Find text in PDFs in Preview on Mac

You can open a PDF in Preview, then search for a word or any set of characters.

Go to the Preview app on your Mac.
Open a PDF.
In the Preview toolbar, type a word or phrase in the search field (you may need to resize the window to see it).
If you type a phrase, Preview searches for that exact phrase. To search for any word included in the phrase, click , then choose Any Match.
Do any of the following in the search results:
- Go to the next or previous search result: Click or .
- Sort the search results by number of matches: Click Search Rank.
- Sort the search results by page number: Click Page Order.
When you’re finished, click in the search field.

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Preview User Guide