P: A better search/find in the library module (Library Filter)

[Maxal Tamor]

I have used for many years iView, and then Expression Media to catalog my files, and I must say that even today I did not find nothing better from this point of view (on Mac).

As the actual one is very limited, it will be very nice to implant some more powerful search/find function in the LR Library module.

Something that allow to make very precise researches like, for example:
"Find all the tif or pdf files with a weight > 1 000 000 bytes, a resolution of 300 dpi, an Adobe RGB profile and 16 bits of depth..."

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It will be very nice too to have the possibility to personalize more the info on the preview module (for example somebody could be interested to see the weight in MB of each file, of the embedded color profile, or the resolution, or the depth of the file):

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[johnrellis]

Another plugin for enhanced search: Data Explorer, which lets you group photos by 150 different criteria. http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-good...

[areohbee]

+1 star ;-)

And another recent addition: Metadata Extensions (free, by me).

It's kind-of-an odd-ball - you have to select which items are of interest up front (since having all enabled would be a large drain on cpu) - supports having selected (non-exif) metadata items available for Lr-standard/built-in lib filters and smart collections, e.g. stack position, folder path, aspect ratio...............

And also: Space Urchin (free by me), which is even more of an odd-ball than Metadata Extensions, but can be very convenient (especially if you have spaces in your metadata, but even if not..).

And don't forget: AnySource by John Ellis - searching for folders and collections is still searching ;-}.

There is also John Beardsworth's ListView, which supports metadata filtering and sorted results (beware of potential conflict with other plugins).

Have we missed any?

Me? I use most of them, depending on circumstance.

* I use ExifMeta (without XMP option enabled) - once source metadata is in catalog, it never changes, and so this plugin drains ~0 cpu cycles after initially writing metadata to catalog.
* I use DevMeta because I frequently want to filter/search based on develop settings. It requires a big chunk of the CPU (since it kicks in every time you change anything - kinda like auto-save XMP feature), but I've got some to spare..
* I enable selected Metadata Extension options for frequently used items.
* I use Space Urchin if I simply want to consider spaces to be part of search term and metadata being searched (or want to use pattern matching), in a library text filter. (I also have a few "dynamix-enhanced" smart collections).
* I use AnyFilter for one-time or infrequent queries - it's *very* handy (and reliable).
* I don't use Search, Replace, & Transfer, nor ListView, since neither is reliable when also using plugins that do background catalog updates (like Metadata Extensions, DevMeta, ExifMeta, ... ) - John Beardsworth is aware of this problem and so may have fixed it by now - dunno.
* I don't use jf's Extended Search only because I didn't learn about it until after my needs were covered.
* I rarely use jf's Data Explorer - it's a great plugin, but again: my needs were (and still are) already covered by the above-mentioned. Dunno about reliability, but Jefffrey has promptly fixed every bug I've reported, so not to worry..).

Rob

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It would be very nice if we could search by exposure level (Not exposure Bias), by histogram.

Right now, I have a thousand images to edit, and I wanted to seach only the under-exposed, so I could apply the right adjustments at once. The same for over-exposed. (And/or for pictures that look-alike. As google does with the image search)

I've searched google but couldnt find any plugin that does it. Neither anyone talking about it... 😞

[johnrellis]

The Data Explorer plugin can search by camera EV (exposure value) and effective camera EV (after LR adjustments have been included):

http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-good...

[hadouma@gmail.com]

It has been stated before here: LR is very (too) limited when it comes to working with metadata. One of my main problems is, LR does not provide nearly enough ways to filter my images. If I e.g. want to check all images for which no lens correction has been applied, there is no other way than manually go through all my RAW images to see if the checkbox is checked or not. My rule: as soon as I start repeating in an app, there is functionality missing. That is typically a computer's job, not mine.

So please provide extensive filter possibilities to select images based on all metadata fields and all develop functions

[don_mayer]

LR CC does not allow for file size search based on MB (only on mega pixels). LR displays megabyte file size for each photo in the Library view (exif/iptc) but does not provide this as a search attribute. It would be MOST CONVENIENT to simply be able to create a smart collection such as : filesize(MB) > xMB which would return all photos greater than xMB in physical storage space size thus allowing for culling by size if desired.

[johnrellis]

Two plugins can search and sort by file size (rather than pixel size): Data Explorer and Any Filter.

[JMarkTurner]

Lightroom really needs better native search functionality in the Library module. I'm familiar with, and have used, the AnyFilter plug-in, but that's a work-around in my opinion.

