Since I updated, the option from the drop-down menu called “Find” or “Find on Page” in Safari, Pages, Notes, etc. no longer functions on either my iPhone or my iPad. A pop-up field used to let me type the specific word/phrase I want to find, but it no longer appears. Just typing does nothing.
I finally figured out a ridiculous workaround:
Open a web page in Safari
Click on the Share icon
Select Find on Page
When the above box appears, click on keyboard icon
Select Show Keyboard
Type your word and click Search
The box disappears
Select the Share icon again
Select Find on Page again
Now the Search box appears and you can search for your word
I also end up with a floating keyboard on the page that I can’t get rid of
I finally figured out a ridiculous workaround:
Open a web page in Safari
Click on the Share icon
Select Find on Page
When the above box appears, click on keyboard icon
Select Show Keyboard
Type your word and click Search
The box disappears
Select the Share icon again
Select Find on Page again
Now the Search box appears and you can search for your word
I also end up with a floating keyboard on the page that I can’t get rid of
New update…
These two options DO work:
Press Command and F simultaneously
or
Type the term you are searching for in the URL and select On This Page from the box that drops down.
I feel stupid I didn’t know about these shortcuts before, but also ****** that it took 6 weeks and a different thread to find out about them.
The screenshot was taken from an iPad running iPadOS 16.1.1
If you are seeing unusual behaviour, try a forced restart of your iPad - as this will often clear an isolated software issue:
Force restart iPad (models with Face ID or with Touch ID in the top button)
If your iPad doesn’t have the Home button, do the following:
Force restart iPad (models with the Home button)
Press and hold the top button and the Home button at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.
Have you tried using the Share button? From here, for Safari, you should find the Find on Page or Find functions.
For Apple’s recently updated productivity Apps, tap the ellipsis (…) button at top-right of the page.
I have updated to 16.3, cleared history and web data, turned iPad off and on.
My bad for not attaching the following image:
This is what appears after I select Share and Find on Page. I then have to take the 7 additional steps outlined above to enter text and perform a search.
That didn’t work, but I really appreciate the thoroughness of your response. It’s so frustrating when someone says “Change the widget setting in the Advanced Options page” and you have no idea where that is or how to do it :)
Update: Since updating to 16.2 “Find” now works with Pages, but still not with Numbers, PDFs or web pages in Safari. When I select “find” or “find on page” the search bar no longer appears and I cannot enter any text to search for.
Odd - as Find on Page is accessible directly from the Safari Share sheet - as shown here:
If you haven’t done so already, try updating to iPadOS 16.3 - current as of yesterday.
That is the drop-down option that no longer works.
“Find” and “Find on Page” no longer work after iOS 16 update
