SharePoint 2010 Adobe iFilter issue

Question

I noticed on several new SharePoint 2010 farms that I have created that I cannot search for pdfs based on their content. I have installed the Adobe filter and triple checked the settings. I can search for pdfs by name, but not by content. After installing the Foxit iFilter I am able to search pdfs by content with no issues, so I'm suspecting an issue with the Adobe product.

These farms have the April 2012 CU installed.

Has anyone else encountered this issue?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Have you set the registry entry?

http://sharepointsolutions.blogspot.ca/2009/01/installing-adobes-64-bit-pdf-ifilter-9.html

---

John

Answer 2

Hi John,

Yes, I have set the registry entry.

Thank you.

Answer 3

What version of the filter are you using and what version are the PDF's created in?  Could be a compatibility issue.

---

Paul Turner http://redmanta.co.uk/blog Twitter: @RedMantaUK MCTS:WSS,MOSS,2010 MCITP:2010.
Please remember to click "Propose As Answer" if a post solves your problem or "Vote As Helpful" if it was useful.

Answer 4

I am using the version linked to here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2293357

Answer 5

Which servers in the farm have you installed it on Micromega?

---

Paul Turner http://redmanta.co.uk/blog Twitter: @RedMantaUK MCTS:WSS,MOSS,2010 MCITP:2010.
Please remember to click "Propose As Answer" if a post solves your problem or "Vote As Helpful" if it was useful.

Answer 6

Just on the application server, which is doing the crawling for the farm. I should also mention that we are using SQL 2012 on the back end. This is the first production farm that we have built using this platform.

Answer 7

Hello,

I would suggest you to the steps as mentioned in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2293357 on the web servers of the farm. Also try to run the full crawl and see if that works.

Regards,

SSM

Answer 8

I tried that as well. I'm going to rebuild the Search Service Application and see if that makes a difference.

Answer 9

Hi Micromega, please check:

1. Is the iFilter x86 or 64-bit?

2. Are you using FAST? If so check the permissions of the used account

3. From command prompt running as admin, try a Net Stop OSearch14  then a Net Start OSearch14

4. Check the permissions of your Search account on the database. Maybe it has to do with database roles of the account.

Hope it helps,

Carlos

Answer 10

It turns out that the issue had to do with a series of registry keys that were not created. This has never been a problem for me because these extra keys usually get generated automatically during the configuration process, but this time they were not created, so the iFilter did not work.

According to the MS KB article you only need to do the following:

1. Navigate to the following location: 
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\14.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension
2. Right-click > Click New > Key to create a new key for .pdf
3. Add the following GUID in the default value 
   {E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

However, there are also a number of other keys that need to be created as well:

< REG_SZ> Extension = pdf

< REG_DWORD> FileTypeBucket = 1

< REG_SZ> MimeTypes = application/pdf

Without these extra keys the iFilter would not work. I added them manually and now I am able to search for content within PDF files. I'm still not sure why these weren't created automatically, but it's working now so I'm happy.

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions.