How to Search a PDF

Navigating research papers? Reviewing lengthy documents? Trying to find that one crucial detail in your PDF? We know it can be frustrating. 

But we've got your back. In this post, we're going to show you how to search a PDF with Xodo. And that’s not all. We’ll also cover how to search scanned PDFs without having to leave xodo.com.

Get ready to transform your PDF reading experience. Let’s begin!

How to search a PDF

When searching a PDF, you may instinctively start scrolling through the pages to manually read the content. But using a PDF reader to search for text in PDF files ensures that you get exact matches and refined results.

Automating the process to find specific information in large documents eliminates hours of manually navigating through your PDFs. In addition, you can tailor your search to make the process even faster in just a few steps.

How to search for words in a PDF

To start searching PDF file content with Xodo, follow these steps:

1. Go to Xodo’s Online PDF Reader.

2. Browse for, select, and open your PDF document.

3. Click on the Magnifying Glass icon in the right-hand corner. The search panel will open on the right-hand side where you’ll then be able to customize your search.

Start by typing the text or word you want to find in PDF pages of your document in the search box. Each instance of that word will be highlighted in the Results in the side panel. Click on any of the results to go to that section of your PDF instantly.

Then take advantage of Xodo’s refined search options. You can specify your search to focus on words that are Case sensitive or to sift out only Whole words. If you’re using the search to speed up some minor PDF editing, you can also opt to Replace single instances of the word with another or Replace All instances in one go. Perfect if you need to correct and spell check a PDF.

Any of the above options will narrow down your PDF search considerably, making it easier to accomplish the task.

How to search a scanned PDF

Now, the above works perfectly for native PDFs. However, scanned PDFs aren’t as straightforward when it comes to searching for text. This is because a scanned PDF is just an image of a document and, hence, there is no textual layer that can be detected by PDF search functionalities. But with one extra step, you can easily work around that.

How to make a PDF searchable?

The quickest way is to do it with Xodo’s OCR converter. This will convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF and make PDF text searchable.

1. Open your scanned PDF in the Xodo's Online OCR Converter.

2. From the output options, select .pdf.

3. Click on Convert. The conversion will happen automatically.

3. Download the PDF to your device or Save it to Google Drive or Xodo Drive.

Once you have your new searchable PDF, you can find words in PDF content using the same steps as above.

Search PDFs with Xodo and more!

Being able to search within PDF documents is a necessity when dealing with digital information. And now that you know the quickest ways to search native and scanned PDFs, you can cut down on the time needed to sift through large files.

With online platforms such as Xodo, you can turn seemingly tedious tasks into time savers. And that extends beyond searching for a word in a document. Xodo's 30+ tools provide you with everything you need to manage your PDF files and tackle the bigger tasks.

Start simplifying your overall PDF experience with Xodo!