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Searching PDFs

Nitro PDF Pro for Mac

Search the Contents of a PDF by Keyword

  1. Click the Find button

    sidebar_search
    in the Toolbar to open the search window, or choose Edit > Find (Command+F). The search window will open.
  2. Enter the search term(s) in the search field. A list of the pages containing the results will appear.
  3. Navigate to a result by clicking on it.
The search results can be expanded or collapsed from view via the Show Results button.

Find and Highlight, Find and Redact, or Find and Replace

From a search you can highlight, redact, or replace keywords and phrases. Access these options a couple of ways.

  • Choose Edit > Find > Find and Redact… or Find and Replace…
  • Open the Find window (Command+F) from the menu bar for highlight, redact, or replace.
From the Find window:

  1. Type a search term into the Find field. Results will appear listed below.
  2. From the Find popup menu select Replace, Redact, or Highlight. Further options will appear.

  • Highlight: Choose a highlight color. Select one result and click Highlight to highlight that instance. Click Highlight All to highlight all instances of that search term.
  • Redact: Choose a style, Block (replace the search term with a black block), or Erase (replace the search term with white out). Select one result and click Redact to redact that instance. Click Redact All to redact all instances of that search term.
  • Replace: Type the replacement term in the Replace field. Click Replace to replace one instance of the search term. Click Replace All to replace all instances of the term.
Note: If there is any sensitive information in the document metadata, you must remove it manually in the Inspector under the Document Information tab (Command+Option+5). Find-and-Redact and Find-and-Replace do not scan the metadata.