How to configure WSS 3.0 to search PDF files

Issue:

You would like to have WSS 3.0 search the contents of PDF files uploaded to the WSS sites on the server.

Cause:

By default WSS 3.0 does not search the contents of PDF files.

Solution:

Below are the basic steps needed to configure WSS 3.0 to search the contents of PDF files in WSS 3.0

1)  Download the latest version of Adobe Reader

a.  Version 9.0 was the current version as of this writing, this is the version what was tested with.

b.  The iFilter search DLL that allows the contents of PDF files to be searched was added to the Adobe Reader as part of v7.05 and up.  Previously, this was a separate download from Adobe.

2)  On the Front End and Indexing Servers of the WSS 3.0 server farm perform the following

a.  Install Adobe Reader

b.  Update the list of searchable extensions to include PDF

  i.  Start Regedit

  ii.  Browse to the following registry key

  iii.  HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\<GUID>\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList

  iv.  Add the following to this location

1.  Value Name: 38

a.  Or the next available number

2.  Type: String

3.  Value: pdf

c.  Update the CLSID used to search PDFs to the new CLSID

  i.  Start Regedit

  ii.  Browse to the following registry key

  iii.  HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\Filters\.pdf

  iv.  Old Default Value: {4C904448-74A9-11D0-AF6E-00C04FD8DC02}

  v.  New Default Value: {E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

3)  Perform a full restart of the search service and crawl, to index existing PDF files.

a.  Open a command prompt and run the following commands

CD /D "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN"

stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstop

net stop spsearch

net start spsearch

stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart

4)  Perform a test search every few minutes to verify that existing PDF files are being indexed.

5)  New PDF files will be indexed during the next crawl, after they have been uploaded.

Optional: Update the icon used to display the PDF files in search results.

1)  Perform the following on the Front End Web Servers.

2)  Go to http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html

a.  Download the small PDF Icon

b.  Save the small icon to the following location

  i.  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Template\Images

3)  Browse to  the following location

a.  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\Template\Xml\

b.  Edit DocIcon.Xml

  i.  Add the following entry, just above </ByExtension>

  ii.  <Mapping Key="pdf" Value="filename.gif"/>

  iii.  Change filename.gif to be the filename you saved the PDF icon as.

  iv.  Save the file

4)  Reset IIS

a.  At a command prompt type: IISReset

More Information:

If you are upgrading from a previous version of Adobe Reader the AcroRdIF.dll may not properly re-register.  Search the Registry for this file name and update the path as needed to point to the new location.

The Adobe Reader installation also registers the following CLSID in the following location.  Verify that this key still exists and points to the correct AcroRdIF.dll.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

Article ID: 516, Created On: 12/12/2011, Modified: 12/12/2011