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On a computer, open the PDF in Chrome, press Ctrl+F on Windows, Linux, or ChromeOS (Command+F on a Mac), type the word or phrase, and move through the matches. On Android, open the PDF, tap More in the upper-right corner, choose Find in page, type the text, and tap the up or down arrow to move between matches.
Search a PDF in Chrome on a computer
Chrome has a built-in PDF viewer, so you do not need a separate reader to search a document. The steps below follow Google’s Chrome Help instructions for computers.
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- Open the PDF in Chrome. Open the file from Chrome’s File menu, drag it into a Chrome window, or click a PDF link on a website. The document should appear in a Chrome tab, not in a download bar or another app.
- Press the Find shortcut. Press Ctrl+F on Windows, Linux, or ChromeOS. On a Mac, press Command+F.
- Type the word or phrase. Chrome’s Find box shows how many matches it found on the page.
- Step through the matches. Use the arrows in the Find box to jump to the previous or next match. Google’s help describes matches as highlighted in yellow, with their positions also marked on the scrollbar.
- Use the menu if the shortcut does not work. Click the More icon (the three-dot menu at the top right of the Chrome window), then choose Find and edit, then Find.
Search a PDF in Chrome on Android
On Android, the search is started from Chrome’s menu rather than a keyboard shortcut.
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- Open the PDF in Chrome. A PDF can be opened directly from a website in Chrome without downloading it first.
- Tap More in the upper-right corner of the screen, then select Find in page.
- Enter the word or phrase.
- Tap the up or down arrow to move to the previous or next instance.
Google’s Android help states that these PDF features require Android 12 or later. On older Android versions, check whether your version of Chrome offers the PDF viewer before assuming the steps will work.
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Computer and Android steps at a glance
| Device | How to start the search | How to move between matches | Stated requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows, Linux, ChromeOS | Ctrl+F | Arrows in the Find box; matches are highlighted and marked on the scrollbar | Not stated in Google’s computer help |
| Mac | Command+F | Arrows in the Find box | Not stated in Google’s computer help |
| Android | More > Find in page | Up and down arrows | Android 12 or later, per Google’s Android help |
Searching a scanned PDF in Chrome
A scanned PDF is usually a photo or image of a page, so it contains no selectable text by default. Google’s computer PDF help says that when you use the Chrome PDF viewer, “scanned PDFs of physical documents are automatically converted to be searchable and selectable using Optical Character Recognition (OCR).” Google also says this conversion happens on your device, without sending the data to Google or third parties. You do not need to turn on a setting for it.
Because OCR runs automatically, a scanned file is searched the same way as any other PDF once Chrome has processed it. If a word you expect does not turn up, work through these checks:
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- Confirm the file is open in Chrome’s PDF viewer in a tab. If it opened in another app, search there instead.
- Wait a moment after opening the file, then run the search again so Chrome can finish processing the scan.
- Check the scan’s quality. Blurry, skewed, low-resolution, or handwritten pages are more likely to be read incorrectly.
- If the word still cannot be found, use another PDF reader or a dedicated OCR tool as a fallback. Google does not guarantee perfect OCR results for every document, so this is a reasonable alternative rather than a guaranteed fix.
Common problems
- Ctrl+F searches the web page, not the PDF. Click inside the PDF first so the viewer has focus, then press Ctrl+F again.
- The PDF will not open in Chrome. Open the file from Chrome’s File menu, or drag it into a Chrome window, and confirm it is not being saved as a download instead.
- The Find option is missing on Android. Check the Android version first, since Google’s help states that these PDF features require Android 12 or later.
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