The odds are you’ve lost some instruction manuals over the years. Maybe they’re lying in a drawer somewhere or long ago ended up in a recycling bin. Fortunately, you don’t need to send in for a replacement—many of those manuals are available online. You just have to find them.
Device manufacturers often release manuals through their websites—sometimes readable online, sometimes downloadable as a PDF. You’ll even find manuals for lots of older devices. Sure, you probably won’t find the instructions for your old cathode ray TV from the 70s, but the manuals for a lot of stuff from the early-2000s are out there. For example, I was able to find the instruction booklet for the Game Boy Advance which came out in 2001.
The biggest issue you’ll face is simply tracking down the right instructions. They often get buried deep in the bowels of company websites. For manufacturers who just make a few devices—like Nintendo—the process is straightforward enough. For manufacturers that produce hundreds of different products, though, finding the right manual can be a monk-like exercise in patience.
Step One: Figure Out Exactly What You Own
The first step is to work out what device you actually have. That means you’ll need the brand name and model number at least. That’s easier for some devices than others. You probably know what model iPhone you have, but we’re guessing you can barely remember who made your fridge, let alone what model it is.
First, just check out the device itself. If the brand and model number are not written clearly on the outside, check for any hidden stickers or labels on the back, underside, or even inside the device. On many fridges, washers, and dryers, for example, you can find the model number on a sticker inside the door.
RELATED:How to See How Much You’ve Spent on Amazon
If you bought it from Amazon or another similar site, you can try going back through your order history to see what you actually bought. If you bought it from a brick and mortar store, they may even have records of the purchase—especially if it was a big ticket item like a fridge.
Office Manuals and free pdf instructions. Find the office and computer equipment manual you need at ManualsOnline. Office Manuals and free pdf instructions. Find the office and computer equipment manual you need at ManualsOnline.
If all else fails, you can try a web search using the brand name and some descriptive words—something like “Samsung large silver fridge”. You might have to dig deep into the search results, but you should hopefully be able to find out what you own by comparing the images from Google to the device in your home.
Step Two: Search For the Right Manual
Download 10550 Hp Laptop PDF manuals. User manuals, Hp Laptop Operating guides and Service manuals. Where do I find a users manual for Windows 10. A computer is a device, that requires human input to operate efficiently. Alas we humans do fail!!!! Mar 08, 2016 It's also smart to place electronic manuals in Evernote as you find them later, even if you already have the physical paperwork elsewhere. PC Magazine and PC PCMag.com.
Once you know what you device actually own, you can start looking for the manual online. Most of the time, the easiest place to find instruction manuals is from the manufacturer’s website. Visit their site, go to any “Support” or “Customer Care” sections, and see if there’s an option somewhere for downloading manuals. You can also try searching the support center or chatting with a customer representative if you’re able.
If the instruction manuals section isn’t immediately apparent on the website, it’s time to turn to a web search. Search engines will do a lot better job of combing through the depths of of a manufacturer’s site than you.
The first option is to just search “[Device Name] Instruction Manual”. If you’re lucky, it will pop up either on the official site or through some fan site.
RELATED:How to Search Google Like a Pro: 11 Tricks You Have to Know
If that doesn’t work or you get too many results, you can try directing Google to only return results from the manufacturer’s website—one of the many search skills you should be taking advantage of. To do that, enter “site:[manufacturerswebsite.com] [Device Name] Instruction Manual”.
As long as the manual is online, available to Google, and you’re spelling everything right, this should get you the manual you’re looking for. If that doesn’t work, there are also services out there that do nothing but collect manuals and make them available for download. Our favorite is manualslib.com, which boasts more than two million manuals available.
And if you can’t find the right manual using any of these techniques, it’s possible that the manual just isn’t available online. Your best option in that case is to contact the company’s customer service department and ask for their help.
The days of the paper manual are over. Many devices, like the iPhone, don’t even ship with manuals anymore. While this is definitely an improvement, no one has ever claimed corporate websites are well designed. There’s a little skill involved in tracking down an instruction manual!
READ NEXT- › How to Create a Local Account While Setting Up Windows 10
- › What Is Windows 10X, and How Is It Different?
- › How to Delete Apps on an iPhone or iPad With iOS 13
- › How to Merge Multiple Google Drive and Google Photos Accounts
- › How to Edit Any Web Page in Chrome (or Any Browser)
The time you most need a user manual is usually the time you discover that you don’t have one… Often this happens only after you have wasted an hour rummaging through dozens of old manuals – for stuff you no longer even own!
I’m not just talking about computing stuff either – user manuals for products like ovens, mowers, TV and audio equipment all seem to have a habit of disappearing over the years.
The next step is to search online for a free owners manual but this can also be frustrating:
- Google searches may find websites which claim to have the right manual – but then want to charge you to view it…
- Manufacturer websites can be hard to navigate (especially for old and obsolete products) or they may simply no longer exist.
