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As you may have noticed, we can no longer search for arbitrary parts of a word using a text search after the upgrade to Catalina. For example, if we want to find certain filenames, we have to use a search string that is matching the start of a word, the full beginning of the filename, not just a partial string from the middle of the filename. This is described here in a new user tip in more detail:
MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15
Thank you for testing this, OT. I noticed, your partial search text is separated by "-". Perhaps a "-" is helping as a separator like "_". I still cannot find any "09" in the middle of a filename or title, if the preceding character is alphanumeric (I just installed the macOS 10.15.5 update).
I can only find "09" after a separating character or at the beginning of a word.
We could start a collection of characters, that are working as a separator. So far we got "_", " ", "-"., "."
The search missed "IMG_0409.HEIC". Can you find "09", if it is preceded by a digit?
Thank you for the list, OT. Very useful.
I can no longer find partial filenames or titles with a text search, if they are not separated, even with a smart album. It used to be different.
For example, this smart album turns up empty, if I do not use the full filename, starting with "P" for the text search with "Text is ... ".
I have to use "Filename includes ..." instead of "Text is ...".
In Photos 4 on Mojave the "Text" rule had more options. We could use rules with "Text includes", for example.
Now we only have "Text is", "Text is not", "Text starts with".
I took out the "-" from the file name and the search couldn't find it then. So partial alphanumerical searches do not work if the text being searched for is in the middle of additional text with no separator.
However, smart albums can find those partial alphanumerical searches.
I just tested the most recent PowerPhotos update and it will search for and find partial text within the title and description fields:
Apple should take some lessons from Brian on how to fix Photos.
However, i found out later yesterday that PP would essentially freeze and ramp up the CPU Proxmity temperature to 212˚ F when searching for text in my largest library of 57,000 photos. It was slow in my 7,900 photo library and did begin to increase the temp there also. I emailed Brian about that yesterday.
This happened with both the new version and the previous version.
It must have been fixed with the latest system update because I can find partials anywhere in a file name:
A "+" does not seem to suffice as a separator. I cannot find "09" in "IMG_04+09.HEIC".
Thank you, sail_away 😊
These work also:
#
&
!
@
+
-(dash)
%
$
*
(
)
The points go to PowerPhotos! 😀🥂
And I thought it a slow because of iCloud. Let's wait and see, if there will be an update.
Changes to the Searching for Text in Photos 5 Catalina
