Add "search" to the view tool
One of the most useful tools when reading a document is the ability to search in the text. Please provide us with this essential tool when viewing the uploaded PDF documents.
Jose
shared this idea
We are happy to announce these improvements were completed in January 2026 release.
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/RefWorks/Release_Notes/RefWorks_Release_Information/030_2025_RefWorks_Release_Information
-
Matthew Hackett commented
This feature is heavily requested and necessary for proper literature review, yet still hasn't been implemented since its initial suggestion FIVE YEARS AGO. I may need to recommend ReadCube for my department, as pulling PDFs from my Dropbox API backup is getting tedious.
-
Gary Kaplan
commented
Yes, please! This is a key feature for systematic review full-text eligibility screening.
-
Gary Kaplan
commented
Agreed. This would be a very helpful feature.
-
Anonymous
commented
When pdf files are uploaded to RefWorks (attached to a reference in a folder) they load as an image when you 'read' them. Unfortunately this means you can't search for keywords within the document itself, which is different to being able to search within a normal pdf file (using the Ctrl+F function). It would be very useful if this search function was enabled in the RefWorks software.
-
Diana
commented
I completely agree. It is incredibly frustrating that this feature doesn't exist. To me this is an essential part of the research process.
-
Robyn McCormack
commented
Yes, I totally agree. This feature is such a big one, I'm considering changing providers.
-
Spencer Mathews
commented
Please do more than consider this. This is a core feature. If I'm not mistaken, PDFs are indexed for full text search already, which makes the absence of this feature quite strange.