Tip: I find that a quick way to find an old manual buried somewhere in a manufacturer’s site is to use Google search parameters to search for it within that site (see my quick guide).
5 Websites to find User Manuals
All these websites provide free manuals in PDF format – each has its own library so it is worth trying more than one site if you’re looking for a particularly obscure manual.
As a quick test, I searched each site for a user manual for a 10 year old Canon Pixma IP3000 printer – the results are included for each website.
[Note: if you’re looking specifically for a car owners manual, see the Appendix at the bottom of this article]
1. ManualsLib
This has over 3 million free owners manuals in PDF format. A wide range including tech stuff, home appliances, mowers, board games and car manuals.
It has a good predictive search feature which narrows down the search results as you type. Related manuals are listed below the search results which can help if the model number is slightly different (e.g. in different countries) or if there is more than one PDF available for that product e.g. a quick start guide and a full user manual.
You can read the PDF on the website or download it and save/print – the green Download button at the top of the page leads to a standard reCAPTCHA verification to ‘Get Manual’.
Watch out for the Adverts! They often include ‘Start/Download’ type buttons that are nothing to do with this site – or they link to other sites that charge for manuals…
Test Results – it found a 2 page Quick Setup Instruction booklet and a 100 page Quick Start Manual.
2. ManualsOnline
This has free user manuals in PDF format for over 700,000 products. Another wide range including tech stuff, power tools, home appliances, car audio etc.
It also has a predictive search feature which narrows down the search results as you type, although it didn’t suggest the IP3000 printer in my search. You can also search by Category then Brand – search filters are simple to use.
It helpfully provides a direct link to the manufacturer’s support website if no manual is available.
You can read the PDF on the website or download it and save/print. Again, watch out for the adverts!
ManualsOnline has more of a forum and community feel – you can ask questions for product support and discussions from users are listed below the product manual. This might be a useful source of info for troubleshooting but many answers will basically suggest that you just read the manual… That is what the site is for after all.
Test Results – it found a 2 page Quick Setup Instruction booklet and a 100 page Quick Start Guide, the same as ManualLib.
3. Scribd
A huge document sharing website of books, speeches and magazine articles etc but this also has a useful free user manuals section which includes automobiles, crafts, gadgets and scrapbooking.
It has a predictive search feature which narrows down the search results as you type, although it didn’t suggest the IP3000 printer in my search (or anything at all by Canon so perhaps the predictive search only covers books).
It seems to be the most advert free website I tested.
You can read or print the PDF on the website for free and recent documents can also be downloaded for free. Old/archived documents require a paid membership to download them – but you can sign up for a 1 month free trial.
Test Results – found a 24 page Service Manual and a 8 page Reset Printer Guide. It was the only site to find these two technical documents, although strangely it didn’t find the far more common Quick Start documents.
4. SafeManuals
Over 800,000 user manuals in PDF format. A wide range including tech stuff, home appliances, toys, music etc.
No predictive search feature but you can search by manufacturer or category then by product name.
You can read the PDF on the website or download it (the orange ‘Get Manual’ button, followed by a simple 4 character Captcha) and save/print. Again, watch out for the adverts!
Test Results – found a 32 page Quick Start Guide (different to the 100 page guide that some other sites found).
5. ESI
Primarily aimed at engineers and technicians, not end users – offers a range of component datasheets, IC diagrams, service guides and schematics for a range of electronic equipment.
Far more specialized than the other sites so not as comprehensive. Active user forums can be helpful for troubleshooting and repairs.
Manuals are generally in PDF, RAR or Zip format – you can download the file and save/print. Again, watch out for the adverts!
No predictive search feature but you can filter searches by manufacturer and product type.
Manual For This Pc
Test Results – nothing found for my printer search. This is perhaps not surprising as the site covers more technical areas than home user inkjet printers.
Conclusion
It is worth noting that no single website found every available manual/guide in my (limited) testing but three sites did find a user manual in the form of a Quick Start Guide.
Download Manual For This Computer
Other documents found included a useful Service Manual, Quick Set Up Instruction booklet and a Reset Printer Guide – I didn’t manage to find any of these on Canon’s own website so these were a welcome bonus.
Find Manual For This Computer Youtube
Results will obviously vary depending on the product that you search for but these are all useful sites to bookmark for future reference.
Tip: if you use Google Chrome – to view PDFs in a full featured reader, instead of Chrome’s limited PDF Viewer, see how to open a PDF in Adobe Reader.
Appendix – Car Owners Manuals
I had a lot of people contact me looking for a car owners manual which the above 5 websites don’t really cover in any depth – the first one, ManualsLib, is probably the best for car owners.
However there are a couple of other car specific websites that may help:
Edmunds – this links page is a few years old now but it still lists a lot of online car owner’s manuals by manufacturer – US only.
Car manuals Online – 80,000 car manuals to read online only – no PDF downloads. But you can print out the document or view it on a tablet/phone if you want to use it outdoors as a reference for car repairs.