Searching PDFs

Vu 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. Visual searches allow for the searching of graphical symbols in PDFs.

ClosedText Search

Text must be present in the PDF file for text search to find it. Scanned PDF files are images and do not contain any text, so they are not searchable.

ClosedSearch for manually input text
  1. Go to View > Tabs > Search or press either ALT+1 or CTRL+F to show the Search tab.
  2. Select Text.
  3. Enter the desired search term in the Text field.

  4. Select the document(s) or location you would like to search from the Search In menu. The options are Current Document, Current Page, All Open Documents, Recents, Folder or Current Studio Project.

    • If Folder is selected, use the path box or browse button below to define the location of the folder. Select Include Sub-Folders to include the folders found within the specified folder in the search.
    • The Current Set option will be available only if you have a Set open. Select this to search within the open Set.
    • The Current Studio Project option will be available only if you are logged into a Studio Project. Select this to search all local (downloaded) files from that Project. This option restricted to file name only searches; it is currently not possible to search within document content.
  5. Select the desired search options from those available under Options. The exact options available will vary according to the selection made in the Search In field.
    • Search Pages: Searches for text in the content of the PDF.
    • Search Filenames: Searches the file names in the Recents list when Search In is set to Recents.
    • Search File Properties: Searches for text in the Properties metadata fields.
    • Search Form Fields: Searches for text in the data entered in the form fields.
    • Search Markups: Searches for text in markups.
    • Case Sensitive: Searches for text with the exact case typed in the Search Terms field.
    • Whole Words Only: Searches only for instances where the search term exists as a complete word. If the search term is partially contained in another word and the Whole Words Only box is checked, it will not be included in the search results.
  6. Click Search. Search results will appear under the Options section.
ClosedSearch for selected text

This process describes how to search for text selected from the current PDF. This kind of search automatically searches the current PDF only with preset search options enabled.

  1. Go to Edit > Select > Select Text or press SHIFT+T.
  2. Click and drag over the desired text.
  3. Right-click the selected text and select Search. The search will start running automatically.
    • If you would like to search for the selected text using different options or in other PDFs, click Cancel on the Search tab. The selected text will remain in the Text field and the desired options will become available. See Search for manually input text above for more information about these options.
ClosedSearch Results

Search results are shown under the Options section. The search term is highlighted in the phrase where the term was found. The page number of the PDF is included at the beginning of each result. Click on a particular search result to jump to the location of the term in the main workspace.

If search terms are found in multiple documents (for example if the search was conducted in All Open Documents or Folder), the search results are grouped by document. Click the triangle next to a filename to collapse or expand the results within each file.

A progress bar appears at the bottom of the Search tab as lengthy searches are performed.

ClosedVisualSearchTM

VisualSearchTM allows for the searching of graphical symbols in PDFs.

ClosedTo run a visual search on a PDF
  1. Go to View > Tabs > Search or press either ALT+1 or CTRL+F to show the Search tab.
  1. Select Visual.
  2. Click Get Rectangle, then click and drag a rectangle around the image you would like to search for.
  1. Review the image that appears in the preview window to the right of the Get Rectangle button to be sure that it includes all of the desired image.
  2. To search for only certain colors within the search rectangle, click Refine Colors and uncheck the colors to be excluded. Click OK when the desired selections have been made.
    • If this button is not available, ensure that the Filter by Color option is selected.

  3. Select the document(s) or location you would like to search from the Search In menu. The options are Current Document, Current Page, All Open Documents, Current Set, Recents, Folder or Current Studio Project.

    • If Folder is selected, use the path box or browse button below to define the location of the folder. Select Include Sub-Folders to include the folders found within the specified folder in the search.
    • The Current Set option will be available only if you have a Set open. Select this to search within the open Set.
    • The Current Studio Project option will be available only if you are logged into a Studio Project. Select this to search all local (downloaded) files from that Project. This option restricted to file name only searches; it is currently not possible to search within document content.

  4. Select the desired search options from those available under Options. The exact options available will vary according to the selection made in the Search In field.

    • Sensitivity: Determines how closely the images need to match to be considered a valid result. Adjust the slider to set a lower or higher sensitivity. Lowering the sensitivity will allow for matches that have minor differences, like an adjacent line, but may also result in false positives.

      You might need to lower the sensitivity if you are working on a PDF created from a scan because there may be stray pixels or background noise in the PDF.

    • Search Multiple Rotations: Symbols will be searched at 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, and 270 degree rotations.
    • Filter by Color: This option enables the Refine Colors button. The search will filter out colors that are not part of the selection (or in the selected range in the histogram).

    • Limit by Selection: On a vector PDF, this option will filter out vector objects that extend out of the selection rectangle, as shown in the example below.

        Define Rectangle   Limit by Selection - Checked   Limit by Selection - Unchecked
           
    • Search Markups: Searches for the selection in annotations/markups.

    • Search for Fine Detail: This option enables a refined search on the segments that might exist inside the search area symbol, as shown in the example below.

  5. Click Search. Search results will appear under the Options section.
ClosedSearch Results

The search results are shown under the Options section. A graphic of the search result and a small area around it will appear in the results list. Click on the image and the main PDF workspace will change to show that result and the area around it.

Related topics

Search Tab

OCR