Yesterday I shared several online .PDF conversion files. Today, I would like to follow up on that post with a few .PDF search tools and highlighting tools that could be used in conjunction with each other. If you are looking for e-books and/or .PDF files check out the following search engines…

PdfGenie – a dedicated pdf search engine for PDF ebooks, sheets, forms and documents. I performed several different searches using this search tool with excellent results.

Find PDF Doc – search PDF documents. Links on the site also allow users to search for various additional file formats.


PDFoo.com - a free service developed to search PDF files. The site also features PDF files collecting from many sites.We are not reponsible for contents inside the PDF files. Search using the category section or search box.

toodoc.com – use this search engine to search the web for PDF files, and nothing else. This allows you to type in the key words that describe the book you are looking for, and see what’s available. After you search, you’ll be presented with a listing of books and PDF files that match your search criteria. You can preview the files before downloading them. This allows you to see if the book you found is the one you were looking for. The preview loads really quickly and should serve as an alternative for anyone who doesn’t want to download the texts, and needs them for quick reference.

Search .PDF books – search through more than 225,000,000 online books. At the very bottom of the page you will also find a link that will let you search for manuals online.

If you are like me, there have probably been times when you wished that you could highlight PDF files as you read them online. Unfortunately current versions of Acrobat reader do not come with highlighter features.

Foxit PDF Reader – this PDF reader consumes less memory compared to the Adobe Acrobat Reader to the rescue! You can comment and highlight once you have installed this free program on your computer.

PDF-XChange Viewer – you can also download this program to view, annotate, and highlight .PDF files. The application is free for private and commercial use, provided it is not bundled with other software or used for financial gain.

A.nnotate – if you don’t have the “rights” to install a program on your computer in school you may wan to try this Web 2.0 tool. When you register for an account (email verification is required) you can highlight, annotate, collaborate, and index documents and images that use PDF or MS Office formats. A.nnotate is an online application that runs in all common web browsers, with no software or plugin installation. The basic service is free: just register and verify your email address. You can upload 30 new pages a month and make unlimited notes. You will enjoy using this tool as the annotations are colorful, easy to create, and fun to share.

DocQ – this company claims it offers “the first online platform designed expressly to conduct your business with paper in an electronic world while providing enormous benefit in productivity, negotiations, mobility, and speed. With DocQ, you have both the desktop and mobile tools needed to send, manage, collaborate, digitally sign, and conduct secure and timely business.” You can annotate, highlight, add basic shapes, and stamps to a .pdf file and forward it to a colleague or peer for review. This application is offered in beta format currently, which means there may be some hiccups in terms of use and it is likely you will have to pay for the application at some point.