Working with Files

Theoretically, when you view a Web page online, you're looking at a file. However, people don't tend to think of HTML as files ”they tend to think of PDF and DOC data as files. Consequently, Google provides a special search you can use to locate just the kind of file you want, rather than wade through a hundred Web pages that you don't want.

To locate the file that you want, use the filetype query word. When you use filetype by itself, Google searches only for that kind of file. However, adding a minus sign ( “filetype ) tells Google to exclude that file type from the list. You add the file extension (without the period) as the search criteria. Currently, Google supports these file types:

• Adobe Acrobat PDF (.pdf)

• Adobe Postscript (.ps)

• Microsoft Word (.doc)

• Microsoft Excel (.xls)

• Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)

• Rich Text Format (.rtf)

You can't use this query word alone ”you must combine it with a keyword. Consequently, if you use the search term filetype:pdf , Google wouldn't return any results. However, if you use "Visual Basic.NET" filetype:pdf , Google returns 4,940 results of PDF files that contain information about Visual Basic.NET. Notice the use of the precise phrase for the search term in this case. You'll normally get better results if you search for files using a precise phrase, rather than a nebulous term. Of course, you can always add additional keywords when you get too many results from a search.