How to Search All PDF Files in a Folder

Searching an open PDF file in Acrobat is easy.  Just click the little binoculars icon on the File toolbar, enter your search term and conditional filters (checkboxes) and click Search.  What is not commonly appreciated, however, is that you can search an entire folder of PDF documents, none of which have to be open in Acrobat.  To do so, click the Search icon (the binoculars - or click Edit > Search, or press Shift-Ctrl-F).  Under the "Where would you like to search?" area of the search pane select "All PDF Documents in" then click the drop-down  and choose "Browse for Location..."  A Browse dialog box will appear allowing you to navigate your file system to the folder you want to search (this is another good reason to store all PDFs in subfolders of their own).  Select the folder, enter your search term, apply conditions (if any) and click Search. 

Acrobat will report search results by document:

By clicking any of the contextual search results entries Acrobat will open the document and jump to the location (which will be highlighted in the document) within the PDF file.