Make sure to turn on pdfgrep-mode (a global minor mode, its role is to advise compilation-mode to make it deal with pdfgrep output) and then run M-x pdfgrep wit

Make sure to turn on pdfgrep-mode (a global minor mode, its role is to advise compilation-mode to make it deal with pdfgrep output) and then run M-x pdfgrep with a syntax similar to M-x grep, so you need to specify the filename(s) to grep in. A full arg list after M-x pdfgrep will be something like: pdfgrep -H -n -i points rulebooks/Tzolkin*pdf You don't need to be in a pdf buffer to invoke it. Here is what I have in my .emacs: (use-package pdfgrep :config (pdfgrep-mode))