Is PDF Drive the Best PDF Search Engine?

A PDF engine is a useful service in today's world dominated by PDF files. A PDF search engine is an internet program with crawlers that finds PDF files on the internet and indexes them in its database. It is just like a database/library of PDF files. This makes it extremely easier and fast to find target PDF files online.

There are many PDF search engines that you can use to find target PDF files online. You should select the right PDF search engine to get the best experience. Fortunately, you don't have to go far because PDF Drive is the right PDF search engine.

PDF Drive is a free highly-used PDF search engine that seamlessly transforms how you search your PDF files on the web. In this article, we take you through a detailed guide on everything you need to know about PDF drive search engine.

Part 1. What is PDF Drive?

PDF Drive is a popular free online PDF search engine. It is the world's leading PDF database that allows users to search, preview, and download desired PDF files. PDF Drive crawlers constantly search and update their database with new PDFs from the web.

PDF Drive database contains millions of PDF files from eBooks, manuals, tutorials, articles, magazines, and journals. To be precise, there are over 77 million PDFs, and the list is mushrooming. These PDFs cover various topics, including health and fitness, career, business, sports, environment, politics, biography, religion, technology, art, and lifestyle. The list is long.

The PDF Drive interface is intuitive. It displays the various PDF files and provides a search bar to query desired PDF files. You can search a PDF file based on the author or topic. PDF Drive provides various categories of PDF files in its database to make your work easier.

Therefore, you can select the target PDF category and get the list of respective PDF files. You are not specific with your searches, then you can try categories like the "editor's pick" and "most popular" PDF files.

When a PDF file is removed from the web, the same PDF file disappears from the PDF Drive. Each PDF file has a name and details below it, including PDF size and the number of pages.

Part 2. How to Use PDF Drive to Search PDF Files?

PDF Drive is intuitive for users to preview, download, and perform additional options. steps for the respective processes are illustrated below.

Preview PDF

Before you can download a PDF file, you can preview it to ascertain whether it is indeed the PDF file you want to download. Once you are satisfied, you can then proceed to download it. To preview your PDF file on PDF Drive, follow the steps below.

Step 1 Using your browser, navigate to the PDF Drive homepage and search the target PDF file on the search bar. From the results, choose the respective PDF file to proceed.

Step 2 The PDF file name and other details are displayed in a dialog box-like section. Click the "Preview" button, and the PDF file enters the preview mode.

You can scroll down the PDF in preview mode and check its contents. In the preview mode, you can decide to report the PDF, close it, or select the "Go to remote file" option to be taken to the original site where the PDF file was published.

Download PDF

Downloading PDF on PDF Drive is a straightforward task; you don't need to be a seasoned PDF Drive user. The following steps show how to download PDF on PDF Drive.

Step 1 Select the target PDF file on PDF Drive to access the various PDF options.

Step 2 Click the "Download" button from the various PDF options. PDF Drive service will immediately check the health of the respective file. Click "Go to PDF" to commence the download process.

Additional Options

PDF Drive offers additional options for your PDF files. These options include a report, you're your PDF to Kindle, sending your PDF to Email, and converting your PDF to EPUB or MOBI.

Select your PDF file in PDF Drive to access the various options. Click the three horizontal dots of the three options, and you should see additional options. Choose the desired option and follow the on-screen instructions to complete it.

Part 3. Why PDF Drive is the best PDF Search Engine?

PDF Drive is undoubtedly the best free PDF search engine for several reasons. Firstly, this service contains millions of PDF files, and it is easier to find desired PDF files.

Secondly, PDF Drive provides several options for users to process their PDF files. You can preview, download, search, convert your PDF to EPUB and MOBI, send your PDF to Kindle or Email, and report your PDF, among others. It is, therefore, a reliable and convenient PDF database and search engine.

PDF Drive Is Free

PDF Drive offers a free account and a premium account. Therefore, you don't have to subscribe or pay anything to use it. This account offers a personalized experience and a few other options. When you search the target PDF file, you should see the title, statistics and options like save to My Drive, Download, Preview, and Like.

PDF statistics include the number of pages, file size, number of downloads, and the year of publishing.

