Technical Details
Search Index
PDF Content Search uses its own search index based on SQLite Full-Text Search (FTS). The index is completely independent of macOS Spotlight and is managed exclusively within the app.
When a folder is added, every document is processed via OCR and the recognized text is stored in the local index. Changes to files are automatically detected and the index is updated accordingly.
OCR Engine
Text recognition uses Apple's Vision framework at the highest accuracy level. This works entirely locally — no data is sent to external servers.
Privacy
- All documents stay on your Mac
- The search index is stored locally
- No registration required
- No analytics or tracking data
- OCR processing runs locally via Apple's Vision framework
Spotlight Integration
PDF Content Search operates independently of Spotlight. The app does not create or read a Spotlight index. The advantage: the app can also search scanned PDFs that Spotlight would only see as images.
Finder Tags
Finder Tags are currently not supported.