Help · AI Search

AI Search: find a photo by describing it

AI Search reads your library once and then answers questions like “beach sunsets” or “the receipt from the garage” — including words photographed inside the image. The model runs on your own computer, so the library is never uploaded and the feature works with no connection at all.

What this does to your files

Searching never modifies a photo. Indexing reads them and writes its results to a separate index on your own disk; Clear index deletes that index and nothing else.

The only actions that write anything are Copy (copies of the matches go to a folder you choose, originals stay put) and, on the Screenshots view, Move to Trash — which is the system Trash, recoverable, and never a direct delete.

Indexing

Add folders to index…Elite

The folders AI Search is allowed to read. Nothing outside them is ever searched, which also means a search that comes back empty is usually a folder you have not added yet.

Check for New PhotosElite

Indexes what has appeared since last time and leaves existing work alone. Run it after an import rather than rebuilding.

Browse the indexed photosElite

Everything currently in the index, which is the quickest way to confirm a folder really was read before you conclude the search is wrong.

Clear indexElite

Deletes the search data. The confirmation — Clear the search index? — is about the rebuild time, not about risk: your photos are not involved.

Searching

Search by descriptionElite

Plain language, not filenames and not tags: beach sunsets, the dog on the sofa, whiteboard with diagrams. Nothing had to be labelled in advance — the index is built from what the photos look like.

Text inside photosElite

Words photographed in the world are searchable too — a street sign, a receipt, a slide, a screenshot of a message. This is part of the same index, so there is nothing extra to switch on.

Ask about your photos in plain language using your local modelElite

The conversational view, for when the question is longer than a search box. It uses a model running on your machine; the library is not sent anywhere to answer it.

Screenshots

Find ScreenshotsPro

Separates screenshots from photographs across the indexed folders — the single biggest source of clutter in most libraries, and the one that no date-based sort can fix.

Copy / Move to TrashPro

Copy the selected screenshots somewhere, or send them to the system Trash, where they remain recoverable until you empty it. Free includes a lifetime allowance of 20 screenshots acted on; finding and reviewing them is not capped.

Acting on results

Select All / Clear selectionElite

Results are a selection to work with, not a folder that has been created. Nothing has moved at the point you are looking at them.

Copy to Folder…Elite

Writes copies of the selected photos into a folder you choose. The originals stay exactly where they are — the button says so itself.

Save the search as a Smart FolderElite

A search worth running twice is better kept than retyped. See Smart Folders, which keep a real folder on disk filled with a saved search's matches.

When it does not find what you expected

Empty resultsElite

The screen offers the two real causes — add the folders you were expecting to search, or try different words. Indexing coverage is the first thing to check; a folder that was never added cannot appear. Then try describing what is in the photo rather than what you called it.

Finished with problemsElite

Some files could not be read — unreadable, unsupported, or on a disconnected drive. Activity lists every one of them with the reason, rather than leaving you to work out which files are missing.

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