Searching multiple files at once

[mbrakes]

We frequently do big shoots where the client wants to see whats available and then pick "their" winners for editing. So we have had a programmer add a feature on our online DAM server which allows clients to log on, tag the lo-res samples that exist online, and then export a comma-separated list and a comma-separated file name string (where the file format suffix .jpg has been stripped - because the suffix is stripped we can use the online list for jpgs to search for the RAW file equivalents that exist offline)

We then use this file string in Lightrom to perform a search with the setting "filename contains" and LR will then retrieve the selects in only one search operation, saving a lot of time as opposed to searching for the filenames one by one.

Problem is, LR is like watching paint dry, it is unbearably slow, and it sucks having to import photoshoots into LR just for this purpose. It would be great if PM would support searching for parameters in multiple files in one like LR does.

I suppose there will be a performance penalty compared to just searching for single files at a time, but I guess this could be solved by toggling the multiple files option on/off?

[FVlcek]

Hi, did you know you can already do that in PM?

There are two ways to do that, the second one is even easier (but AFAIK works only on Mac)

4.6.x has a feature called Load Selection (and correspondingly - Save Selection), which simply loads a text file with one filename per line, highlighting the matched filenames in the current contact sheet. You would have to rework your script a little bit, and it only works in the currently open contact sheet AFAIK (although you can open several folders into just one contact sheet).

The file looks like this:

filename1.jpg
filename2.jpg

so if your script would strip the jpg part and put there the raw suffix, it should work out quite well. Give it a try. Even with the overhead of opening a big contact sheet of several thousand photos from several folders into one, it should be faster than Lightroom

Second way, if you are on Mac OS X, Photomechanic can leverage OS X's integrated Spotlight search feature in excellent way. You would simply open PM, go to Edit menu and select Search...

Search dialog pops up, and you can paste your string of filenames with commas inbetween into the query box, with "filename contains any" search criteria. In the dialog you can also limit the search to specific locations, or search the whole disk. If you have totally unique filenames, you can let it search the whole disk, as there is really no overhead as the searching is done by Spotlight's internal database - ie very quickly.

If you are using Windows, the first method would still work for you. And I am sure with PM Catalogue coming in v5, things will be even easier for those unwilling/unable to use Spotlight.

[mbrakes]

Wow, Frantisek, that was really the tip of the day - not to say the year :-) For some reason I believed the only search capability was the little search window up on the right hand side of the toolbar. Thank you so much!

[vAfotoriporter]

Wow, Frantisek, that was really the tip of the day - not to say the year :-) For some reason I believed the only search capability was the little search window up on the right hand side of the toolbar. Thank you so much!

Then you definietly should try Cmd+F (CTRL+F on Windows) to see how much more options you have for searching files.
And I'm sure the Catalog feature will bring some more too.