Google Indexes PDF Files

In a major break with the tradition of other search engines, Google has begun indexing the full text of Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. These are identified in Google search results with a [PDF] designation at the front. Instead of a cached copy of the full PDF file, Google offers a text version. Google does not offer a way to search only their indexed PDF files, but just adding PDF as an extra search term can often bring up some results. Try laser pdf to see an example of the documents that may now be found.

According to Chris Sherman's report, Google has already indexed 13 million PDF files. Full implementation on all Google's search clusters is not due until Feb. 5, so you may or may not find any PDF files in your results (and for the search above) until that time. Either way, this is a significant addition to their already large Web database, and it means that Google may well find even more documents not available from other search engines.