The search window offers more options and more kinds of searches than the find toolbar when you use the search window object data and image xif extended image file format metadata are also searched for searches across multiple pdfs acrobat also looks at document properties and xmp metadata and it searches indexed structure tags when searching a pdf index. Edit article how to search for a word or phrase in a pdf document three methods adobe reader dc google chrome browser preview on mac community qa this wikihow teaches you how to find a specific word or phrase in a pdf document using free adobe reader dc application or the google chrome browser for mac and pc or by using the preview application on a mac. When a pdf is opened in the acrobat reader not in a browser the search window pane may or may not be displayed to display the search find window pane use ctrl f when the find window opens follow these steps and refer to figure 1 below to get to the advanced search feature click on show . To use the advanced pdf search option you can choose advanced search from the edit drop down menu or press shift ctrl f go ahead and enter the phrase you are searching for in the search box next choose the all pdf documents in option under where would you like to search heading. Searching pdfs revu supports two methods for searching pdfs text search and visual search text searches are generally faster and when searching for text more reliable but they only work on actual text scanned pdfs for example are images so even if those images contain words text search will not work on them