Upgrade Adobe PDF iFilter 9 to 11 on SharePoint 2010
Question details
An administrator needs to know the process and safety implications of upgrading from Adobe PDF iFilter 9 to iFilter 11 for PDF indexing.
- Product
- Microsoft SharePoint 2010 / Adobe PDF iFilter
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Upgrading server-side PDF indexing components to ensure third-party tools can effectively extract and search text from PDF files.
- Observed behavior
- The environment currently relies on iFilter 9, and the administrator wants to implement iFilter 11 without disrupting existing search functionalities.
Ensure you have full administrative access to your SharePoint farm and always test the new iFilter package in a staging environment before deploying it to your production servers.
Test and Deploy Adobe PDF iFilter 11
Download the correct standalone 64-bit package of iFilter 11, verify it in a staging environment, and run a full crawl to update your search index.
Adobe PDF iFilter 11 uses the standard Microsoft iFilter interface, which allows indexing tools like SharePoint Search to extract text and metadata from PDF files.
While Adobe bundles a 32-bit PDF iFilter with Adobe Acrobat 11 and the free Adobe Reader 11, enterprise SharePoint environments typically require the standalone 64-bit PDF iFilter 11 package to function correctly.
Confirm whether your SharePoint server requires a 32-bit or 64-bit iFilter. SharePoint 2010 is a 64-bit application, so you will need the 64-bit version of iFilter 11.
Navigate to the official Adobe download center and download the 'Adobe PDF iFilter 64-bit 11.0.01' installation package.
Uninstall iFilter 9 on your staging server. Run the iFilter 11 installer and configure SharePoint Search to utilize the new PDF iFilter.
Upload new PDF documents to your staging SharePoint site and initiate a full search crawl from SharePoint Central Administration to verify that text is successfully extracted.
Once testing is successful, repeat the uninstallation of iFilter 9 and installation of iFilter 11 on your production SharePoint servers, followed by a mandatory full crawl.
Manage and Edit PDFs Seamlessly with WPS Office
While server-side PDF indexing in SharePoint requires iFilter, end-users need a reliable tool to read, edit, and create PDFs. WPS Office provides a lightweight, comprehensive suite with built-in advanced PDF editing capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Adobe PDF iFilter for SharePoint 2010?
Because SharePoint Server 2010 is a 64-bit application, you must install the 64-bit version of Adobe PDF iFilter. A 32-bit iFilter will not properly integrate with the 64-bit search indexer.
Will upgrading from iFilter 9 to 11 break my existing search results?
Upgrading the iFilter component itself does not break existing results, but older indexed data might be formatted differently. You need to run a full search crawl immediately after the upgrade so that SharePoint can re-index all PDF files using the iFilter 11 engine.
Does installing Adobe Reader 11 automatically update my SharePoint iFilter?
No. While Adobe Reader 11 bundles a 32-bit PDF iFilter, SharePoint environments generally require the standalone 64-bit iFilter package to execute indexing operations on the server side.
