Awhile back, I posted a few tips on how to effectively find PDFs online. With big name brand search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN, you could find any PDF by simply adjusting a few search settings and boolean terms. You don't need to do all that anymore. PDF search engines are emerging to eliminate that task. Here's a brief look.
Data-Sheet (beta)
This PDF search engine lets you find and download data sheets, reports, and ebooks. Data-Sheet comes equipped with Popular and Recent datasheets search options to narrow your search, and the ability to add the search box to your browser. One thing to note: along with your results, Data-Sheet also gives you image search results with links that, unfortunately, don’t link to the sites, but launch a browser view of the image instead.
Pdf geni.com (beta)
Like Data-Sheet you can find ebooks, sheets, forms and any other documents in the PDF format with Pdf geni. Although still in very early beta stage, one of its useful features is its PDF previewing abilities. Click on the magnifying glass and you can preview the PDFs onsite without having to download or open them on your computer first.
pdf Search Engine
As stated on the site:"pdf Search Engine is a book search engine search on sites, forums, message boards for pdf files". One highlight from this site is that in addition to providing a search box, pdf Search Engine also gives you access to their full directory listing of PDFs from the home page.
These search engines still have a long way to go before you’ll see them performing like Google's Ebook search. For instance, you'll find there are still some irrelevant results mixed in with the spot-on matches and related PDFs. Also, search results aren't as extensive as Google's just yet. As all are still in beta form, you can expect more from them in time.
The verdict: an overall useful tool to add to the list.
