Search For Text Within Multiple PDF Files in Windows

By default, Windows search utility (the one that opens when you type a keyword in the search field in the Start menu) does not examine the text within a searchable PDF. To add PDF content to the Windows search, click the Start button, type index, and click Indexing Options.



Then, select Advanced, choose File Types, and un-check the boxes for PDF and PDFXML. Click OK and, if necessary, select the Rebuild button under Troubleshooting.

Next download the Adobe 64-bit ifilter utility. (Use this utility even if you are running a 32-bit version of Windows.) Once the indexing is finished (be prepared to wait several minutes), install the filter.

Now, open Indexing Options again, select Advanced, and place a check in the PDF and PDFXML check-boxes. Be sure to check the Index Properties And File Contents radio button near the bottom of the dialog box.

Then, rebuild the index (and wait some more) again. After this procedure, Windows will search for specific text within any indexed PDFs that contain readable, searchable text.