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How to Use Google to Find Files Online

Do a 'filetype' search to find PDFs and more

By Tim Fisher Tim Fisher Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability Emporia State University Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the VP and General Manager of Lifewire. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on October 6, 2022 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Around the Web Browsers Cloud Services Error Messages Family Tech Home Networking 5G Antivirus Around the Web

What to Know

In the Google search field, enter filetype followed by a file extension type—PDF, DOCX, or HTML, for example.Then, enter the search term you want Google to find.A search for filetype:pdf "jane eyre" would deliver results only for PDFs that contain "jane eyre." This article explains how to use filetype in a Google search so that the results include only files. When Google is used to find files, you can locate books, documents, sheet music, Microsoft Word files, and more.

How to Search By File Type

The filetype command is used to perform a Google file search. When you use that operator in your searches, the file extension that you tie with it immediately narrows down all results to show only that file type. For example, you might search for PDFs on Google if you're looking for books in that file format: filetype:pdf "jane eyre"
What follows the file type is the search term that you want Google to look for within the files. Always surround multiple words in quotation marks if you want to keep them together as a single phrase. This same pattern works for any of the file types. For example, to locate resumes samples in the DOCX file format: filetype:docx resume
If you're a musician and you want to use Google to find sheet music, your best bet is to use the PDF file-type search: "moonlight sonata" "sheet music" filetype:pdf

Combining Other Commands

Google supports lots of advanced commands, any of which you can combine with a filetype search to dig even deeper into the files you're looking for.

Find Resumes on Google

filetype:docx site:edu inurl:resume
In this first example, we're looking for MS Word files, but the site search eliminates all top-level domains except EDU sites, and the inurl command lets us find only the Word files where the URL contains the word resume.

Search Within PDFs and URLs

filetype:pdf site:gov report inurl:2001
For this search, we're finding PDFs that have the word report in them, but only if the URL also includes 2001. The idea here is to locate files that have been categorized in a 2001 folder on the site's server, which will likely find reports published in that year.

Find Map Files

filetype:kml kansas
A KML file search like this one shows custom map files related to the Kansas search term. Some results might include map annotations for bicycle trails, lakes, car repair shops, etc. You could also find KML files that cover a specific map visualization, such as meteors (e.g., search for filetype:kml meteor). filetype:swf bloons
Can't find an online game that you used to love to play? A filetype search for SWF files might help, so long as the game is available as a Flash file.

Files You Can Find on Google

Google can locate a large handful of files, and some are even indexed, meaning that you can search for files that have a specific term in them. This is a list of just some of the files you can find with a Google search (others might be supported, too): Common File Types Google Supports Format File Extension Adobe Portable Document Format PDF Adobe PostScript PS Autodesk Design Web Format DWF Google Earth KML, KMZ GPS eXchange Format GPX Hancom Hanword HWP Hypertext Markup Language HTM, HTML Microsoft Excel XLS, XLSX Microsoft PowerPoint PPT, PPTX Microsoft Word DOC, DOCX OpenOffice presentation ODP OpenOffice spreadsheet ODS OpenOffice text ODT Rich Text Format RTF Scalable Vector Graphics SVG TeX/LaTeX TEX Text TXT, TEXT, BAS, C, CC, CPP, CXX, H, HPP, CS, JAVA, PL, PY Wireless Markup Language WML, WAP Extensible Markup Language XML FAQ How do I download the filetype I find through Google search? Most files are downloadable by either clicking on the download link. If you can't find a download link, right-click on the file and selecting Save as—the wording may differ slightly depending on the file type (i.e. Save Link As, Save Image As, etc). What filetype should I Google for a Google Slides presentation? You'll find Google Slides files under .ODP, .PPT, and .PPTX. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Control F on iPad How to Limit a Google Search to a Specific Domain How to Use Google Reverse Image Search How to Open Google Docs How to Use Quotation Marks to Find Exact Phrases Online What Is a PDF File? (And How to Open One) How to Find Files Faster Using Spotlight Keyword Searches How to Get Free eBooks: A Step-by-Step Guide The 9 Best Free PDF Editors (October 2022) How to Insert a PDF Into Word How to Use Google Lens on iPhone 21 Best Places to Get Free Kindle Books (October 2022) How to Convert Excel Documents to the PDF Format How to Email a Google Doc How to Use Google Chat CV File (What It Is & How to Open One) Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies