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PDF Indexing Filter for native Windows10 applications

Info

If you observe that pdf files will not be indexed in your libraries, you need to check for the correct Windows10 PDF Filter. This How-To is only for Win10 – Check other PDF IFilter article for Win7.

PDF Indexing: How-To Inspect and Change the Filter Handlers

First, open the PDF Indexing Options panel in the Control panel:

Control Panel for PDF Indexing Options

Control Panel for PDF Indexing Options

Now click on Indexing Options / Advanced / File Types. This shows you the list of file extensions and the default Filter Handler registered for it. After installing an Adobe Filter, you can see that it adds a Handler for PDF that it calls “PDF Filter”.

Installed PDF Indexing Filter

Installed PDF Indexing Filter

Any indexing of PDF content at this point will use the Adobe Filter. To get PDF indexing working with Windows10 Store Universal Windows Platform Apps like Noggle, you need to use the native Windows10 pdf filter which is already shipped with Windows10. To change it, you need to know the GUID for the filter. The please take a note now:

What’s the GUID for the naitive Windows10 UWP PDF Filter?

Adobe GUID: {E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}
Windows10 GUID: {6C337B26-3E38-4F98-813B-FBA18BAB64F5}

That’s great, but now what if you want to switch back and forth?

Default Handlers in the Registry

How do we find out where the Default handler is configured in the Registry? Open the registry editor by typing RegEdit in the windows search box and start the desktop command.

Let’s look at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pdf. In my case, it contains a PersistentHandler sub-key. This GUID is a registry branch that defines the Filter Handler for PDFs.

RegEdit PDF Indexing GUID

Note: this GUID is not constant like the IFilter GUIDs are. Yours will be different.

So let’s take a look at {F6594…..382E} by searching for it. This brings us to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{F6594…..382E}:

RegEdit PDF Indexing Filter Handler

RegEdit PDF Filter Handler

And there it is, under PersistentAddInsRegistered, the (Default or Standard) key pointing to the Adobe GUID of {E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}. As you’ve probably guessed, to change the default handler to the native Windows 10 PDF handler, we just have to replace this GUID with the Windows10 GUID: {6C337B26-3E38-4F98-813B-FBA18BAB64F5}. Let’s try it.

RegEdit PDF Indexing Windows 10 IFilter

RegEdit PDF Windows 10 IFilter

Now let’s take another look at Advanced Indexing Options:

PDF Indexing Win10 Filter activated

PDF Win10 Filter activated

And we’re on the Windows10 “Reader Search Handler” for PDF indexing with UWP apps. That’s it!

Summary

Here is how the registry entries are structured to define the default or standard handler:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pdf
PersistentHandler
(Default)={PDF Handler GUID}
|
˅
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{PDF Handler GUID}
PersistentAddInsRegistered
{Some other GUID}
(Default or Standard)={Filter GUID} <– Change this

Finally, you can check if the correct iFilter is available via the SearchFilterView Tool:

SearchViewFilter Tool

SearchFilterView Tool with correct Windows10 Filter handler activated for the extension .pdf

 

References:

How To Article for Win7 / Desktop Apps:

Tool to check available filter components:

Technical Info from Microsoft:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd940433(v=vs.85).aspx

 

Check installed iFilter components

Info:  ** For advanced user only **

When you search the content of files with Noggle, it uses the right search iFilter plugin according to the file extension. The following free utility allows you to easily view the search filters installed on your system and the file extensions that are associated with them, as well as it allows you to easily add or remove file extensions for these filters.

Download Tool to check installed iFilter components

PDF – Indexing on 64bit platforms (Win 7 / Desktop Apps)

Info

This documentation refers to Win7 or Desktop Applications. If you use Noggle via the Windows Store as native UWP app, please refer to the original Win10 article in the knowledge base!

PDF iFilter Interface

Adobe does not bundle the iFilter interface in the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 11.x or DC 64bit. You need to manually activate the Adobe iFilter Add-On in order to be able to index and search PDF documents.

Click here to download and install the Adobe iFilter interface: Activate Adobe iFilter Add-On (64bit, Version 11.x or DC)

You should be fine if you use older versions or have also 32bit Acrobat reader installed. If not, please update in order to also get Noggle index your pdf files.

The Adobe PDF iFilter enables indexing Adobe PDF documents using Noggle indexing clients. This allows the user to easily search for text within Adobe PDF documents. The key benefits include:

  • Integrates with existing operating systems and enterprise tools.
  • Provides an easy solution to search within local Adobe PDF documents.
  • Greatly increases your ability to accurately locate information.

As shown below, the iFilter is either bundled with the product or provided as an add-on. 32-bit Acrobat 9.x-11.x products bundle a 32-bit PDF iFilter. 64-bit product installs require that the add-on be installed separately. If you already have an iFilter plugin from a previous install, reinstall it.

iFilter availability for both Acrobat and Reader
Version 32-bit 64-bit iFilter version and notes
Reader 8.x bundled None Version 6.
Acrobat 8.x bundled bundled Version 6.
All 9.x bundled Add on Version 9. First added in 10.1. 32 bit not in 10.0-10.0.3
10.x bundled Add on Version 9. Security improved with 10.1
11.x bundled Add on Version 11. Updated for 11.x products and its supported platforms.
DC not available Add on Version 11. No change for DC products and their supported platforms.