How to Use Google to Search for PDF Documents

Google supports 12 non-HTML file formats, including PDF files (Abobe Acrobat files). Here's how you can use Google to search for PDF documents only.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Go to the Google search homepage, www.google.com.

2. Click on the Advanced Features link beside the search box.

3. Select the Adobe Acrobat PDF (.pdf) file format in the File Format section.

4. Alternatively, you can specify the preference directly in the search box. For example, if you want to search pdf documents that contain the keyword basketball, your search key should be basketball filetype:pdf.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the quotes operator if your keyword contains more than one word. For instance, "basketball stadium" filetype:pdf. Without the quotes you would get a listing of all .pdf files with any or all of the words.