Is there a solution to 'index' all of the PDFs on my computer for easy searchability?

[sprezz23]

Student with over 500-800 pdfs of research documents, textbooks, manuscripts, etc. I find that I have so much information, it would be much easier to have software or a self hosted service that could index all of them.

[dMog]

a good start would be to name them properly to begin with.

[jabrwky]

~

[Kalju]

2 hours ago, sprezz23 said:

Student with over 500-800 pdfs of research documents, textbooks, manuscripts, etc. I find that I have so much information, it would be much easier to have software or a self hosted service that could index all of them.

1. But why don't you want to use the Windows advanced indexing system? Does it not work?
2. Another thing, you can move or copy all or selected folders with your .pdf files into one new folder or to another drive and then re-index. Simple and safe and very simple to do and use.

PS. If you're having trouble using your computer, try to find someone who can help you with that case.

[sprezz23]

24 minutes ago, Kalju said:

1. But why don't you want to use the Windows advanced indexing system? Does it not work?
2. Another thing, you can move or copy all or selected folders with your .pdf files into one new folder or to another drive and then re-index. Simple and safe and very simple to do and use.

PS. If you're having trouble using your computer, try to find someone who can help you with that case.

 

Because sometimes looking up 'CLEAR CELL ADENOCARCINOMA' or 'ductal carcinoma in situ' is not possible in everything and many times there will be multiple mentions of the term(s) and I want to find the most relevant terms across hundreds of documents.

[Sylence]

Hi,

use Enhanced Indexing option in Windows 10 then you will be able to use Windows search to properly find your PDFs

https://imgur.com/a/q0taKEa

[mray88]

4 hours ago, sprezz23 said:

Student with over 500-800 pdfs of research documents, textbooks, manuscripts, etc. I find that I have so much information, it would be much easier to have software or a self hosted service that could index all of them.

 

Not sure if its exactly what you had in mind, but you might try "DTSearch", which you can find links to right here on nsane.  It's a fantastic search tool that will even highlight your search terms in .pdf's (using Adobe only though), so that as you scroll through lengthy pdf files you can find your search term easily. Also allows for all sorts of modifications of your search terms if you're not certain of the exact wording of what you're looking for. I have over 10,000 pdf files, mostly legal stuff, and use this program all the time to find stuff.  Good luck!

[Radpop]

Glarysofts QuickSearch lists all pdfs if you search from Documents by using search term: .pdf

 

https://download.glarysoft.com/qsearchsetup.exe

[mp68terr]

6 hours ago, sprezz23 said:

Student with over 500-800 pdfs of research documents, textbooks, manuscripts, etc. I find that I have so much information, it would be much easier to have software or a self hosted service that could index all of them.

Have you try bibliographic tools like zotero (https://www.zotero.org/) "to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research". Other similar apps exist, at least zotero is free.

[MrZeb]

Hi,

 

You may want to try for example dtSearch if Windows Search doesn't work for you after the change suggested above by Sylence.

 

PDF files can be tricky to search because sometimes they are generated using images instead of text and in that cases the indexing will fail to extract the text...

 

[sprezz23]

Are there any hostable search engines that could work for this usecase?

[mp68terr]

40 minutes ago, sprezz23 said:

Are there any hostable search engines that could work for this usecase?

How do you plan to index your files? Solely according to their title or with additional keywords too?

Some simple info could also help forumers to help you, like os (win/mac/linux?), what has been tried already, what were the problems, etc.