Forum Discussion
Is there any way at all to search for PDF files using PDF keywords in SharePoint Online?
SharePoint can query the properties (i.e. metadata) of a document only if there is a document parser that "promotes" such properties when uploading the document.
Unfortunately, SPO does not implement out of the box a document parser for PDF files, hence the PDF properties are not "promoted" (i.e. they are ignored).
So, if you want to query PDF properties in SPO, you have to fill by yourself, manually or automatically, the corresponding columns on the document library where the PDF is stored.
See https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/wbaer/2014/08/29/document-property-promotion-and-demotion-overview-and-considerations/
I’m interested in the basic metadata stored in the PDF information dictionary, specifically “Author”, “Title”, and “Keywords”. Do you think there’s a free and purely SPO-based solution?
Hi Juan Carlos. What option (even if it is a payment solution) exists to index in SPO other type of properties / metadata, of PDF files?
Nearly two years have gone..
Is there any solution to search for keywords in PDF files using OneDrive for Business?
Sven
OOTB this is not possible.
You need to tackle 2 problems:
1. Extracting the PDF properties
Apps have emerged with the capability to extract properties from PDF files (like Keywords, Subject, PDF version, ... or custom PDF properties) and map them to columns in OneDrive (or SharePoint). e.g. https://www.slimapplications.com/product/explorer/
2. Making sure the columns used are searchable
If you use custom columns then they are searchable by default. So that is the easiest way forward.
Paul | SLIM Applications (https://www.slimapplications.com/)
