Magazines, books, forms, journals and newspapers. . . . Where there are vast amounts of PDF information on any given subject, it becomes a tedious task to find exactly what you’re looking for. So, what are some handy ways to search for online PDFs? Here are a few simple things you might want to try out.


Searching Websites

• If you’re searching for information in PDF format, look for “Resources� or “More Information� headings on the home page
• Depending on the type of information that you’re looking for (statistical information, official publications, or newspaper back issues), you may have to either purchase the PDF, create an account or become a subscribing member
• Use the website’s search engine to quickly start your search, and as PDFs are used for different document types, try including that in your search with terms such as “articles�, “booklets�, etc. You’ll more than likely get them in the PDF format


Using PDFs


• If you start out with a PDF, try checking the hyper-text links within the document to help find other related PDF sources. This also goes for cited website links
• Sometimes one long PDF gets broken down into smaller ones and will more than likely link to each other (I’ve actually come across one PDF that was linked to the other PDFs through its table of contents to form a “series� of PDFs on the topic)


The “PDF� Word

• Enter “PDF� and a keyword (ie. “PDF white paper�) in a search engine’s query box. This will give you a good number of links (website and PDF) to begin looking through
• Use basic keywords and phrases to start focusing your search (ie.“tax forms�, “white paper�, “cell phone manuals�, “ebooks�, and “job applications�). Try phrases as well
• Search Engines usually index the PDF’s Description Metadata (Title, Author, Keywords, etc.) so include details such as a tax year, a phone model or employment industry to further hone down the results


Advanced Searches

For Google:

• Click on the Advanced Search option beside the query box on the Google home page
• On the Advanced Web Search page, use the “Find Results� options to search for phrases and words relating to the PDF topic
• There is an “Occurrence“ option allowing you to specify where in the PDF file to search for your key words (start with the most general (title, anywhere in the page) and work your way to the specifics)
• Tailor your search according to other options given
• Set the File Format category to “Only� and choose “Adobe Acrobat PDF (.pdf)� in the list of formats provided in the drop box

For Yahoo!:

• Click on the Advanced Search on the Yahoo! Search page next to query box
• On the Advanced Web Search page, use the “Show results with� options to search for phrases and words that are contained in the URL, page and title of the PDF file
• Set the File Format category to “Adobe PDF (.pdf)�
• Narrow your search with the given specification options: Language, Country, Date, Site/Domain, and the Number of results seen on the page. Use these creatively to focus on the content you’re trying to find—ie. dated news material from a foreign country.

For Windows Live Search:

Advanced Options for Windows Live Search don’t include an option for specific file formats. However, you can refine your search by :

• Modifying your search to include: Search terms, Site/Domain, links to, Country/Region, Language, Results ranking.
• Typing in Advanced search keywords manually will focus your search. A full listing can be found using Live Central Help

If the search engine locates PDF resources, it will list URLs of websites that contain the PDF and, more often than not, give you the PDF URL in green underneath.


While your preference for Search Engines and methods may vary, hopefully these tips help a bit in your PDF search. Happy hunting!