Read, search and move around a PDF in the editor
Open More (⋯) → Read mode for just the document. Press ⌘/Ctrl F (or Search in the toolbar) to find text, use the page bar at the bottom to jump and zoom, and Pages for thumbnails.
Updated 2 min read
Read mode
Click More (⋯) at the top right and choose Read mode ("Distraction-free reading"). The toolbars and side panels go away and the top bar shows Read mode. You can still select and copy text, but nothing can be changed. To leave, choose More → Exit read mode; on a phone, tap Edit at the top right. The PDF reader tool opens a document straight into Read mode.
Search the text
Step 1: Open search
Press ⌘/Ctrl F or click Search in the toolbar. On a phone, tap ⋯ → Search.
Step 2: Type what you're looking for
Matches are listed with their page. Use Previous match and Next match to step through them; the counter shows where you are, for example
3 of 12.Step 3: Mark them if you like
Highlight this match or Highlight all turns matches into highlight annotations. Undo removes them in one step.
On long documents the editor reads the text first (Reading text… 20/140 pages). If it says This document has no searchable text, the PDF is a scan: run OCR to add a text layer, then search again. To change words rather than find them, use More → Find & replace in the toolbar (how replacing works). To search by meaning instead of exact words, use the AI assistant's Search tab.
Move between pages and zoom
- Page bar: the floating bar at the bottom has Previous page, Next page, a page number box (type a number and press Enter to jump), Zoom out, Zoom in and a fit button that switches between fitting the width and the whole page.
- Keyboard: Page Up and Page Down change page, + and − zoom, ⌘/Ctrl 0 fits the width. Every shortcut is in Keyboard shortcuts.
- Thumbnails: click Pages in the toolbar to see every page; click one to go there. The same panel reorders, rotates, duplicates and deletes pages (details).
- Phone: pinch to zoom, tap the page indicator to show pages, and tap the zoom chip to fit the width again.
Editor display settings
Click the gear (Settings) in the narrow side rail on the right of the editor; on a phone, tap ⋯ → Settings. These switches are Saved on this device, not in your account:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wizard | Shows hints while you fill out documents. |
| Field marker | Shows the marker in the margin that moves you between fields. |
| Spell check | Underlines typos in fillable fields, using your browser's dictionary. |
| Smart guides | Shows alignment guides when you drag text, fields and images. Hold Alt while dragging to turn them off for one move. |
| Navigation toolbar | Shows or hides the page and zoom bar at the bottom. |
Search finds nothing, but I can see the word on the page.
The page is probably an image (a scan or a photo). Run OCR first. If it's a normal PDF, try turning off Whole words or Match case in Find & replace.
Can I open a PDF just to read it, without editing?
Yes. Use Read mode, or a view-only share link when you send it to someone else.
Tools in this article
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- Keyboard shortcutsPress ? anywhere in the dashboard or the editor to see the shortcuts for that screen. The essentials: ⌘ K to search, U to upload, T for text, S to sign, ⌘ Z to undo and Tab to move between form fields.
- Manage pages, page numbers and watermarks in the editorClick Pages in the toolbar to open thumbnails: drag to reorder, and use the buttons to rotate, duplicate, delete, crop, resize or insert pages. Page numbers and watermarks are in the toolbar too; headers, footers and Bates numbers are separate browser tools.
- Edit the existing text in a PDFSwitch the editor from Fill out to Edit PDF (or press E), click a line of the document's text and type. The new text is drawn over a cover patch in the closest standard font; the old characters stay in the file unless you redact them.
- Make a scanned PDF editable and searchable with OCROpen the OCR PDF tool, upload the scan, pick the Languages and pages and click Recognize text. The result looks identical but has a searchable text layer; click Open in the editor to change its text. OCR is counted per page recognized.