Documents: Add support for indexing and searching PDFs #2206

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opened 2026-02-20 01:07:56 -05:00 by deekerman · 2 comments

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 01:07:56 -05:00

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Originally created by @lastzero on GitHub (Oct 31, 2024).

Originally assigned to: @graciousgrey on GitHub.

As a user with PDF documents in my library, I would like PhotoPrism to recognise and index them so that I can find and view them from the web interface.

The first step is to add a new "document" media type to our backend. Additional changes will be required to find and index PDF files when scanning the library.
Once the frontend component framework upgrade is complete, we can proceed with implementing a viewer (e.g. an iframe) to view the indexed documents from the web interface.
Making the text searchable is beyond the scope of this issue, but can be implemented at a later time.

Sample Files:

https://dl.photoprism.app/samples/Formats/Document/PDF/

Originally created by @lastzero on GitHub (Oct 31, 2024). Originally assigned to: @graciousgrey on GitHub. **As a user with PDF documents in my library, I would like PhotoPrism to recognise and index them so that I can find and view them from the web interface.** - The first step is to add a new "document" media type to our backend. Additional changes will be required to find and index PDF files when scanning the library. - Once the [frontend component framework upgrade](https://github.com/photoprism/photoprism/issues/3168) is complete, we can proceed with implementing a viewer (e.g. an iframe) to view the indexed documents from the web interface. - Making the text searchable is beyond the scope of this issue, but can be implemented at a later time. **Sample Files:** - https://dl.photoprism.app/samples/Formats/Document/PDF/

deekerman

2026-02-20 01:07:56 -05:00

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deekerman commented

2026-02-20 01:07:58 -05:00

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@lastzero commented on GitHub (Mar 12, 2025):

I'm happy to announce that PDF indexing is now available for testing in our Development Preview!

However, before you proceed, please note the following:

PDF documents cannot be viewed directly in the UI with the current development version, as only a thumbnail of the first page is displayed in the viewer, i.e. you need to click the download button to view the files locally.
We may be able to improve this by rendering an iframe in the viewer that loads the PDF, but it's not entirely clear yet if this really makes sense from a UX perspective, e.g. some documents may be very large and would load slowly when you might not even want to read them.

Here's a screenshot of the search interface with the new documents filter applied:

@lastzero commented on GitHub (Mar 12, 2025): **I'm happy to announce that PDF indexing is now available for testing in our [Development Preview](https://docs.photoprism.app/release-notes/#development-preview)!** However, before you proceed, please note the following: - PDF documents cannot be viewed directly in the UI with the current development version, as only a thumbnail of the first page is displayed in the viewer, i.e. you need to **click the download button** to view the files locally. - We may be able to improve this by rendering an iframe in the viewer that loads the PDF, but it's **not entirely clear yet if this really makes sense** from a UX perspective, e.g. some documents may be very large and would load slowly when you might not even want to read them. **Here's a screenshot of the search interface with the new `documents` filter applied:** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/cb8f9946-bb08-4f82-b1e7-6b67a4a3ac0d)

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 01:07:58 -05:00

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@lastzero commented on GitHub (Mar 12, 2025):

Based on my tests, PDF indexing should also work in our Community Edition if you're using the official Docker image, so I've removed the plus-feature label. Of course, this is without any guarantee or personal support in case of problems. Help with testing would be much appreciated! ❤

@lastzero commented on GitHub (Mar 12, 2025): Based on my tests, PDF indexing should also work in our Community Edition if you're using the official Docker image, so I've removed the plus-feature label. Of course, this is without any guarantee or personal support in case of problems. Help with testing would be much appreciated! ❤