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Level 1

30 points

Spotlight doesn't search iPhoto for included data, such as titles!!!

This is a complaint I had about iPhoto 6 too. If you use spotlight and type in a word, spotlight will NOT return any pictures from iPhoto. It does not mine the iPhoto data such as photo titles, descriptions, film roll or event titles or keywords. It only looks at the file name brought in when it was first imported into iPhoto.

Any ideas on why the guys at Apple can't figure out how to get to the data in their own programs? This problem has continued to exist for too long.

MacBookPro 2.16, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 2GB RAM

Posted on Aug 12, 2007 12:57 AM

26 replies

Scott Herman Author

Level 1

30 points

Jan 18, 2008 1:41 AM in response to Yer_Man

It doesn't appear that iMovie 7.1.1 needs to have iPhoto running to search or to use the file. Why should spotlight?

Personally I would appreciate having Spotlight locate photo's in iPhoto that have titles, descriptions and/or keywords that match my search criteria. Spotlight is very handy and to open an additional program (media browser) just seems like a Windows extra step.

Thanks again for the help.

Scott

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,402 points

Jan 18, 2008 2:13 AM in response to Scott Herman

Because Spotlight and iMovie are different 😉

iMovie access the photo file for use in iMovie.

Spotlight shows you where the file is in the Finder so you can access it in the Finder.

But iPhoto does not want you to do that - rummaging around in the iPhoto Package File is one of the easiest ways to corrupt the Library.

Regards

TD

Scott Herman Author

Level 1

30 points

Jan 18, 2008 9:28 AM in response to Yer_Man

TD,

You do spend a lot of time defending Apple. I've been a Mac user since the late 80's. What I have always liked about Apple computers is that they are easy to use, intuitive.

You seem to be saying that Spotlight doesn't look at the iPhoto Package. You are not correct there. It does and will return any result from that package that meets the search criteria. BUT Spotlight ONLY looks at the file names. An example, if I import a picture to iPhoto directly from my camera it is placed in the originals folder as img_9312.jpg. I may choose to change the title of this picture to "mom" in iPhoto or add the word "mom" in the description. Some of my pictures are imported from other sources and I have worked the files before importing. Many of these files I have changed their file name to mom.jpg. When I first import mom.jpg to iPhoto, it too is placed in the packages originals folder. If I do a Spotlight search for "mom" it will return the mom.jpg but not the img_9312.jpg. It will show me that mom.jpg is in finder Users/Scott/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2000/Barbecue at Sprankles. Oh, and Spotlight will open the photo files shown from iPhoto in preview. This kind of negates your argument.

BTW, I am not trying to argue with you. To me this issue is an ease of use issue. If it is possible to search the .xml data, then it is also possible show EVERY photo file on a Mac. That's what Jobs showed in his keynote from a few years back. Like all things Mac, it should just work.

Thanks for the lively discussion. Sure wish Apple would fix this issue the way I would like to see it fixed but it obviously isn't something they find important. I'll keep watching and hoping though.

Scott

Dave E

Level 4

1,250 points

Jan 18, 2008 10:51 AM in response to Scott Herman

Scott, I had the same issue before I upgraded to Leopard. In fact I had given up on using Spotlight to find images in my library by keyword or title. I just tried it in Leopard, and guess what -- it works. I had upgraded to iPhoto '08 before I upgraded to Leopard, so I know that iPhoto didn't fix it. The only thing I could think of was that it was fixed on Leopard.

To verify, I went to my old iLamp iMac, which has no room left to install Leopard, and I still can't spotlight search the last edition of the iPhoto library there. I'm running 10.4.11 there.

Maybe this was a spotlight problem that was fixed in Leopard? Are you still on Tiger?

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,402 points

Jan 18, 2008 10:58 AM in response to Scott Herman

I really have no interest in defending Apple - they're seem reasonably able to do it themselves and besides, they don't pay me. 😉

My point is this:

The fact that you can access your file via Spotlight and the Finder is dangerous for the iPhoto Library. Period. It's an anomaly that should be removed. It comes down to the basic fact that when you use iPhoto to organise your pics then part of that is you give up directly accessing the files via the Finder - something that has been made even more explicit by the change to the library folder in this version. If you want direct access to the pics via the Finder run a referenced library or use a different system.

