Keep a clear, searchable record of configuration changes by adding dated comments and attaching the changed config fil…
Open your PDF document in Adobe Acrobat.
Go to the Tools pane and select Document Processing.
Click Full Text Index with Catalog.
In the Catalog dialog, click New Index.
Click Add and select your PDF file, then click OK.
Click Build to start creating the index.
Choose a location and filename for the .pdx index file and click Save.
Wait for the indexing process to complete, then click Close.
Best practiceIf your PDF contains scanned images, use Acrobat’s OCR feature before indexing to ensure all text is searchable.
After building the index, you can use the Advanced Search feature to quickly search the full text of your indexed PDF.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
A PDF index is a special file, like a '.pdx' file, that lists all the words and their locations in a collection of PDFs. It matters because without an index, Acrobat has to read every word in every PDF each time you search, which is very slow. With an index, Acrobat can find words almost instantly, saving you a lot of time, especially with many large documents.
Yes, absolutely. If you have hundreds of scanned PDFs, creating a PDF index using Acrobat Pro's 'Catalog' feature will dramatically speed up your searches. The index covers not just body text but also comments, bookmarks, and metadata. This means you won't have to wait for Acrobat to check each file individually, making it much easier to find specific information across your entire collection.
| Feature | Regular Search (Find toolbar) | Search with PDF Index (Catalog) |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Slower, searches each file individually. | Much faster, uses pre-built index. |
| Coverage | Body text, layers, form fields, signatures. | Body text, comments, bookmarks, tags, metadata, attachments. |
| Best For | Searching a single PDF or a few small PDFs. | Searching a large collection of PDFs. |
You should use Acrobat Pro's Catalog feature to create an index because it saves a lot of time when searching many PDF files. The regular search checks each file one by one, which is slow for large collections. Catalog builds a single index file that covers all your documents, including more details like comments and metadata. This makes future searches almost instant and much more thorough.