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Search inside all your PDFs

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Search the text of every PDF in your library at once, and open or cite any passage with its page number.

Your library can search the words inside every PDF you have uploaded, all at once. Each result shows the passage and the page it’s on, so you can open it or cite it straight away.

Search your PDFs

  1. Open your Library from the left sidebar.
  2. Next to the search box, under Search in, choose Passages.
  3. Type at least 3 characters. Type a word, or a “quoted phrase” to find those exact words in order.
  4. Results show how many passages were found across how many sources.

The Details option searches titles, authors, journals and abstracts instead. If a Details search finds no sources but some PDFs contain the words, the library offers Show passages.

Use a passage

Each result shows the source, the page and the words around your match:

  • Open quote opens the PDF in the reader at that passage. See Read PDFs and keep quotes.
  • Cite cites the source in your open paper, with the page printed where the passage is.

What gets searched

  • Only sources with a PDF or full text. The PDFs place in your library lists them.
  • Only the sources in the place you’re in and that match your filters. To search everything, choose All sources and clear any filters.
  • A scanned PDF has no text, so it can’t be searched.
  • For a very long PDF, only the first 400,000 characters of text are kept. The badge “Searchable to p.” on its card shows the last page that can be searched. See Upload PDFs.

Searching your PDFs happens in your browser, uses no AI, and is free on every plan.

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn't a PDF show up in my search results?

It may be a scan with no text in it, or a long PDF whose text stops before the page you need. Check the source's card for Searchable to p., which shows how far its text reaches.

How do I search for an exact phrase?

Put the phrase in quotation marks, like "working memory capacity". Results then only show passages with those words in that order.

Does searching my PDFs use my AI allowance?

No. Searching inside your PDFs happens in your browser, uses no AI, and is free on every plan.