Using Basic Search

Whereas using the Find toolbar requires you to open a document in Adobe Reader, the Search tool can be used either with or without documents open in the Document pane. Using the Search tool enables you to search PDF documents stored on your hard drive, on a network server, on a CD-ROM, or those hosted on Web sites.

To use the Basic Search Options:

1.	Click the Search tool (Figure 7.3) or press Ctrl/Command+Shift+F. The Search pane opens in the How To window to the right of the Document pane. Figure 7.3. Click the Search tool.
2.	Open the pull-down menu below the radio button for All PDF Documents in (Figure 7.4) and select Browse for Location. The Browse For Folder dialog opens. Figure 7.4. Open the pull-down menu in the Search pane and select Browse for Location.
3.	Choose the folder you want to search in the Browse For Folder dialog (Figure 7.5). The target area to be searched can be a folder or a hard drive attached locally to your computer or a network server. Click OK to return to the Search pane. Figure 7.5. Navigate the Browse For Folder dialog to find a folder or hard drive to search.
4.	Check the options to include in your search.
5.	Type the word(s) or phrase you want to search in the text box.
6.	Click Search to begin the search. Adobe Reader searches all PDF files within the target folder or hard drive and reports the findings in the Results area of the Search pane (Figure 7.6). Note that when you position the cursor over a listed document in the Results section, the page number for the first found word is displayed in a tool tip. Figure 7.6. Results are reported in the Search pane.
7.	Click the symbol adjacent to the listed items. In Windows the symbol appears as a plus (+) when a list is collapsed. Click on the plus (+) symbol to expand the list, and the symbol changes to a minus (). On the Macintosh the symbol appears as a right arrow (Figure 7.7) for collapsed lists and a down arrow for expanded lists. Figure 7.7. On the Macintosh, a right arrow indicates a collapsed list and a down arrow indicates an expanded list.
8.	Click an item in the list and the respective PDF opens in the Document pane, showing the page where the first found word appears.

How can I sort the Results list?

When you complete a search, the files are listed in order of relevance ranking, from highest to lowest. The measure of relevance ranking is the ratio of found words to total words. For example, if 50% of the total words in a file contain the searched words, that file ranks higher than a file in which 10% of the total words contain the searched words.

You can change the sort order by opening the Sort by pull-down menu (Figure 7.8) that appears in the Search pane after performing a search. Choose from Date Modified to list results according to the last date modified in descending order, choose Filename to sort files alphabetically by filename, or choose Location to sort files according to hard drive and folder locations.

Figure 7.8. Open the Sort by pull-down menu and select from the menu options to change the sort order.