iOS 13: Safari fails to search in larger PDFs

Question

Level 1

8 points

iOS 13: Safari fails to search in larger PDFs

Hi, when I open a pdf in Safari on iPhone 8 (iOS 13.6) and I try to search a word or a phrase in the document/page using the share button or the address bar, I can see that search bar at the bottom of the display appears, however the pdf freezes and reloads without any results. When I try it again, the pdf often crashes and Safari shows grey page with saying that there was an error loading the page. This happens mostly with larger pdf over about 100 pages (but still, this is not really a large file though), thus I find it impossible to look up any word or phrase in larger pdf on iPhone.

I also tried to use search when opening the pdf file in Books app, but it crashes completely.

This error happens for example with this pdf: https://aim.rlp.cz/predpisy/predpisy/dokumenty/L/L-Frazeologie/data/print/Frazeologie_cely.pdf

Please, how to fix it? It seems like a bug. How to successfully search through pdfs? It’s really frustrating when I can’t find a particular word in pdfs on iPhone! :-(((

iPhone 8, iOS 13

Posted on Jul 27, 2020 7:52 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

chrisg_01

Community Specialist

Jul 31, 2020 8:52 AM in response to iKokos

Hello iKokos,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities!

We understand from your question that you want to search for a word in a PDF. We can certainly help you with this!

This article will be a good resource for you. It will walk you through the necessary steps to resolve the question.

Save and mark up PDFs on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with the Books app

"View, mark up, or sign a PDF

On the Library tab, find the PDF that you want to view or mark up. Tap the PDF to open it. Tap the PDF again to see these buttons:

Tap the back button to close the PDF and return to your library.
Tap the table of contents button to view all pages in the PDF. You can also jump to any Bookmarks from here.
Tap the share button to see your share or print options.
Tap the Markup button to draw and write on top of your PDF. If you print or email the PDF, it'll contain any signatures and markup that you’ve added to it. Learn more about how to use Markup.
Tap the search button to find a word or phrase in the document or a specific page number.
Tap the bookmark button to save your place for later."

We hope this is able to resolve your issue. If you have any more questions or this does not resolve your issue, please reach back out on the thread!

Cheers.

Reply

Answer 2

iKokos Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 7, 2020 7:47 AM in response to chrisg_01

Hello Less,

thank you for reply! This solution helped in the end, however, the Books app sometimes crashes while retrieving the search results.

However I’m still worried about the unreliable pdf search in Safari app. Shouldn’t it work as well? It’s not really comfortable to download the pdf, then open the Books every time I need to find something in pdf online.

Reply