How to Make a PDF Searchable on the Web
Uploaded documents like PDF and Microsoft Word files can come up in search results, just like individual web pages. However, in order for a search engine to index the contents of these documents, the text they contain must be searchable within the original document first. While a Microsoft Word document is inherently searchable (hitting “Ctrl+F” in Word will bring up a search box that can locate any word or phrase in the file), PDF files sometimes require the help of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to translate a scanned block of text into searchable text.
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Instructions
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Check if Your PDF Is Searchable
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Open your PDF file.
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Hit "Ctrl+F" to launch the "Find..." window.
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Type in any word that appears in the document and click "Find." If that word is highlighted in the PDF, your document is already searchable; it just needs to be uploaded to the web (Section Three). If an error appears telling you the word could not be found, your PDF is not yet searchable (proceed to Section Two).
Create a Searchable PDF
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Open the PDF within Adobe Acrobat.
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Choose "Paper Capture" from the "Tools" menu.
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Select "All Pages" and then click "OK."
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Select "Save" from the "File" menu once the process is complete (when the progress dialog box disappears). Your PDF file is now searchable.
Upload Your PDF
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Upload your PDF to the Internet. If you don't already have a web host or a server that can host your PDF file, upload it to a free file hosting service (see Resources).
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Locate the full website address of the PDF file.
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Copy the PDF's website address by highlighting it with your mouse. Right-click and choose "Copy."
Alert Search Engines
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Paste the PDF's website address into Google's "Add URL" form by right-clicking inside the box and choosing "Paste." Click "Add URL." This lets Google know to scan the contents of your PDF and add them to its search index.
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Visit Yahoo's Site Explorer "Submit Your Site" page. Click "Submit a Website or Webpage" and paste your link by right-clicking inside the box and choosing "Paste." Click "Submit URL."
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Visit Bing's "URL Submission" page and paste the URL of your PDF file into the box by right-clicking inside the box and choosing "Paste." Click "Submit URL."
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Tips & Warnings
Some copies of Adobe Acrobat 5 did not ship with the Paper Capture plug-in. If you don't see it in your Tools menu, download it from the Adobe website (see Resource 2).
References
Resources
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