If I understand correctly, there's a SQLite database that underlies what we see as the LR catalog. SQL is a powerful database engine, but Lightroom doesn't make it easy to perform moderately complex searches that implement AND and OR in the queries.

I do a lot of ad hoc searches for specific images that my editorial stock clients request. Sometimes I don't want to see all of my photos that have particular keywords, or words in the caption field. Here's an example from a series of queries I needed to do yesterday:

Find images that include "xxxxxx" in the caption, that are in a folder named "Gardens," that were made in the months of October, November, December, January, February, or March. There were 27 separate "xxxxxx" queries. I have "Gardens" folders under master folders for each year going back to 1995.

I'll probably never need to do that exact same search again and the next complex search will have different criteria.

[johnrellis]

I agree that Any Filter is much less convenient than having expanded search capabilities built-in. For some uses, the Data Explorer plugin is more convenient (but still not as easy as having the features built-in).

[Guest]

Why is there no way to filter by specific aspect ratio (4:3, 3:2, 16:9, etc) in Lightroom like there is in Bridge?

There is a filter called "Aspect Ratio" which filters only by "Portrait", "Landscape" and "Square" options. Except for the square option, these are not aspect ratios, they are image orientation.

Could this feature be added in a future release?

[bulky_microwav]

In bridge there is a very easy filter option under aspect ratio that allows one to sort by crop or file aspect ratio. Examples 1:1, 2:3, 3:4, 5:7, 4:5, panoramic...etc.

It behooves me why there is no option under "aspect ratio" only giving me portrait, landscape, and square. To me that sounds more like orientation rather than aspect ratio.

There should be an option to filter in both the "Library Filter" under metadata, and under Smart Collections.

[Ernst van Loon]

When in the library view I filter on ratio, I currently only get the options for portrait, square or landscape. To select photos for specific prints I'd really like to be able to select the "standard" ratios of 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, 5/7 etc. as well, whether portrait or landscape. Better still, any custom ratio I entered should be able to be selected as well, but that is just perfection... 😉

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

... exposure compensation? It would be nice to be able to collect bracketed shots with specific ECs so they could be bulk-edited.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Lightroom Classic.  Finding by time.  One cannot search for photo by time: hours, mins, seconds. Photos are of course  sortable by time, but I need to go in and out of LIghtroom putting photos in  Powerpoint and Photoshop pages where the photo is  captioned by  time.  To go back to Lightroom from Powerpoint  and Photoshop I have to scroll through Lightroom to find the  particular times I'm looking  for, rather than  simply do a search.
David

[johnrellis]

While waiting for this to be implemented, the Any Filter and Data Explorer plugins can do this.

[john beardsworth]

And Search & Replace

[Dave Rye]

Would also be a great wonder of limitless value to be able to search a catalog's History log for current collection photos containing a certain character string as part of a smart collection toggle.  For strings such as "Exported to -" or "Crop Ratio set at" could make for some very practical smart collection that need further touching up, weeding out, or nuking w/o recycle type. 🙂  ** sigh **

[arbell15]

The metadata filter in Lightroom is awesome, however, it is very limited in the metadata one can use.  

Please expand the metadata filters to include all metadata in a catalog.  Ie, if I have metadata in an image, I should be able to filter based on it, rather than just the default options that are in the list today.

[Guest]

What metadata can you not use to filter?

[arbell15]

The list is large, recently i struggled with File size, whether a photo is stacked or not, label colors, QuickTime keywords like the LivePhoto one that's in all iphone live photos.  

There's a relatively exhaustive list here:

https://johnrellis.com/lightroom/anyfilter-criteria.htm

I purchased this plugin and am using it but it's kind of clunky, slow and not well integrated with lightroom (no fault of the author).  Lightrooms LIbrary filter feature should just have everything accesible.

[Guest]

I am not especially knowledgable about LR.  A friend told me recently that file size is not something you can access in LR.  So is that really metadata?

[johnrellis]

Why conversations get merged:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-auto-import-to-folders-orga... 

[TJAsher]

Need the ability to find images which had "Reset Settings" applied.

This is not searchable by any means in Lightroom Classic.

It's too easy to trigger a reset without realizing it and you need to go photo by photo in the develop module to find these.

[johnrellis]

[This post contains formatting and embedded images that don't appear in email. View the post in your Web browser.]

Many have asked over the years for the ability to search Develop history. While waiting for Adobe to implement that, you could use the Any Filter plugin to find all photos containing a history step of Reset Settings:

Or find photos whose latest history step is Reset Settings:

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, @Rick Spaulding -, please merge with this Idea, which contains several requests for searching History:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-a-better-search-find-in-the-library-module-...