request for support: search of heic-files

[harveyEUP]

Hi to all supporters,

Thanks to PhotoMechanic 6, I am able to add captions and key words etc to all of my files incl those from the iPhone (heic-format).
But using the 'search'-function I do not get any result as far as the heic-files are concerned; it seems that the IPTC-data of the heic-files are not 'scanned'.
Only file-names are taken into account during the search of heic-files.
Instead, the 'search' works wonderfully with all jpeg-files.

Any explanation, or even maybe a help you can provide?

My sincere thanks in advance - best, Harvey

[Kirk Baker]

Harvey,

Thanks to PhotoMechanic 6, I am able to add captions and key words etc to all of my files incl those from the iPhone (heic-format).
But using the 'search'-function I do not get any result as far as the heic-files are concerned; it seems that the IPTC-data of the heic-files are not 'scanned'.
Only file-names are taken into account during the search of heic-files.
Instead, the 'search' works wonderfully with all jpeg-files.

If you do a Spotlight search (outside of Photo Mechanic) for some of the metadata that you've entered, does Spotlight return good results?

-Kirk

[harveyEUP]

No, Kirk, unfortunately no results here either.
Regards - Harvey

[Kirk Baker]

Harvey,

No, Kirk, unfortunately no results here either.

OK, then in the future it may begin working if Apple makes Spotlight index metadata in HEIC files.

Our other product, Photo Mechanic Plus, does index metadata in HEIC files and has a very powerful search/browse/filtering system that will yield excellent results with HEIC files.  You may want to consider it.

-Kirk

[ahoward]

To note, I used Photo Mechanic to add a unique keyword and caption to an HEIC file produced by my iPhone 11 Pro. Spotlight Search through Finder found it immediately, as did the Search my Mac function, of Photo Mechanic, so it seems that Spotlight does index the metadata in these HEIC files, but its possible that your files are not in a location that is indexed by Spotlight. Does Spotlight or Photo Mechanic's "Search my Mac" feature find JPEGs stored in the same location as this HEIC file?

[harveyEUP]

Thank you, Kirk and 'ahoward'!
I followed your advice and checked: my JPEGs stored in the same location as my HEIC files, are 'found' with spotlight (macOS Monterey).
Amazing that your heic files were found by PM and spotlight.
Maybe you already upgraded to PM plus?

[ahoward]

Thank you, Kirk and 'ahoward'!
I followed your advice and checked: my JPEGs stored in the same location as my HEIC files, are 'found' with spotlight (macOS Monterey).
Amazing that your heic files were found by PM and spotlight.
Maybe you already upgraded to PM plus?

I was using the "Search my Mac" feature. I was not doing a search on a Photo Mechanic Plus database, and Photo Mechanic Plus has no bearing on the "Search my Mac" feature. If a Spotlight search is not finding your images, the Photo Mechanic's Search my Mac function will not find them either, as it uses the Spotlight index to return results.