Simply type a search term in the quick search box above Zotero's middle pane, which searches across all fields and full-text content.

For a more specific search, click the Advanced Search icon above the middle pane. The Advanced Search window allow you to build complex searches using a wide range of fields. Add search terms by clicking on the plus (+) sign. You can name and save your searches to add them to Zotero's collections pane, and new or modified items that match the specified criteria will automatically show up in those saved searches.

View the Quick Search screencast and the Advanced Search screencast for demonstrations.

Searches scan all information about items (metadata), notes, and the full text of web pages (as links or snapshots) and text files. You can search through the text of your PDFs by enabling full-text indexing on the Search tab of the Zotero preferences. Zotero does not currently search through Word documents. If you want to search Word documents, save them as plain text (.txt).