How to Find User Manuals Online

Finding a user manual can be quite frustrating given the large amount of spam online and the sparseness of manufacturers providing good directories of manuals for their products.

It can be helpful to locate any model numbers, FCC ID, or other certification codes for your product.

First, I often use search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. I'll show you how I do it with Google, but the same trick works for the others as well.

1. engines
2. In the search bar, I type in the name of the product, its model number, and the word "manual". For example, "Samsung Galaxy S10 user manual".
3. User manuals are typically in PDF format, so you'll get much better results if you add filetype:pdf to the end of your search. filetype:doc or filetype:docx can also spit out a few extra results. You can add the following to the end of your search to get only these filetypes: filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc OR filetype:docx

Keep in mind that different search engines may provide different results, so if you don't find what you're looking for with one, try the others.

When search engines aren't giving me what I need, I turn to websites dedicated to user manuals. I've had good experiences with UserManual.wiki, plus it typically allows you to download the original PDF for archiving.

1. Visit UserManual.wiki
2. use the same search as above, it seems to be a google-powered search so appending the filetype:pdf operator will give you the download link

Even though these sites have tons of manuals, sometimes they might not have what I need, especially if it's an older or less common product.

Another resource I like to use is the Internet Archive. This organization hosts a massive digital library, which includes a bunch of user manuals.

1. I visit Archive.org.
2. I click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right to open the search bar.
3. I type the product name and model number, along with "user manual".
4. I sift through the results to find the correct manual.

Sometimes there's too many results or results that aren't manuals, if so, I retry a dedicated search on the Archive.org Manual Library.

Refining by 'Media Type: texts' can reduce non-manual content from the search results.

Just remember, the Internet Archive has a lot of content, so sometimes it can be a bit tough to find exactly what you're looking for. It's important to be patient and try different search terms if needed. Vary your search to include the product name OR the product model OR the FCC ID.