Have you evergone searching for a manual only to find it gone? With the amount of technology in our lives,it'shard to keep track of every instruction manual.
Don't worry.Most recent manuals exist online. All it takes to find any manual online is a little preparation beforehand andthen use the best available resources to find them.
Preparing to Find Any Instruction Manual
While most people's first instinct is to go straight to a search engine, it isn't the best choice. Instead, it's best to begin your manual search with some groundwork. Try to get thisinformation before you start your search:
- Name
- Model Number
Now imagine if you had to contact customer support with only the device on hand. You need to be able to quickly identify the device to get the information you need. Thankfully, you canfind these same identifiers and make it much easier to find your manual for free online.
Most electronic products keep this information hidden from plain view. However, it is available in case you need to easily access it. To avoid any potential mistakes, try taking a photo ofany product information you find.
How to Locate Your Product Information
This crucial information is in inconspicuous places such as the backside, underside, or inside of an item. For smaller items,turningthe productto its backside usually reveals what you need. If you're working with larger items, consider which place to check is the fastest.
Most manufacturers don't expect you to pull out a washer, dryer, or refrigerator on the fly to find its identifying information. So check the inside door as your first stop. For some items, checking individual components can help too by allowing you to trace parts.
If you've ever tried to identity an item by brand name and images alone, you know what a pain it can be. So gather the information in advance and save yourself a headache.
Top Places to Find Manuals Online for Free
Once you've found out the name and model number, there are several places to look for free manuals online.
In all cases, make sure to carefully enter any information you have. All of these are great resources, but a small character or number typo can ruin your results.
1. Google
While Google may have been your first instinct, you'll find much more success with both a name and model number.
Ifyou enter both correctly, you'll usually get official results. However, you can sometimes run into third-party sites that don't let you access or download the manual easily.
To solve this, try filtering your search results by using site:[manufacturer's website] [device name] instructional manual. As a note, make sure you avoidadding a space between the site, colon, and the website address.This advanced Google search operatorwill only search the specific website for the keywords you're using.
To illustrate this, take a commonly searched for item. If you were to lookup an older but still popular item like a Samsung Galaxy phone, you could enter site:samsung.com Samsung Galaxy SM-G930A instruction manual. All my results were from the manufacturer, and I didn't have to go through any unofficial channels.
For more ways to customize your results, use the best Google search cheat sheet to get more tips, commands, and operators.
2. Internet Archive Manual Library
With Archive.org, you sacrifice some of the precision of Google.com for a vast array of old online manuals. If you have time to spare, it's a great way to rediscover lost manuals. It also featuresmany filters to trim down the over 500,000 results.
If you couldn'tfind a model number, filtering by year lets you trim to the most precise margin. Whenever you arrive at the desired manual,you can flip through the full text, see the contents across different views, and (sometimes) have it read aloud to you. For all manuals, you can download it in a variety of formats for free.
3. Manuals Online
Like with the Internet Archive Manual Library, Manuals Online's biggest pull is its categories. The site divides it's over 700,00 manuals into twenty main categories that are then broken down into their device types. If you know what brand you're looking for, you can also tailor your manual search.
If you prefer to use your model number, just type into the search bar. If there's a manual that matches, you'll see it suggested before you even finish typing. It's seamless to just click on the suggested result.
Then once you've found a manual, you can preview it on the site, open it as a PDF, or print it by the push of a button. If you don't find your manual there, you can also put in a request via the site's support system.
4. ManualsLib
ManualsLib boasts an impressive collection of over four million free manualsconverted into pdfs. While other sites focus on their categories, ManualsLib tries to guide you towards your manual of choice based on brand or search results.
Once you find your manual, ManualsLib tries to one-up most other manual sites. While it offers the standard options (read online, download, or print), ManualsLib also allows you to keep a manual library and bookmark specific pages after you've made an account. If you also want to keep your library of manuals close by, you can download the ManualsLib app.
For those that want to avoid making any accounts, you can always take your PDF manuals and learn how to resume reading from where you left off in PDF files.
Download: ManualsLib for Android(Free, in-app purchase)
5. SafeManuals
If you haven't found your manual yet, SafeManuals offersyou more than 800,000 manuals to look through. You can browse manufacturers, search, or check out the most popular brands. Afterward, you can quickly flip through the pages and download the manual as a PDF.
The site itself is more basic, but it does provide some unique incentives like trying to explain whyyou should read a particular manual.
Digital Instruction Manuals: Find Even Old Manuals Online
When looking for instruction manuals online, these free resources can save you from a lot of bother. Having an instruction manual as PDF not only gives you a way to store it, but you can take advantage of increased searchability.
Just don't overdo it on instruction manuals or you'll need to find better ways to store your files than on a desktop.
