Tech Tip of the Week

Google Search Tip: Filter out PDF files

Google usually comes up with many results that lead to PDF documents. That is annoying when you are specifically looking for Web sites about your chosen topic.

Using the search parameters or the advanced search on the Google Web site, you can restrict your search to specific file types. You can also exclude individual types from the search results.

• Open google.com and click on ‘Advanced search’.
• Enter the search terms in the upper fields.
• Select the ‘don’t’ option in the ‘File format’ combination field and then select the setting ‘Adobe Acrobat PDF’ in the combination field at the end of the line.
• Click ‘Google Search’ and the search engine will give you the filtered result.

It can be faster if you enter the search parameter directly in the input field. For that, type the following command after the search term: -filetype:pdf. The keyword ‘filetype’ and the preset minus-sign ensures that PDF documents are excluded from the search.