It's perfectly analogous to manipulating the data in your AddressBook via the Finder. You don't do it. You manipulate the data via the AddressBook and access it via the various hooks written into the OS and the various apps that call on it. So too with iPhoto.

So I think the anomaly is that a Spotlight search sends you to the Finder and not to an iPhoto Album.

That and a Dollar will buy you a Dollar's worth of coffee someplaces.

Regards

TD

Scott Herman Author

Level 1

30 points

Jan 18, 2008 11:27 AM in response to Dave E

Dave,

It's nice to know someone at Apple finally heard me and fixed what I consider to be a glaring shortfall of Spotlight. I have not yet upgraded to 10.5 but will in the next several months. It will come on my next computer anyway (which hopefully isn't too far away now).

Thanks for the information. Have fun with Leopard. Lots of features I am looking forward to exploring besides the upgraded Spotlight.

Scott

Scott Herman Author

Level 1

30 points

Jan 18, 2008 11:40 AM in response to Yer_Man

TD,

When they upgraded to iPhoto '08 and packaged everything into the iPhoto Library I was a little disappointed. I disagree with your position that the contents of the package are "dangerous" for us. All it takes is control-click to access the contents anyway. And you can pretty well do all those "dangerous" things right within the iPhoto program.

BTW I never said I wanted to manipulate the pictures Spotlight theoretically (actually in 10.5) finds for my searches. But I want to be able to find them and show them. The file names the pre-10.5 finds in iPhoto open in Preview which doesn't let me modify the image at all. This seems pretty safe to me. It's interesting that opening a photo file from Spotlight doesn't open the program like an Excel or Keynote file does.

When the day is over, we just disagree on this issue. That's not a bad thing. I can appreciate your point of view without agreeing with it. According to another poster, Dave, it sounds like Leopard gives me the fix I have been dreaming about. You will no doubt be disappointed by this change but overall I think it will be helpful to the majority of Mac users. Helpful & safe.

Thanks again for the help, opinions and exchanges.

Scott

Jan 29, 2008 1:04 AM in response to Scott Herman

Hi all

Interesting thread - my take on it is simple:
1. it is obviously possible for Apple to search iPhoto 08 (they already do it within iPhoto and from iMovie etc)
2. Spotlight is supposed to be the universal search engine for files
3. A decision not to provide a search was clearly an active one which lots of people are upset by (me included)
ANSWER: Simple: Provide an option in the preferences for Spotlight to search Keywords - leave it off, by all means for those who are not skilled, but to deny it for "the rest of us" seems a little retrograde. If we wanted patronising software we'd be using WinDOZE!

Kind Regards

Craig

Old Toad

Level 10

207,727 points

Jan 29, 2008 2:01 PM in response to Craigandkerry

Spotlight would also have to read the AlbumData.xmo dB file and fix the location of all photos with that keyword from the data contained in it. That's not what Spotlight is designed to do. It searches by file name and file content. It will find the AblumData.xml file when searching for a title or keyword. If you write the keywords or titles back to the original files, as described in Tutorial #1 Spotlight can pinpoint the location of all image files associated with a give keyword.

As it is now, Spotlight can find photos by file name of the original file. I don't see it getting tweaked so that it can read and interpret the xml file for the location of files associated with a given keyword or title. The majority of the customer base just don't need that capability.

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,402 points

Jan 29, 2008 2:20 PM in response to Craigandkerry

Craig

2. Spotlight is supposed to be the universal search engine for files

Ys it is, but you miss the point of iPhoto - it's not a FILE organiser, it's a PHOTO organiser, and things like titles and keywords are properties of Photos, not files.

Regards

TD

Jan 31, 2008 2:54 PM in response to Yer_Man

Hi TD

Good point - and I can certainly see your perspective.

And for me, as a user, I just want to be able to find stuff - if Apple are paying me, then I need to comply with their wishes/structure - as it is me who has been paying apple since the mid 1980s - I claim "customer" status!

It worked in Tiger/iPhoto 06 - it doesn't work now - I couldn't give a toss why - I just want it to work like it used to - it was good, it was useful and they took it away - that's my feelings.

And given we all have a supercomputer (since the first titanium notebook) at our disposal, I simply don't buy the argument that it would be too taxing for the computer to search the .xml file and make the connection to the real file (if it were so hard, iPhoto couldn't do it either!)

Kind Regards

Craig

Spotlight doesn't search iPhoto for included data, such as titles!!!