VBA or JavaScript to perform a text search 2,000+ times

[P_Johnston]

Hi experts,

I need to search several PDFs containing a total of 40,000 pages for 2,000 account numbers.

Can this be automated using VBA or JavaScript or other? 

Which do you recommend and why? 

Thank you,

Peter

[try67]

JavaScript: Out of the question. Acrobat can't handle that amount of information. I'm guessing the same applies for VBA as well.

I have developed a stand-alone application, written in Java, that can do it. If you're interested in such a tool feel free to contact me privately (try6767 at gmail.com) to discuss it further.

[P_Johnston]

I have used the Acrobat "Full Text Index and Catalog" feature that allows me to create an index for my 40,000 pages.  Then using AutoIt, a keyboard & mouse replication tool, I read an account from Excel into the clipboard.  Then, using the advanced search feature in Acrobat, I am able to search the index for that account.  Adobe performs the search in about 1 second so this part is sufficient.  That part that is painfully slow is how I read the account numbers from Excel.

Is it possible to access the advanced search feature within Acrobat using VBA or JavaScript?  I'm a developer and have used VBA before; in the process of learning JavaScript; and haven't worked with Java in quite a while so would rather not go down that path but appreciate your offer.

Thanks,

Pete

[lrosenth]

No, it is not.

[P_Johnston]

Ugh.  Disappointing.  Thanks for your response.

[Bernd Alheit]

What should be the result of the search?

[P_Johnston]

When using the Advanced Search feature, Acrobat returns the number of documents, number of instances and the name of documents that the search text was located in.

[Bernd Alheit]

You want make a screenshot for every account number?

[P_Johnston]

Currently I am calling a keystroke sequence to perform a SnagIt screen capture of the results which are saved as a file for each account number I search for.  This is not preferred but the only way I can figure out how to save the search results.  If I could call the search from a program, then hopefully I could also store the search results to a text file etc.

The real issue is being able to call the search command from a program.  However, based on the reply from lrosenth it is not possible to invoke the search command from VBA etc so it doesn't look promising.

[try67]

You can export the search results to a plain-text file, using the Save button in the Advanced Search dialog.

However, this process is not really meant for automation of the kind you're after.

[Bernd Alheit]

You can export the PDF Files as text files and check the text files for the account numbers.