# How do I search a PDF for several words at once? — DocFind

Last reviewed: October 20, 2026. HTML version: https://docfindapp.com/answers/search-a-pdf-for-multiple-words

**A normal Find box treats what you type as one string: type two words and it looks for those two words side by side, in that order. To look for several separate words in one pass you need a search with "any" or "all" options, which Adobe documents in desktop Acrobat's Advanced Search. On a phone, the built-in readers we checked document no such option, so the practical route is one word at a time, or a search tool built for many keywords.**

## Why typing two words often finds nothing <p>In the Find bar of most readers, *invoice March* is a phrase, not two searches. Acrobat's own description of its phrase option shows the logic: "Match Exact Word Or Phrase" "Searches for the entire string of characters, including spaces, in the same order in which they appear in the text box" ([*Searching PDFs*, Adobe Acrobat Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/searching-pdfs.html), read 20 October 2026). If the two words are on the same page but not next to each other, a phrase search misses the page.</p>

## Acrobat on a computer: Advanced Search <p>Adobe's route: "Open Acrobat on your desktop (not in a web browser)", press Ctrl+F or Command+F, then "On the Find toolbar, select the ellipsis, and then select Advanced Search", and "select Show More Options" for the extra criteria (the *Searching PDFs* page above). Under Return Results Containing, the options are:</p> <ul> <li>**Match Any Of The Words**: "Searches for any instances of at least one of the words typed." Adobe's example: searching *each of* finds "each, of, each of, or of each".</li> <li>**Match All Of The Words**: "Searches for instances that contain all your search words, but not necessarily in the order you type them." Adobe notes it is "Available only for a search of multiple PDFs or index definition files".</li> <li>**Boolean Query**: uses operators you type with the words, also "Available only for searching multiple PDFs or PDF indexes".</li> <li>**Proximity**: finds words "separated by no more than a specified number of words", only for multiple documents and only with Match All Of The Words.</li> </ul> <p>Two practical consequences. To use the "all" or Boolean options on a single PDF, point Advanced Search at the folder that holds it rather than at the open document. And because Adobe's page is written for Acrobat, check your own menus if you use the free Reader; [searching in Adobe Reader](https://docfindapp.com/answers/search-in-adobe-reader) covers what that page leaves unclear.</p>

## On a phone <p>Adobe's mobile help has one search box: "Open the PDF and select Search from the top menu", type the term, and step through the highlighted results ([*Find text in PDFs* (mobile), Adobe Acrobat Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/mobile/view-manage-files/find-text.html), read 20 October 2026). Chrome on Android offers More, then Find in page ([*Manage PDFs in Chrome* (Android), Google Chrome Help](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/16215622?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid), read 20 October 2026). Neither page describes any-word or all-word matching, so search for the rarest word first, then check the other words on the pages it finds. That is our workaround, not a vendor's.</p>

## Choosing the words <p>Our advice for a several-word search: pick the most unusual word you remember, a surname or a reference number, rather than a common one. Watch for word forms; Acrobat has a Stemming option where "a search for opening finds instances of open, opened, opens, and openly" (the *Searching PDFs* page), but most tools match only what you type. And if a word you can see is never found, the page may be a scan with no text in it; [searching for a word in a PDF](https://docfindapp.com/answers/search-for-a-word-in-a-pdf) covers that case.</p>

## Several words across many PDFs, on a phone <p>[DocFind](https://docfindapp.com/) on iPhone and Android searches inside many PDFs at once, and its free tier puts no limit on keywords or results; each result shows the file, the page and the surrounding text, with your keywords highlighted when you open it. On iPhone, the Pro tier adds an advanced query mode with AND, OR and NOT, exact phrases, NEAR and wildcards; that mode does not exist in the Android app. There is no stemming on either platform, so searching for "running" won't find "run".</p>

Related: [Search for a word in a PDF](https://docfindapp.com/answers/search-for-a-word-in-a-pdf) · [Search inside multiple PDFs](https://docfindapp.com/answers/search-inside-multiple-pdfs) · [Search in Adobe Reader](https://docfindapp.com/answers/search-in-adobe-reader) · [Find and replace text in a PDF](https://docfindapp.com/answers/find-and-replace-text-in-a-pdf)