes. Smart language processing understands word meanings for precise results. Share key findings by exporting relevant pages into a new PDF for quick collaboration.
FAQ
To set up PDF Search, you need to add the folders containing your documents using the 'Add Folder' button. The application will then index the documents in those folders. For non-PDF documents, you must first convert them to PDF using the 'PDF Converter' auxiliary application, which is integrated with PDF Search.
Indexing is an automatic background process that catalogs every word in your documents and stores them in a database. It is intensive in terms of time and energy, so it's advisable to connect your MacBook to a power source during indexing. You can view and manage the indexing process using the 'Index Status' window, where you can pause or resume indexing as needed.
Yes, you can change the default location of the index database. Go to 'Application Menu -> Directory -> Change Database Location' to move the database to another location, such as an external disk, which can help free up space on your system drive.
To back up your index data, use the 'Application Menu -> Index -> Backup Index Database' option or the preferences window. This is especially useful if you have a large document library, as it allows you to avoid re-indexing when you reinstall your computer.
PDF Search supports advanced search patterns using operators like quotes ("..."), plus sign (+), minus sign (-), and wildcard (*). For example, quotes find exact phrases, plus sign ensures a keyword is included, minus sign excludes a keyword, and wildcard allows for partial matches.
You can filter documents by folder, path, or tag. Folder-based filtering limits searches to the current folder. Path filtering allows you to search by location or filename. Tag filtering lets you find documents grouped under specific tags, which sync across iOS and macOS devices via iCloud Drive.
After performing a search, you can export the results as a new PDF document by using the share button on the toolbar and selecting 'Export Search Results'. This creates a PDF containing the highest-ranking pages from different documents, which you can customize using the Preferences Window.
You can add bookmarks to specific pages in documents using the bookmark button on the toolbar. These bookmarks can include notes, which are searchable. To manage bookmarks, open the bookmark tab in the sidebar, where you can navigate or delete them as needed.
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