The preview and download features are straightforward. When you click the "Like" option, you simply add your PDF to the "My Likes" list, which is a good way to bookmark your PDF file.

This free account also provides the search icon to enable you to search a PDF file related to your topic. This free account also gives you 100 MB of drive storage space to save your PDF files., you can upload your PDF file directly to PDF Drive.

The Premium Account, on the other hand, requires a subscription. This account offers all the features you get from the free version and additional features. These additional features include unlimited cloud storage space, maximum download speeds, fast preview and download, and ad-free service. It also provides a 7-day free trial period.

PDF Drive Is Legal

PDF Drive lets you download PDF files from its servers. However, you must be very careful when downloading or publishing the PDF files you obtain from PDF Drive.

While PDF Drive gathers all these files in a convenient place for its users, it has no control over the legal rights of the respective PDF files. This implies that you first must have the legal right from the original site to download or publish the PDF content.

The terms and conditions section and the DMCA disclaimer of the PDF Drive clearly state the legitimacy of a PDF file. It explains that the content posted on PDF Drive is put for general purpose and doesn't provide warranties on the PDF file content.

Therefore, you ought to check the legitimacy of the target PDF file on their original site before downloading or publishing it. The bottom line is that PDF Drive is legal, but you must follow the copyright laws before using the target PDF content.

Part 4. PDF Search Engine Alternatives

PDF Drive is a good PDF search engine but it is not the only one in the market. Some other alternatives to PDF Drive include:

1. PDF Search Engine (pdfsearchenging.net)

PDF Search Engine is one of the best PDF Drive alternatives. It has over 512 million free PDF books and files. The interface is simple and only provides a search bar. can sort the search results in terms of relevance or date.

2. PDF Coffee

PDF Coffee is a good PDF search engine alternative worth trying. This service allows users to publish unlimited documents in various formats, including PDF, Word, and PowerPoint. This service automatically adjusts the content to fit mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, and Android. PDF Coffee categorizes content into various libraries, including business, tutorials, guides, creative activities, and scientific research.

3. FreeFullPDF

FreeFullPDF is a PDF search engine for scientific publications. It is free and has a simple interface. You can find content on social sciences, humanities, health sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, and life sciences. Just enter the PDF title on the search bar and initiate a search to find your target PDF file.

Part 5. How To View and Read PDF Files for Free?

Once you have downloaded the target PDF file on PDF Drive or other PDF search engines, it is time to view and read your PDF. However, you need a good platform to get the best PDF reading experience. There are several dedicated PDF software, but a handful gives the experience you need. Fortunately, Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor provides the best free platform to read and view PDF files.

Try It Free

This program has several ways to view a PDF file You can view it in full screen, fit height, fit width, fit window, and actual size mode. Furthermore, you can view multiple PDFs, add bookmarks, and view with rulers and grids.

Again, several navigation options include page navigation, thumbnail panel, bookmark panel, annotation panel, search panel, and attachment pane. Four document layouts help you view and read your PDF files as per your need. They include the single-page view, single-page scrolling, two-page view, and two-page scrolling.

How To View and Read PDF files on Wondershare PDFelement

The following steps show how to view and read PDF files with Wondershare PDFelement.

Try It Free

Step 1 Open the target PDF file with Wondershare PDFelement on your computer. When the file is loaded, head to the toolbar and click the "View" tab.

Step 2 Choose the desired page view options on the left window pane by clicking the respective icon.

To access the thumbnail for easy page scrolling, click the "Thumbnail" icon and scroll the pages.

Click the "Bookmark" icon to bookmark desired pages and select the desired page.

To search specific texts in your PDF, click the search icon and search the target texts.

Step 3 After putting your PDF in your desired view mode, you can start reading it. It would be best if you chose the desired reading mode to make your experience great.

Click the "View" tab and the "Screen Size" drop-down icon. From the options given, choose the desired screen size.

To change page orientation, click the "Rotate View" drop-down icon and select either the "Clockwise" or "Counterclockwise" direction.

To choose desired page view, click the "Page Scrolling" drop-down icon and choose the desired option.