PDF Indexing is working on Windows 11 (even with the standard PDF indexer), however, you can only search for file contents via File Explorer and not via Search / Taskbar Search.
Windows 11 Windows Search not searching or Indexing PDFs
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Anonymous
Brand new Dell XPS laptop with Windows 11. It will not search text within PDF files. From looking on the internet seems like there are lots of problems Windows Search in Windows 11 which did not exist in Windows 10. Including not searching/indexing contents of PDF files, which is critical for me.
Has ANYONE been able to search within PDF files on Windows 11?
Please don't suggest re-indexing, have done 6 or 7 times. And, yes indexing settings are set to index contents of PDF files.
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
2023-01-09T02:20:37+00:00 It's not working for me using file explorer or the search bar. I'm on windows 11 (22H2)
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Anonymous
2022-12-25T13:35:19+00:00 So this issue appears to be still outstanding. I cannot get any search function to search on the contents of a PDF file. HELLO MICROSOFT!!!!!!!!
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Anonymous
2022-07-30T20:25:05+00:00 For many, many years Windows had the ability, through explorer, to search file contents, including in PDF, Word and Excel files (and before that, over ten years ago I believe, search was through a Microsoft add on). This functionality was broken in the initial release of Windows. Whether it is fixed in the current non-beta version of Windows 11 I am not sure (at least one poster here says it is, I'd like to hear if others have found that.) I am on a recent Beta version of Windows, which is stable and on which search seems to work fine. If the non-beta version of windows 11 now has search functionality I'd like to move back to that.
To its great discredit Microsoft has not said anything about this issue.
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Anonymous
2022-03-19T16:44:10+00:00 I did not have adobe on my computer when I first noticed this issue (which was shortly after I got a brand new XPS 13 laptop. I did have Nitropro, an adobe alternative. I do not think that that is the problem.