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MClareS
Participant
June 16, 2011
Question

Search not highlighting results consistently

  • June 16, 2011
  • 39 replies
  • 89395 views

I have noticed the last couple of times I have used the search function that, although the word I am searching for is being found, it is not necessarily being highlighted, so that I can see where it is on the page.  Sometimes I get a vertical line (like this | ) next to the word, as if the cursor is there, but that is really hard to see on a page full of text.  Once today I got one out of three occurrences of the same word on a page highlighted in blue (great!) but the other two were not highlighted at all when searching forward.  Having got the third one highlighted, I then used search backwards and one of the other two (but not both) got highlighted in blue.

Surely this has something to do with Adobe Reader, rather than my laptop settings.  I did install the latest update this morning (I think there was also one either yesterday or the day before) and am now on version 9.4.5

MClareS

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      39 replies

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      A
      Anonymous
      July 7, 2011

      Here's a workaround that works for me with Acrobat 9.4.5 while we're all waiting for Adobe to fix this.

      1.  Don't use the find option.  Instead use search (Edit | Search or Shift+Control+F).

      2.  Enter your search term and click "search".

      3.  You'll get a list of the instances of your term within the document.

      4.  If you single click on any of the results listed, you'll have the same problem everyone is complaining about -- the search term won't be highlighted in the text.  But if you DOUBLE CLICK on the result, the search term will be highlighted in the document.  So basically, you can just work through the list of results, double-clicking on each one to see your search term in the document.

      This is clunky, but at least it seems to work until Adobe gets their act together.

      D
      digitalH2O
      Participant
      July 5, 2011

      Not the greatest workaround in the world but I need this function constantly so, been copying/pasting into Word and searching there.

      S
      S_Marv
      Participant
      July 6, 2011

      I believe this workaround may satisfy everyone.  If I open the Full Reader Search, and perform the same search within the current document, Reader produces a list of all instances (results) of the searched text.  If you select one of those instances, the document advances to the relevant portion of the text.  However, the search text may still not be highlighted.  Select the same instance of the results list again, and the text now becomes highlighted.  This seems to work regardless of the setting for "Enable search highlights from external highlight server" in the Preferences.

      G
      gwilliig
      Participant
      July 3, 2011

      I don't have time for this problem, so I am using a different PDF reader.

      I liked the old Adobe search function better, but maybe somebody can

      recommend an excellent PDF reader, and we all can stop using Adobe,

      and they will get the message that way.

      A
      Anonymous
      July 3, 2011

      I have looked at several other pdf readers, including Adobe 10, and found that each has its own unacceptable 'problems'.

      My conclusion is that Adobe is actually the best, and so waiting for their 'fix' to save their own TAIL, I am using Adobe 9.4, and zealously turning off their automated 'update' service, matching the zeal of its desire to EXECUTE!

      By the way now using Adobe 9.4 again has brought wonderful peace of mind, not to mention productivity.

      J
      JohnnyThom
      Participant
      July 2, 2011

      I am glad to see the problem is prevalent enough that a fix is probably in the works, and that it's not just me.  Meanwhile, I have found a consistent way (so far) of seeing the highlighting, though more cumbersome than the way it is supposed to work.  Instead of using "Find," I open the "Search" window by clicking on the binoculars on my toobar, or by going to Edit>Search.  Whether advanced options are used or not this search will show a one line portion of all the passages that contain the phrase or word in this window.  Upon double clicking on these lines one at a time, you are taken to the page and the word or phrase will be highlighted like you would expect.

      I wll probably keep doing this until the next update of either Acrobat or Reader.  The Find feature is enormously helpful to me in my business use.

      C
      cruzmarcio
      Participant
      June 30, 2011

      Not yet a solution, but...

      I use the brazilian portuguese version, and there's a search option called "Abrir Pesquisa Total do Reader" - Shift+Ctrl+F ("Open Readers Full Search", or something alike).

      In there, the search highlights the results, but it may be needed to click twice on the result in the search window.

      Cruz

      A
      Anonymous
      June 30, 2011

      Fortunately version 9.4.0 is available here:

      http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/

      and Search is OK in that. I recommend you uninstall your current version before installing 9.4.0

      B
      Bill Kulsrud
      Participating Frequently
      July 1, 2011

      Thanks. I had adobe 10 available to me and upgraded. It works but now I have another set of problems, learning 10!

      Bill

      Sent from my iPhone

      E
      efreeti1401
      Participant
      June 30, 2011

      Hi,

      Problem with me is solved:

      I use Acrobat Reader 9.4

      1. Uninstalled the program

      2. Deleted folders where was installed, but didn't succeeded with normal delete, cause windows said I didn't have permision or smth like that. So I used program for optimizing computer software like TuneUp, to delete the folders.

      3. After reinstalling AR 9,4 search highlight worked fine.

      H
      HenriFD
      Participant
      June 29, 2011

      I'm quite surprised the problem is still not solved. I filled in the bug report form on Adobe's website two days ago and still no response.
      I thought Adobe was much more serious.

      About 600 people are impacted by this problem at my job and I cannot migrate to version 10 because it doesn't support the "enable highlight from external server" option wich is needed by DTSearch.

      I had to prepare an unistallation package for version 9.4.5 and a new installation package for version 9.4.4.

      Il Adobe doesn't release the patch today, I'll have to launch my packages on all computers :-(

      S
      Scriptpreneur
      Participating Frequently
      June 29, 2011

      I talked to them (by phone) within hours of the problem's creation.

      I still encourage EVERYONE to INUNDATE them with calls:

      800-642-3623

      B
      Bill Kulsrud
      Participating Frequently
      June 29, 2011

      Can't remember if I told you but I have Adobe 10 available to me and I installed it and it works.  Of course, that means you have to relearn where everything is and there are other issues...it's always something.  Thanks.

      Bill Kulsrud

      William N. Kulsrud PhD, CPA

      E-mail: [deleted by host]

      B
      Bill Kulsrud
      Participating Frequently
      June 26, 2011

      I'll add my complaint to the list.  When using search on Adobe 9.4.5., sometimes the word is highlighted and sometimes its not. Thinking that I had accidentally turned something off, I searched for awhile with no luck.  I agree with everyone that we really need a fix now and not later.

      A
      Anonymous
      June 27, 2011

      Possible workaround:

      When the highlighting doesn't occur, and insertion point "|" is placed at the search text, it is possible (on Windows at least) to press SHIFT + LEFT ARROW, and then the text will be highlighted (for as long as you hold the keys down).

      OK, so this isn't ideal, and we still want it fixed, but it makes it much easier to spot where the search result is on a crowded page of text.

      I hope this helps people somewhat until Adobe are able to release a patch.

      J

      S
      Scriptpreneur
      Participating Frequently
      June 28, 2011

      hmm - I don't understand the workaround, but no matter - I'm on Mac & doesn't seem to apply to Mac I guess

      the insertion point stuff doesn't make sense even if I were on Windows - can you clarify?

      Shift plus left arrow just makes you go backward in every program I know of

      D
      dmwhk
      Participant
      June 26, 2011

      Definitely not working since 9.4.5. Whatever happened to beta-testing properly? It should be simple enough to fix the code on this - the bug was introduced by the last update, so check the code for that and fix it NOW!

      It's bad enough that Acrobat is the only plug-in that regularly crashes my browser when a file download does not quite complete. Firefox 5, IE9, both same problem, as with older versions.

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