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pdfind

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pdfind is a graphical (Zenity) tool to search for text inside every PDF in the current directory and jump straight to the matching page.

What It Does

  • prompts for a search string (regex supported) via a Zenity dialog, pre-filled with your last search
  • searches every *.pdf in the current directory with pdfgrep, showing a progress dialog while it works
  • lists matches (filename, page, surrounding text) in a Zenity list dialog
  • opens the file you pick with evince, jumped to the matching page and search term highlighted

Supported Platforms

  • Linux (desktop, GTK dialogs)

Dependencies

  • zenity, pdfgrep (required)
  • evince (optional — only needed to open a result directly from the tool)

Install / First Run Summary

Install zenity and pdfgrep (and evince if you want click-to-open), then run it from the folder you want to search:

cd ~/Documents/reports
pdfind

It's also suited to wiring up as a Nautilus (Files) right-click action on a folder.

Common Usage Examples

Search the current directory interactively:

pdfind

Re-run with the same search term pre-filled — just accept the dialog's default text, which is whatever you searched last time in this directory.

Important Behavior / Defaults

  • Only searches the current working directory (non-recursive find -name '*.pdf' at depth from where it's run).
  • Remembers your last search term in pdfind.last, written next to the script itself — not per-directory.
  • Cancelling the dialog or leaving the search box empty shows a warning and exits without searching.

Notes / Caveats

  • pdfind.last is local runtime state, not meant to be tracked in git or synced.
  • This is a Linux-desktop tool by design (Zenity/GTK dialogs, Evince) — there's no macOS or headless equivalent here.

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