Acrobat Pro 'find' function doesn't work consistently

[madsci]

This has been driving me nuts lately - I can't reliably use the 'find' command to find simple text even though it shows the proper number of hits in the suggestions.

At the moment I'm viewing a truck manual. I hit control-F and enter "fuses". I get "no exact match" and then 22 results for "fuses" in the suggestions drop-down. If I click on the suggestion, it just redraws the drop-down. Advanced search finds no results.

Chrome's PDF reader finds it just fine, and agrees there are 22 results. If I select a section of text and paste it into Notepad I can find 'fuses' just fine, so it's not that it's showing up as an image or something. 

Acrobat Reader DC behaves the same for me.

It's not just this one document - it happens across all of the datasheets and technical manuals I read, too.

What gives?

[madsci · Accepted solution]

I found a solution - Edit | Preferences | Search | Purge Cache Contents seems to have fixed the problem for me.

[madsci · Accepted solution]

I found a solution - Edit | Preferences | Search | Purge Cache Contents seems to have fixed the problem for me.

[LHVictoria]

Unfortunately this did not work for me.  Still need help.  Really depend on FIND / search function.

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello!

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out.

Could you please provide more details about the issue? Are you seeing any error messages when you use the Find function? What occurs when you try to search for a specific word or tool? Is this problem occurring with just one PDF, or does it happen with all PDFs? Additionally, are you using a Mac or a Windows machine, and what version are you on?

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20458 Planned update, Apr 15, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

Note: If the PDF is scanned, text search will not work unless OCR (Optical Character Recognition) has been applied. See this article to apply the OCR: https://adobe.ly/44drH01

Instead of simple Find, use Advanced Search. It is more powerful and can index across multiple layers and embedded text. See this article to learn more: https://adobe.ly/42RnM6K

Check document security settings: Go to Menu > Document Properties > check under the security tab, and see if text search is allowed. 

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[K260961472khm]

Thank you so much - this worked for me!

[AnandSri]

Hello!

Glad to know that it worked for you. Happy to help. Feel free to reach out if you need any assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.