Find any line in a PDF on Mac, instantly
Oct 20, 2025
Find any line in a PDF on Mac, instantly
You remember the line, not the filename. Opening ten PDFs and scrolling to find one clause wastes real time. Fenn lets you search across your PDFs, then opens straight to the exact page you need. It is on-device by default for privacy, with an optional cloud index for extra speed and scale. Find the moment, not the file.
Try Fenn on macOS Apple Silicon to see this workflow in action. Local plan 9 USD per month billed annually. Cloud plan 29 USD per month billed annually for faster indexing up to about 100 GB. Lifetime 199 USD one time.
The problem this solves
Long contracts where the only thing you remember is a phrase like “indemnify and hold harmless.”
Research papers where you need the equation or citation again, not the cover page.
Finance PDFs where a vendor name or amount appears in several exports.
Decks exported to PDF where you want the pricing slide by number.
You want the specific page with context, not a list of filenames.
Why typical Mac tools fall short
Finder and Spotlight surface files based on names or shallow metadata. They do not jump you to the right page.
Preview can search inside a single open PDF, not across many PDFs at once.
Cloud OCR tools introduce privacy risk for client material and they still drop you at file level.
How to do it with Fenn
Choose sources once
Point Fenn to the folders where your PDFs live, client workspaces, Downloads, Desktop, research folders.Indexing runs on your Mac
Fenn indexes PDFs along with documents, images, audio, and video. Text inside images and screenshots is captured too. Everything is on-device by default.Open the search anywhere
Press the Fenn keyboard shortcut. Pick Semantic, Keyword, or Hybrid mode. Use Semantic when you remember the idea. Use Keyword for exact phrases. Use Hybrid when you want both.Type the line you remember
Example,indemnify and hold harmless. Results show page numbers and context snippets under each PDF.Jump to the exact page
Hit Return. Fenn opens your default PDF app at that precise page so you can act right away.Work across many PDFs
Arrow through results, scan the snippets, open the right page in each file without manual scrolling.
Mini case, time saved
Before, reviewing a 180 page contract set meant opening several PDFs, running in-file search, and scrolling. Three clauses took around 8 minutes.
With Fenn, you search once, then open each PDF directly at the right page. The same task takes about 2 minutes. That is roughly 6 minutes saved per document set. Do this five times a day and you recover about half an hour, every day.
Privacy and performance, by design
Professionals who handle confidential files need local control. Fenn is on-device by default, so your PDFs do not leave your Mac. If you choose, you can enable the optional cloud index for more speed and scale. Either way, the open action lands on the exact page inside your local viewer.
Pro tips
Save a small list of frequent phrases, for example
NDA indemnify,termination for convenience,vendor name, so you can paste and search quickly.Use Hybrid mode when you know an anchor keyword and the concept around it, better recall across slightly different wording.
Keep your most active PDF folders indexed. If you add a new project folder, include it in sources so new files are ready when you need them.
Pair this workflow with image and screenshot search when you are working from scanned PDFs or exported images.
Keep exploring
Spotlight is great for apps and quick launches, less great for deep file content. See the Spotlight Mac guide to understand where it stops and where Fenn starts: https://www.usefenn.com/blog/spotlight-mac-ultimate-guide
If your PDFs are scans or you rely on screenshots, learn how Fenn finds text inside images: https://www.usefenn.com/blog/find-text-in-images-screenshots-mac
Fenn runs fast on Apple Silicon. For context on recent macOS performance and stability, see the Tahoe vs Sequoia comparison: https://www.usefenn.com/blog/macos-tahoe-vs-sequoia-upgrade-2025