Find and select the document you want to make searchable, then click open. to make a pdf searchable using adobe acrobat, you can follow these steps: open adobe acrobat on your computer. you can usually use the adobe acrobat ‘ search’ function to highlight and source words and passages within the text. press the adobe acrobat searchable pdf ctrl+ a keys to “ select all. if nothing is selected, there is no text, and the file isn’ t searchable as it is. in fact, when you save a document as a pdf on your computer, it’ ll typically be searchable as standard. press pdf output style searchable image. head to tools and select recognize text. a searchable pdf is simply a pdf file that contains useful search functionality. explore adobe acrobat jump to section search pdfs smarter find and replace refine with the search window explore advanced search options the cloud is the new filing cabinet. ” if your pdf is text- based this will select and highlight the text in the file, as shown below. open the pdf you want to search on your phone or computer using an acrobat app. find what you’ re looking for fast using pdf search tools in adobe acrobat. how to search a pdf.