Shell Extensions
PDF-XChange Editor features a Windows shell extension that causes thumbnails of PDF files to display in Windows Explorer when thumbnails are selected as the file display mode. The first page of PDF documents is displayed, instead of the standard PDF document icon, which makes the process of viewing/selecting files more efficient. Note that the folders must set to display medium, large or extra-large icons for this feature to be visible.
iFilter
The shell extension includes the PDF iFilter, which is a search tool. This tool can be used to index PDF documents with Microsoft iFilter indexing. This means that Windows will locate search terms through not only document names, but also text within documents, annotations, bookmarks, document XMP information and files attached/embedded within documents. This process takes place automatically when the standard Windows search option is used. The PDF iFilter integrates into existing Windows operating systems and thus provides a convenient way to search text within PDF documents on the local computer and company network/intranet.