Searching PDF Files

Sailor Ed
Hello all. I have just installed the Zotero app on my iMac. I have also created several Library Collections to which I have dragged a number of PDF files to each Collection. I then tried searching first from the quick search and obtain nil results. I then tried the Advanced Search with Match - Any, Title, Contains, my search single word and checked search sub collections - I then pressed the blue Search button and again zero results. I should mention the collection I want to search was selected in the left hand pane. I was not sure what option to select in the first box after Match as there is a long list of options but Title was selected as the default so I left it.

I then tried viewing the items in the collection in PDF format (View PDF) and searched from there - this time successfully.

So my question is why am I not getting positive results when using the search functions?

Am I missing something? Perhaps the application is not capable of searching as I want?

Thanks in advance
  • bwiernik
    Are you trying to search the contents of the pdfs themseles? If so, then you need to change the Quick Search mode to search "Everything" (click the arrow on the left side of the Quick Search box). If this still doesn't work, (1) make sure your pdf has actual searchable text and not just a scanned image, and (2) open the Zotero preferences in the Gear menu, select Search, and click "Rebuild Index..."

    The Advanced search fields you can select (Title, Creator, Publication, etc.) search the information stored in the Zotero item reference entries, not the contents of the pdfs themselves. Do you have your pdfs attached to actual reference items or simply sitting in the program free? If they don't have reference items, you probably want to add those so that you can use all of the features of Zotero, such as item metadata searching and citation in Word. The easiest way to do this with a large number of pdfs is to select them all, then right click and select "Retrieve Metadata for PDFs".
  • Sailor Ed
    Hello thank you for your suggestions. However as I said in my original post I am able to search each individual PDF file and obtain results.

    The PDFs I am trying to search are just added and not linked to anything. I have followed your recommendation about re-indexing in the preferences and ale selecting 'Everything' in the quick search (this was already selected).

    So I now have 5 Library sub folders all with unlinked PDFs in them. I tried as follows

    1. Highlighted one of the folders in the Library and can see the12 odd PDFs in the centre pane.
    2. Click on the Quick Search Window and see 'Everything' in grey.
    3. Type in a search terms and the PDF list in the centre pane disappears
    4. Hit Return and nothing happens.

    So I am now at a loss.

    Please advise.
  • adamsmith
    Do the PDFs show up as indexed in the right hand panel when you select them?
    In the advanced search, can you search for
    "Attachment Content --> is --> [your searchterm] successfully?

    But I'm also wondering why you would have PDFs not attached to metadata in Zotero - what's the point?
  • Sailor Ed
    Hello no they did not but I had to d/l an attachment and indexed each one individually. So the app does not index items dropped in. OK lesson #1

    I then tried the quick search with some results. The list of PDF was narrowed from 18 to 4 which contain the search term. I then have to double click the result ( 1 at a time) and re-search from there. Is this how it is supposed to work.

    I tried the Advanced search but using "Attachment Content" does not allow me to select "Is" in the next box only 'Contains' or 'Does Not contain' are options.

    As to the point - I am seeking an app that will allow me to search many PDFs at one time and display the results. I have been using an app called Foxtrot with some success but this app seemed like it might be better. However so far not getting the results I am seeking BUT don't know how to use it yet either.

    Cheers
  • adamsmith
    Zotero should auto-index. I don't know why that didn't happen.
    I'd guess it'll work now.


    Zotero will not currently display search results within pdfs. I'd imagine there are better pure PDF management apps out there if you're not after a reference manager (which is Zotero's principal function). Even Mendeley would probably more convenient if all you want to do is search & organize PDFs.

    Attachment Content search obviously doesn't allow for "is" that was my bad. "Contains" is what you want.
  • dstillman
    I had to d/l an attachment
    (I suspect this is referring to the PDF tools. Zotero won't auto-index until those are installed.)
  • bwiernik
    If all you want to do is search your pdfs, without maintaining reference metadata for generating citations, then Zotero is probably more complicated than you need. In that case, since you are using a Mac, I can recommend just using the Spotlight Search and Quicklook features built into the operating system. Devonthink is another tool that will probably provide the level of service you want here.
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