Search index files of cataloged PDFs

Search index files of cataloged PDFs

You can speed up the search by searching the index of a catalog of PDFs rather than running a full-text search of each individual PDF document in the catalog.

1. Open a PDF file and choose Basic > Search, or press Command + Shift + F on your keyboard.

2. In the Search window, select Select Index... from the Look In drop-down menu.

3. In the Index Manager dialog box, select an index from the list, or click Add and select an index folder (default name is [index title_index]).

4. Click OK to return to Look In dialog box. The path of the selected index is displayed in the setting box beneath the Look In field in which Currently Selected Indexes is automatically chosen.

5. Enter in words you search for and proceed with your search as usual.

6. Click >>Advanced to adjust advanced search options and then click Search.

Advanced search options

• Match

  • Match exact word or phrase. It searches for the entire string of characters, including spaces, in the same order in which they appear in the text box.

  • Match any of the words. It searches for any instances that contain at least one of the words typed. For example, if you search for at all, the words at, all, at all, and all at, are included in the results.

  • Match all of the words. It searches for any instances that contain all the words you type but not necessarily in the order you type.

  • Boolean query. It searches using the Boolean operators that you type with the search word into the What word or phrase would you like to search for text field. For more information, see Boolean operators.

• Additional Criteria. You can restrict results to certain keys by setting additional criteria for searching multiple documents. Additional criteria appear only when you search multiple PDF files or indexes.

  • Key. Select a field type to be a criterion. Click [New Criteria] to show the down-pointing arrow next to it and then select a field type from the drop-down menu. Repeat the steps to add more if needed.

  • Operation. Select an operation for the key you selected. If Modified/Created Date option is selected for Key, then the available options will be "Is Before", "Equal To", "Not Equal To", and "Is After". Otherwise, they are "Includes" and "Excludes".

  • Value. Click inside the field and then enter a value. If you select either Modified Date or Created Date for Key, choose a date from the expanded calendar by either entering a date or choosing a date via up/down arrow keys.

Boolean operators

Use the following Boolean operators to either narrow or broaden your set of results.

• AND: Use AND between two words to find documents that contain both terms. For example, type New York AND Philadelphia. All documents that contain both words will be found.

• NOT: Use NOT before a search term to exclude any documents that contain that term. For example, type NOT New York. All documents that do not contain the word New York will be found. Or, type New York NOT Philadelphia to find all documents that contain the word New York but not the word Philadelphia.

• OR: Use OR to search for all instances of either term you enter. For example, type beside OR besides to fine all documents with occurrences of either word.

• ^: Use ^ (exclusive OR) to search for all instances that contain either term, but not both. For example, type day ^ night and all documents that contain either day or night will be found but not both day and night.

• ( ): Use ( ) to specify the order of evaluation of terms. For example, type yellow & (beans | tails) and all documents containing either yellow and beans or yellow and tails will be found. The query processor performs an OR query on beans and tails, and then performs an AND query on those results with yellow.

Note: you can refer to web sources for more information on Boolean queries, syntax and other operators you can use in you searches.